Newark Academy Places 2nd in the Country at Essentially Ellington!
I love Jazz at Lincoln Center’s yearly Essentially Ellington competition and festival for high school jazz bands. Many may read “high school” in that last sentence and lose interest. I have been to many of the 23 events, and will attest that there is more musicianship from these kids than I have heard from professional musicians in some bars across the country and overseas. (Indeed one Hungarian professional played so poorly he drove me from a bar, but that’s another story.) These are not average high school bands. They are a combination of exceptionally talented and dedicated students and band directors. To get to the three-day event in New York they, along with over 5,300 other bands, must compete in a vigorous yearlong program of mentoring, monitoring, competitions and judging. That willowing removes the chaff. This year we couldn’t experience it there, but Jazz at Lincoln Center posted it live via Livestream, so we watched the final concert and award ceremony at home. When the announcer said that the first to play of the three top prize winners would be the Newark Academy big band from Livingston New Jersey, I resolved to enjoy the show and contact Julius Tolentino, the band’s director, and Erica von Kleist, one of the judges, to talk about the event later.
Julius wears many hats. He is a father, husband, gigging musician, music teacher, and band director at the prestigious Newark Academy. He is also a veteran of Essentially Ellington, having taken various bands there over the years. Last year his band, known as Chameleon, had just missed landing in the top three. He resolved to build on that. “I asked the kids to raise their hands according to how many years they have been in the jazz program. My lead alto, Charles Pan and lead trombone player Reid Christmann have been involved with all of our groups, and studying with me since sixth grade. We have 11 seniors and I was adding up all the years on the board saying, ‘This is why it is going to be a special year, this group has experience.’ Actually, most of the kids had already been to Essentially Ellington, some several times.”
