Date:  March 25, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 A jazz band composed of students from C.D. Hylton and Forest Park high schools, under the direction of Bryan Kidd, ranked sixteenth in the recent Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition, sponsored by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.  The band’s ranking of sixteenth among 133 participating bands from around the nation and Canada, placed them just outside the top fifteen chosen as finalists.

 In noting the significance of this accomplishment, Kidd said, “Among this year’s finalists are famous arts academies, schools for the arts, magnet schools and all-area ‘all-star’ ensembles.  That’s who we were up against.  Lincoln Center called me to say they were ‘most impressed with our entry.’”

 For each year’s competition, Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC) selects and transcribes original arrangements of several Duke Ellington compositions.  The arrangements of the selections, which this year included Caravan, Harlem Airshaft, I’ve Just Seen Her, Jump for Joy, Ko-Ko, and Kinda Dukish/Rockin’ In Rhythm, are offered to high school jazz bands that express an interest in the program.  Of the 1,221 bands that received entry material this year, 133 submitted recordings of three of those compositions to enter the competition.  J@LC selected 15 finalists based on the criteria of soulfulness, improvisation, interpretation, technique, and tone/intonation.  Each band that sent in a recording received a detailed critique of their performance and a certificate signed by Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.

 Although this was the eighth year of the competition, it is the first time that the Hylton/Forest Park jazz band has participated.  The group received the Ellington scores in the fall and were required to submit their application and tape on February 4.  The fifteen finalist bands will participate in a festival in New York City in May.