Although it has been three years since the last Spotlight Jazz concert at Los Alamitos High School, for many who attended the event Saturday night thought it was well worth the wait.
“Can you believe it’s been three years since we’ve been together,” said Justin Padilla, the Los Alamitos Director of Jazz and Orchestra said to open the four-hour event entitled “Spotlight on the next generation of jazz.”
Padilla said the 2020 Spotlight concert was scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 14 while Supt. Dr. Andrew Pulver and the Board of Education met in emergency session to suspend school for what they thought would be a two-week delay.
Of course, as it turned out, the American educational and entertainment landscapes were changed dramatically since then and are only now beginning to return to normal.
“And that’s why I’m very excited and very grateful that you came tonight to share this evening with students,” said Padilla, because “they can use it now. I’m sure you already feel the love and you understand how much work and passion goes into putting this show together off the stage.”
Padilla thanked the members of the board, the Spotlight committees, and all of the adult and student volunteers that worked behind the scenes to make such an event become a reality.
Spotlight Jazz concert features the Los Alamitos Unified School District’s two middle school jazz bands, three of its high school jazz bands and this year, two professional musicians, saxophonist Alex Hahn and trumpeter Ryan DeWeese, served as guest artists.
Padilla paid tribute to the local professionals, saying that not only did they take time out to sit in with all of the performing bands for the evening, but said both of them had attended practices and even shared techniques with the student musicians.
Robert Harrell, band director at Oak Middle School, and the school’s jazz band first took the stage, opening with Birdland, arranged by Vincent Lopez, followed by One Note Samba by Paul Murtha and closed their set with the blues classic Bacon Suite Blues.
Padilla then led the Los Al Jazz III band onto the stage and launched into Hay Burner, by Sammy Nestico, My Ship by Kurt Weill, arranged by Dave Rivello and closed out with The Jody Grind by John Clayton.
Following each performance, the respective directors would introduce each soloist for an audience ovation.
McAuliffe Middle School music director Frank Fontaine brought his jazz band to the stage with fun compositions like “Running with Scissors,” by Gordon Goodwin, “Jumping at the Woodside,” by Count Basie Orchestra, arranged by R. DeRosa and closed their set with “Moanin’” by Charles Mingus, arranged by A. Homzy.
At intermission, the band boosters and Spotlight Committees held live and silent auctions to raise funds to support the next generation of jazz musicians.
In a twist this year, instead of Padilla interviewing both professional artists, students were selected to interview DeWeese, then Hahn, as the audience learned about their careers and musical strategies. Student musician Gabby Gurley interviewed DeWeese while Alexander Russell got the honor of interviewing Hahn.
Padilla, who served as the Master of Ceremonies for the program, returned to the stage as band leader to direct the Los Alamitos High School Jazz II and Jazz I bands to close out the show.
Throughout the evening, Hahn and DeWeese intermittently jumped in to play with all the jazz bands, at times, soloing, and others, actively supporting and applauding the solos of students.
Los Al Jazz II opened the second half with “Soupbone,” by John Clayton, followed by “Katy Do,” by Benny Carter and closed their set with “Aha,” by Bob Mintzer.
Jazz I, the largest of the night’s jazz bands, opened their set with “Old West” by Aaron Hedentrom then jumped into a new take on the old classic “Take the A Train” by Billy Strayhorn, arranged by Rich DeRosa, then performed a tune by local composer Gordon Goodwin entitled “Second Chances.”
Padilla then announced the band was going to perform a tune written by Hahn, entitled “Psychedelic Sun,” which literally had the audience tapping toes and had the rafters holding tight to keep the roof on the auditorium.
Both Hahn and DeWeese soloed in what would be their closing number as Jazz I finished the set with “Samba Juice” by Drew Zaremba.
Following the official numbers, the members of all five bands paraded around the auditorium in a 20-minute musical smorgasbord doing a New Orleans “second line” tune, which gave many student musicians who had not soloed earlier in the evening a chance to step up and play.
