Fair Grove’s Evening of Jazz event took place on April 3 and 4 at Fruitland Community Church. This is the annual jazz performance that features the Jazz Combo, High School Choir, Big Band and Swingin’ Eagles.
This event showcases a variety of jazz music which is performed live by the Fair Grove High School jazz bands and choir. During the event, guests are seated at tables and are served dinner and dessert. Natalie Palomo, Fair Grove Middle and High School Band Director, described the event as, “…the big culmination of all the work the jazz ensembles have done all year.”
According to Palomo the jazz bands have been working since November to prepare their music for this event. She added, “We meet twice a week for most groups, learning our music, and in the case of the Swingin’ Eagles, competing and receiving judges’ feedback.” This year the Jazz Combo even composed an original piece of music and debuted the song at Evening of Jazz.
Waylon Wright (12) plays the baritone saxophone in Jazz Combo, as well as guitar and drumsets for the Big Band and Swingin’ Eagles. He said that his favorite part of this event is the Swingin’ Eagles portion because that’s a more competitive group that people have to audition to get into. Wright commented on this being his last Evening of Jazz as a senior, “I think I was allowed to be a more prominent component of this evening of jazz, taking more solos and such.”
Audra Harmon, Fair Grove School Choir Director, said that she likes this event because they get to sing music they don’t usually sing. She said that it’s a really fun, great experience to sing with the jazz bands, however, it’s difficult for the groups to find time to practice together so their combined piece is hard to prepare for.
Harmon commented on her music choices, “The overall theme is jazz, so I try to find as many jazz standards as possible, but also include some fun pop and Disney music. One tradition I started is that the choir performs a Billy Joel song each year, this year was Lullaby.”
There is a lot of planning that is put into this event with coordination across all different band groups, finding alumni to help work, countless hours kids spend rehearsing, three vigorous days of prepping, performing, and tearing down, etc. According to Palomo the biggest challenge faced this year was trying to accommodate all the guests.
She went on, “We are so lucky to work with Fruitland Road Church to host, and try to seat 150 people each night for two nights. We sold out of seats in 4 days this year, and even had to make slight accommodations to be sure all jazz student families had the chance to attend.”
Palomo said her favorite part of this event is hearing her students express themselves. She elaborated, “You can hear them in every band. It’s a sure sign of their musical abilities and knowledge, and it’s cool for me as a teacher to get to hear my students expressing themselves through truly original music, especially when they so clearly love it.”
