Schools
Java and Jazz on Friday Night
Edmonds Woodway Jazz Band chosen to perform at 16th Annual Starbucks Hot Java Cool Jazz Concert.
On Friday night, Seattle’s favorite drink meets the region’s best high school jazz bands at the 16th annual Starbucks Hot Java Cool Jazz Concert.
jazz band has been chosen as one of the five jazz bands to perform. Other bands include Mountlake Terrace, Garfield, Newport and Roosevelt.
Edmonds Woodway High School jazz band instructor Jake Bergevin said his group was selected for its reputation. Starbucks doesn't have any official process for inviting bands, Bergevin said, but they do consider the results from the Essentially Ellington competition.
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The Essentially Ellington competition is a nationwide contest for high school jazz bands based on the music of Duke Ellington. Bergevin says it’s like the World Series for jazz band. Edmonds Woodway competed in 2003, and was then asked to perform at Hot Java Cool Jazz the next year. The band has performed in the event six times.
Hot Java Cool Jazz isn’t a competition, and Bergevin says that’s one of the reasons the EW jazz band performs at the event.
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“It’s a showcase, and that’s why we are so pleased to be involved,” Bergevin said. “We don’t do many competitions. I have a philosophy of not trying to compete a lot so they can focus on improving their skills.”
And focus they do. The members of jazz band (mostly seniors, some lower classmen, and two freshmen) meet every day before school at 6:30 a.m. to practice. That’s after they’ve made the cut in a rigorous tryout process in the months before the school year begins.
Friday night will give the band an opportunity to showcase all their hard work. Hot Java Cool Jazz, which sold out last year, puts young musicians on the stage of the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. In their commitment to support local youth and arts organizations, Starbucks makes sure all proceeds from ticket sales go to benefit participating school music programs.
“The most exciting thing is playing in the beautiful theatre to a sold out audience,” Bergevin said. “For a high school jazz band, that is unheard of. There are no other concerts like this in the world where there are no guest artists, no big names, no big powerful PR firm, just enthusiasm for the talented students and of course, the coffee.”
For tickets, visit the Seattle Theatre Group website.