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Over 3,000 school jazz ensembles have participated in the Essentially Ellington program over the past 15 years. The directors profiled below speak to how the EE program has impacted their teaching and their school community as finalists and non-finalists.
Year(s) in EE 1999-2010 (Non-Finalist, in the Top 20 twice)
School Central Union High School—El Centro, CA
How has EE influenced your teaching and your program?
I’ve gone to the EE Band Director Academy for eight years. What I learned from that changed how I teach. Instead of teaching the song, I teach the concept. Like the concept of rhythm. Not just reading the rhythms, but the inflection and the feeling of them. The students have become totally different because they listen differently. My students listen to the CDs that EE sends and then they go out and search for other players doing the songs. Making our recording, the focus and the intensity of it, gives the students a goal. You work really hard and get very meticulous about it. You start recording rehearsals and listening back. They hear themselves play every day. Bringing in clinicians—we’ve had Ron Carter a couple of times—having him show the kids in another way, then they get it. A lot of people are afraid to ask and think that the people will be out of your price range. Arturo O’Farrill came out one time. You call them on phone. I called Arturo up and asked him and we negotiated a price and he came out here. But that’s part of Jazz at Lincoln Center—they’re all about education and they’re going to try to find a way to help you. Another important part is the historical part. You are exposed to jazz in a different way, to understand where it came from so you honor it the way it deserves to be honored.
What is your best EE memory?
Taking my students backstage to meet the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra when they were on tour in nearby San Diego. Every single member of the band spent time with my students. I can call Jazz at Lincoln Center and ask a question and they’ll help us out. From Wynton on down, they really appreciate us making the effort to see them and I appreciate their making the effort back toward us.
How has EE impacted your school and community?
U.S. history teachers ask me for resources when they’re studying certain periods of history. The students in jazz band recommend songs to those teachers.
Do you have any advice for other band directors?
The program is free. Take advantage of the resources. If they never record for the competition, the resources are there. If they get involved with the Band Director Academy or go to the competition one year or go to a concert when the band is in their part of the country, Jazz at Lincoln Center is there for them 100 percent.
Year(s) in EE 1999–2010 (Finalist seven years)
School Eau Claire Memorial High School—Eau Claire, WI
How has EE influenced your teaching and your program?
We’re much better now because of EE. Not just the jazz ensemble. Our top concert band is playing at an astounding level. Part of the reason is that we’re listening to recordings of professional musicians from Jazz at Lincoln Center. Partly it’s the recording process we go through to make it into EE. We record and then we listen to either the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra or the Duke Ellington Orchestra and compare ourselves to the recordings. That’s pretty brutal. The recordings don’t lie. You have to make some adjustments. The more the students learn the music, they see there’s more to learn from this music. It’s such great music. The EE program is bar none the best thing that has happened to jazz education in my entire career. It has had a profound effect on me and my students. We have had opportunities that we would never have had before EE. Before then, we were doing regional festivals and occasionally taking a bigger trip, like to New Orleans where we played in the French Quarter. We had an active, strong music program. We weren’t doing anything on a national level like you get to do when you go to Jazz at Lincoln Center in Rose Hall and get to work with the kind of people you see Wynton Marsalis hang with. Just the idea that maybe we could go to New York and that could be part of our year has spurred the kids forward. We haven’t made it every year. Even the years that we haven’t made it, I’ve asked the kids whether it was worth doing this and they always say, ‘Yes.’ This Festival is about dreams. It’s about dreaming and striving to make your dreams come true.
What is your best EE memory?
In 2002 when Tim Sullivan was featured on ‘Sophisticated Lady.’ The whole thing he had done on this tune was just amazing. He played this long note that he was circular breathing on and when he got done, the entire crowd—and keep in mind they were our competitors—leapt to their feet and gave us a standing ovation. I knew we were in a different kind of festival. Wynton talks about music being about love and joy and celebration. It’s one thing to say that, but to see it come to life, that was amazing.
How has EE impacted your school and community?
It has energized the community. Last year we finished in the top three and the City of Eau Claire and the State of Wisconsin gave us proclamations noting our achievement. The School Board asked us to play for them. We performed at the Association of School Boards convention in Milwaukee this past year. Knowing there are budget cuts going on, it’s great to have the School Board interested now in the arts.
Do you have any advice for other band directors?
Swing as hard as you know how to swing.
Year(s) in EE 1995–2010 (Non-Finalist)
School Hanover Pak High School, East Hanover, NJ
How has EE influenced your teaching and your program?
I became involved in jazz when I was hired for this job—I had zero jazz experience. It was a condition that if I take the job, I have to take over the jazz ensemble. There was a steep learning curve there. The jazz program at the school had actually ceased to exist the year before I got there. I’m a french jorn player. But it’s all music. Once I realized that, the secret was finding great music and learning the secret of how to teach it. After ten years of finding my way and learning a lot, EE came along. Before EE, we were doing commercial stuff. I was looking for music with depth through which I could expose kids to the art form in a deep and significant way. There are a couple of publishers with stuff like that but it’s hard to find. I was looking for the real thing. Now, when I get the new scores from EE every year, it’s like a little kid on Christmas morning—all these amazing new scores. We also get recordings—it’s great to hear the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra play the arrangements we’ll play. EE changed the way I teach. The newsletter, website, and workshops completely energized our program.
What is your best EE memory?
Seeing my kids grow. Many years we get glowing comments from EE adjudicators. The kids have been electrified by it. We’ve gone to some of the final concerts. One year ‘Perdido’ brought the house down. The crowd was on its feet. My kids were right there with it.
How has EE been beneficial for your school / community?
EE music has impacted the lives of my students and audiences, none of whom would have heard Duke’s music at all. Now half our program is Ellington music. Our final concert draws more than 500 people, a huge event. Alumni come back, people from the surrounding area. To be involved with EE is so inspiring—a real connection to some of the greatest music ever written.
Do you have any advice for other band directors?
Get involved. Be part of this.
Year(s) in EE 1997-2010 (Finalist 12 times)
School Foxboro High School—Foxboro, MA
How has EE influenced your teaching and your program?
The access to a lot of great music from Duke Ellington is so much easier than it used to be. That has opened up doors for me and other bands. This kind of curriculum— playing the music of Duke Ellington—has so much depth to it and so much sophistication that it makes anything else that you play seem less significant. I find the students are able to handle all kinds of jazz music in a much deeper way from having experienced Ellington’s music in a deep way. EE opened up lots of repertoire I didn’t know before. Duke wrote well over 2,000 pieces. I’m constantly finding new music by him that I didn’t know before.
What is your best EE memory?
A number of times we’ve been selected as one of the three finalists and play in the final evening performance with Wynton. That is such a powerful experience. I’ve found even when that didn’t happen, that final performance is exciting. The camaraderie that exists, the way that the students and directors support each other at this event is pretty unique in the band contest world. I’ve heard some fantastic musicians from all over the country—many of whom have gone on to professional careers. I’ve made some long-term collegial relationships with other directors I’ve met. So across the board, all the aspects have been gratifying. But the most significant memory would be playing in the final concert with Wynton as guest artist. I get to conduct him—not that he needs a conductor—and having a rehearsal with him before. It’s such an awesome experience for me and the students, to have him stand beside you and play.
What’s special about EE?
It’s such an amazing festival compared to other festivals I’ve taken my students to. High school music festivals usually don’t have artists like Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members directly involved with the students like EE does. There are some fine musicians that work with other festivals, but this is unique in that the students interact with world class artists. EE sends them to your school. The educational opportunity from that has been incredible for me and my students over the years. Through those contacts I’ve subsequently had a lot of those Jazz at Lincoln Center musicians to our school as guest artists. That has deepened my knowledge and deepened my connection to Jazz at Lincoln Center beyond the EE Festival itself.
How has EE impacted your school and community?
Playing the music of Duke Ellington has so much depth and sophistication to it that it helps public school jazz bands establish greater credibility. If you do watered-down pop tunes, it’s hard to convince anyone that you have a fine arts curriculum. But if you’re doing music of the same artistic caliber as music they’re doing in concert band or orchestra, you bring integrity to the program. That has a lot to do with the community sustaining it over time. Our school department has been very supportive.
What impact has EE had on jazz education?
What EE did was really upgrade the quality of the curriculum that was being taught. There were a lot of jazz bands in public school that were doing easy pop titles without much artistic depth. EE managed to get some of the great masterpieces out to the public schools free of charge. I go to festivals now and hear bands playing a higher quality of repertoire—not just Duke Ellington—than they were 25 years ago. That’s the most significant contribution, elevating the quality of the repertoire. Once students experience music of greater artistic depth, then everybody wins from that.
Do you have any advice for other band directors?
Any band director who loves jazz and loves the music of Duke Ellington and loves teaching can get anywhere they want to in EE. It’s a matter of investing time, energy, love and patience—and working really hard at it. We work year round. Because I’m passionate about it, my other staff members are passionate about it, the students become passionate about it, and the community becomes passionate about it. There’s a tradition that’s established. Younger students are inspired by older students. It becomes a cyclical process. Our jazz band plays at the elementary schools and the middle schools. We have an opportunity to excite younger children about this music.
A good recording is important for EE. I've hired the best jazz recording engineer in Boston. He comes out to my school and does an on-site recording. He loves doing it, the professionalism and seriousness of purpose that the kids display. It inspires him to see young kids working this hard to play this music that well. It’s important to match the quality of the music making with a comparable quality recording. That’s an investment. We record eight to ten pieces in the recording session and pick the three best to submit. We’ve been able to produce a number of CDs, cumulative CDs of all the pieces we’ve recorded over the years, so we’ve been able to make it more than just a recording session for EE. The recording process itself is a learning experience for the students. When they hear those recordings, they hear lots of truth.
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