An 'Outstanding' Way to Spend an Evening

The next stop on our non-stop 2016 Pottstown High School Jazz Band parade occurred Friday at Daniel Boone High School.

Unfortunately, this event begins at 5 p.m. on a Friday which makes it hard for people with jobs to see the whole thing.

Sadly, this meant we missed the performance by Daniel Boone Middle School, Boyertown Area Senior High School and the Daniel Boone elementary jazz bands, arriving only in time to see the last three bands.

Our apologies to Boyertown band director, Brian Langdon, former Pottstown music teacher and friend of this blog.

But apparently he didn't need our support, as the performance by the BASH Big Band earned a "superior" rating from the judges.

Also earning a "superior" rating was the Pennsbury High School Jazz Ensemble, the only other high school jazz band to be rated other than Pottstown, which earned a rating of "Outstanding" for what I believe to have been their best performance this season.

Although Daniel Boone performed, as host, they received no rating.

Boyertown received the best saxophone and best trumpet section awards, while Pennsbury walked away with the best trombone and best rhythm section awards.

As for soloists, Boyertown tenor sax player Adam Helmer was recognized, as were Pennsbury drummer Mike Angelucci and vibes player Wesley Dierolf.

Pottstown trumpet player Chloe Francis received her second consecutive honorable mention soloist award.

Representatives of each of the high school jazz bands accept their awards.

As in the last jazz band blog post, I have embedded the YouTube performances of local bands in the Storify below.

What's different this time is they are the entire performance, without breaks, seeing as I was broadcasting their performances live on Periscope.

If you follow me on Twitter, you will see a notification of the performance and you can click on the link and watch the performances live.

If you don't follow me on Twitter, I can only ask what did I do to make you hate me?

I thought perhaps some of the parents and students who can't come to the performances would like to see them as they occurred.

But the links expire after 24 hours, so I saved those from local schools onto my phone and uploaded them on YouTube so you can enjoy them 24 weeks or 24 months from now.

Here are the Tweets and videos:

Big Band Bash at Boone

Washed Out Photo by Evan Brandt

Representatives of all eight high school jazz bands await the announcement of ratings and awards Friday night at the 44th annual Daniel Boone High School Sound Spectacular Jazz Festival.

The 44th annual Sound Spectacular Jazz Band Festival at Daniel Boone High School Friday night featured competition by among two local high school jazz bands and an exhibition performance by a third.

As the hosts, the Daniel Boone High School Jazz Band was not judged.

In addition to the local middle school jazz band and three elementary school jazz band performances, which iPhone battery life did not allow us to record, the festival featured eight high school jazz bands in competition.

Full performance videos of Pottstown, Boyertown and Daniel Boone High School jazz bands are embedded in the Storify below.

The ratings were as follows:

• Pottstown High School Jazz Band  -- "Outstanding."
  
• Souderton High School Jazz Ensemble -- "Superior."
• Boyertown Area High School Big Band -- "Superior."
• West Chester East High School Jazz Ensemble -- "Outstanding."
• Souderton High School Lab Band -- "Outstanding."
• Quakertown Community High School Jazz Ensemble -- "Superior."
• Cheltenham High School Jazz Band -- "Outstanding."
• North Penn High School Columbia Jazz Band -- "Outstanding."

The following awards were also issued:

• Best Saxophone Section -- Quakertown Community High School Jazz Ensemble
• Best Trumpet Section -- Cheltenham High School Jazz Band
• Best Trombone Section -- Souderton High School Jazz Ensemble
• Best Rhythm Section -- Boyertown Area High School Big Band 

The following soloist awards were also given out:

• Honorable Mention: Lucas Naylor of West Chester High School East for keyboard;
• Honorable Mention: Marley Bryan of Pottstown High School  on tenor saxophone;
• Sean Gallagher of Boyertown Area High School for guitar;
• Jackie Favaroso of Quakertown Community Hgih School for trombone;
• Will Marchetti of Cheltenham High School for baritone saxophone.

Below you will find Tweets from the event as well as videos of full performances by Pottstown, Boyertown and Daniel Boone.