Schools
Washington-Lee Hosts Annual Jazz Festival
Washington-Lee hosts 26th Annual Pyramid Jazz Festival. Kenmore, Gunston and Swanson middle schools participate.
From Count Basie’s big band orchestra sound to Van Morrison’s groovy seventies music, middle school and high school musicians served up smooth jazz tonight at the 26th Annual Washington-Lee High School Pyramid Jazz festival.
This annual event celebrates jazz ensembles from area schools and is used as a recruiting tool for Washington-Lee’s summer jazz camp. This year’s participants included Swanson Middle School Jazz Ensemble, Kenmore Middle School Jazz Ensemble, Levine School of Music’s Virginia Big Band, Gunston Middle School Jazz Ensembe and Washington-Lee’s Jazz Lab and Jazz Big Band.
Under the direction of Paul Norris, Swanson kicked off the event with Freddie Freeloader, a Miles Davis piece that featured solos by several students. Swanson finished its set with a Victor Lopez arrangement of On Green Dolphin Street by Bronislau Kaper, which blended swing and Latin jazz.
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Kenmore Middle School, directed by Brian Fisher, featured the evening’s largest saxophone section. The ensemble performed Duke Ellington’s In A Mellow Tone and Just A Little Cha Cha by Jose Antonio Diaz. The Levine Virginia Big Band, also directed by Norris, played a soulful version of Benny Golson’s Killer Joe and got the audience cheering with a New Orleans’s style rendition of Louis Armstrong’s Sturrin’ With Some Barbeque.
Gunston Middle School, back for its second appearance in the festival, performed a groovy version of Moondance by Van Morrison. Directed by Alexander Robinson, Washington-Lee capped off the evening with a 1930s style big band performance, featuring tunes from Count Basie and Duke Ellington. For the finale, Robinson invited a few middle school students up to perform with the high school in a jam session.