REHEARSAL SCHEDULE THIS WEEK, May 5, 2008:
Tuesday, May 6th - full rehearsal from 3:00 until 4:00pm.
Friday, May 9th - full rehearsal from 7:25 until 8:05am.

April 19, 2008

Yes, there is a Spring Concert 4!

On Wednesday evening May 21st, the Red and Blue Jazz Ensembles will take part in our annual Spring Concert 4 program. The concert will highlight jazz and dance at West Rocks MS. The jazz ensembles will be accompanied on a couple of numbers by Mrs. Gray’s dance classes. Mrs. Gray will also showcase some of her own classes during the program. The concert will begin at 7:30pm and be over no later than 8:30pm. Students are asked to arrive between 7:00pm and will be directed where to report before the concert.

If any parent is unable to attend the evening performance, they are reminded that the same program will be presented the day before on Tuesday May 20th for a portion of the school.

On Friday afternoon, May 9th, the Red Jazz ensemble had been asked to perform at The Lifetime Learners Recognition Luncheon. The performance is held in the Pepsico Theater on the East campus of Norwalk Community College at 1pm. Jazz students will leave West Rocks after period 3 and will have lunch at a local fast food establishment. At the conclusion of the concert at NCC, the students will be bused back to West Rocks before the end of the school day.

Both the Red Jazz Ensemble as well as the Eighth Grade Band will be attending the Music in the Parks Competition in Massachusetts on Friday, May 16, 2008. Following the performance at a local high school, members of both the concert band and jazz ensemble will spend the remainder of the day at "Six Flags New England" Amusement Park in Agawam, Massachusetts. A great day is guaranteed for all! (See Events)

April 18, 2008

On Monday, April 7th, the West Rocks Red Jazz took part in the 11th annual "in concert" held this year at West Rocks Middle School.

We were fortunate to have our guest artist Art Baron arrived at 1:00pm to work with our group. This allowed the Red Jazz to go home at the end of the school day, do some homework, or just relax before the combined rehearsal at 5:00pm. We started a rehearsal with Art on a Victor Lopez arrangement of "Moondance” a piece which was originally written and recorded by Van Morrison. Art had a lot of good ideas to improve the music including opening the solo section. His solo sounded terrific....... we are very fortunate to have him perform with the "in concert" professionals each year.

From 3:30pm until 4:45pm the other 2 middle schools from Fairfield had a chance to rehearse on our stage with a guest artist or two. At 5pm, all 3 groups combined in mass on stage to rehearse the 3 "improvisational" pieces that we would perform later in the evening. The run through for each piece went well, so I knew the actual performance would be fine.

At 6pm, we had a wonderful dinner of pasta, salad, bread, dessert, fruit and soda, supplied by the combined efforts of the parents from each of the 3 middle schools. I would like to thank all those parents who were able to contribute something to make the evening so wonderful. I would especially like to thank Claudette Q. for coordinating the dinner with the parents from Fairfield and arriving at 4:30pm to set up and to make sure dinner ran smoothly.

It was now "Showtime". The concert began with each middle school performing a solo number along with one or two of the professionals Fairfield Woods MS Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Mike Varga took the stage first. They performed a swing piece by Dean Sorenson called "Blue Dinosaurs". Their guest soloists were Art Baron (trombone), and Ken Gioffre (saxophone) who played 2 masterful solos along with several students from the Woods jazz ensemble. I'm always impressed with how polished Woods sounds and how well their student soloists can improvise. This is due in large part to Mike's teaching style.

The second school to perform was Roger Ludlowe MS Jazz Ensemble. They are under the direction of John Fumasoli. I owe John a great deal of gratitude. His relaxed manor and his total understanding of jazz make him the perfect MC for the evening. He is also responsible for getting all these incredible professionals to join us each year. His ensemble performed John’s arrangement of the Herbie Hancock standard “Watermelon Man”. What a tight group with an outstanding rhythm section. John Hart (guitar) and Ken Gioffre (saxophone) made this arrangement one to remember.

The Red Jazz then took center stage and performed Moondance with the ideas and tempo’s the Art went over with the students earlier in the day. I was very proud of the way the ensemble performed.

After each school performed a number, we all had the pleasure to listen to the professionals perform a couple of numbers. Members of the combo were: Mike Asetta (bass), Art Baron (trombone), Arti Dixson (drums), Ken Gioffre (tenor sax), and John Hart (guitar). These are wonderful performers whose list of credits include: Bruce Springsteen, Harry Conick Jr., BB King, Frank Sinatra, Steeley Dan, Maynard Ferguson, just to name a few. They played like they had been performing together for years, even though we knew some of them had met for the first time that evening.

Now came the time everyone was waiting for. The kids would have their opportunity to solo on 3 pieces. The solo's started with "Route 66", which I had the opportunity to conduct. The other pieces were "Code Blue" and "Chicken Shack" both in Bb, which were conducted by John.

I was extremely proud of all the kids, in particular the West Rocks kids, for giving improvisation a try. The Red Jazz performs quite a bit over the course of the school year. To date, we have performed almost twenty times at one concert or another. Having to prepare for a concert here or a festival there doesn't leave a great deal of time to develop ones soloing technique. So I was proud to see so many West Rocks musicians soloing on one piece or trading 4's with another student from a different section on another. I think I heard one student say that he had the record....... he got up 5 different times to solo. By the end of the third and final combined piece, "Chicken Shack" the rhythm section was exhausted. They had been playing the changes for over 45 minutes on those 3 pieces alone. Their fingers were worn out. Asking all those students who took a solo or 2 or 3 or 4 times that night, I bet the last 3 pieces felt like they lasted only 5 minutes.

March 4, 2008

Wow! The West Rocks Jazz Ensembles have just finished an exhausting, yet exciting week of concerts in Norwalk.

The jazz ensembles performed at 3 of our feeder elementary schools. On Tuesday, the Blue Jazz performed at Tracey Elementary School. On Wednesday and Thursday morning the Red Jazz had the opportunity to play at Silvermine and Cranbury Elementary Schools. Performing at our feeder elementary schools is very important for my program. I often hear questions such as “What instruments are involved in the band program?”, “If I take a band instrument, will I be able to take another elective at West Rocks, such as guitar, piano, computer, during my sixth grade year?”, “How much does it cost to play a band instrument?” By getting the opportunity to meet with the 5th grade students, we are able to answer a lot of their questions regarding the band program. Anyway, our time at Tracey, Silvermine, and Cranbury were a lot of fun, and very rewarding.

On Friday afternoon the Red Jazz performed at Brien McMahon’s annual Jazz Festival. We performed at 4:00pm in the library. We started off our program with “Firestalker”, a piece which we have been performing for just a few weeks. It is a Latin piece which features Will on drum set and Matt on tenor saxophone. We then performed “Route 66” a blues standard that I will have the honor of conducting during our “In Concert” program with the other middle school jazz ensembles from Fairfield. All of the students are improving on their improvisational skills. This was evident with the solos that Chris (alto), Juan (trumpet), and Andy (tenor) performed during the Brien McMahon Jazz Festival. Next, we played “What A Wonderful World”, a beautiful ballad that was originally made famous by Luis Armstrong, but has been performed by countless other jazz greats. In our version, the solos were played beautifully by Ariana (trumpet), and Will (trombone). We ended the competition by playing a Van Morrison hit “Moondance”. It is a great closer that gives many students a chance to take a solo. I would like to thank Ron Secchi and the band parents at BMHS for inviting us to such a wonderful and well run festival.

On Saturday, we all could relax, enjoy having a few pancakes, and have a great time performing for family and friends at West Rock’s annual Pancake Breakfast. Both the Blue and Red jazz Ensembles did a great job. It was also an important performance for me, because I had the opportunity to meet 3 students from our feeder elementary schools. They told me they were very excited about beginning a band instrument next year.

The Red Jazz continues a very busy schedule next week. They perform at Norwalk High School’s Jazz Concert on Tuesday, the third session with Fairfield on Thursday, and the Norwalk High School Jazz Festival next Friday night. We are looking forward to perform at each of these events, and hope to add one or two pieces to our program.

February 25, 2008

The Red Jazz has will be taking part in Brien McMahon High Schools annual Jazz Festival held on Friday, February 29, 2008. There will be 15 groups participating in this year’s festival. Our performance time has been scheduled from 5:30 until 6:00pm in the band room and then the students can leave or have something to eat and watch some other group’s perform. I would like the students to bring their uniforms to school on Friday morning. They will change into their uniform at 3:45pm, after a snack and a short rehearsal at West Rocks.

We need parent volunteers to drive students over to Brien McMahon High School at 4:15pm. Parents will help set up for our portion of the competition, help in loading equipment back into my car after our performance and supervise those students whose parents cannot be with us at the performance at Brien McMahon.

Please call me at West Rocks as soon as possible if you will be able to help transport and chaperone students on Friday. Please send a note with your child if he or she will need supervision after our performance. Please remember to tell me how long your child will need supervision after our performance.

February 25, 2008:

The members of both the Red and Blue Jazz Ensemble are busy preparing for West Rocks annual Pancake Breakfast this Saturday, March 1st. The breakfast is one of the schools most successful fund raising events and families will crowd the cafeteria from 8:30am until the last pancake is flipped at about 11:00am. It is an important event for me as well, because I will have a chance to meet with 5th grade students from each of our 4 feeder elementary schools who are interested in taking a band instrument.

Besides the Vocal Ensemble, String Ensemble, and both Jazz Ensembles, there will be a dance group led by Ms. Gray ready to entertain. The Blue Jazz Ensemble will be the first jazz ensemble to perform around 8:45am. I don't think we'll have any new performance surprises for parents and friends. We have started 2 new pieces but we're not quite ready to perform them. You'll just have to wait. The Red Jazz performs at 10:00am and we do have a new piece we'd like to share. We're going to perform "Firestalker" anexcellent Latin Rock piece at the breakfast. The piece will introduce some new improvisational soloists from the ensemble.

No matter what we play, it should be an exciting time for all. Hope to see you there on Saturday.

February 11, 2008

Click here for memo regarding the West Rocks Red Jazz & Fairfield Middle Schools "IN CONCERT 2008" program IN CONCERT 2008

January 13, 2008

The West Rocks Small Ensemble Concert is on Wednesday, January 30th. The West Rocks String Ensemble and Concert Choir will join members of the Jazz Ensembles to perform at this annual event. The concert begins at 7:30pm and the members of the jazz ensembles should arrive by 6:50pm and report to room 151.

Parents are reminded that if you are unable to attend the Small Ensemble Concert, an assembly concert is given for the school a day before on Tuesday, January 29th at 8:30am.

The uniform for both programs will be the black collar shirt, black slacks, dark socks and shoes, and boys need to wear a necktie.

January 5,2008:

The first jazz session with the Fairfield Middle Schools Jazz Ensembles was held at Ludlowe MS on January 3rd.

The day began with a brief introduction of our guest clinicians. The three artists were from New York City. Artie Dixon was on drums, and Ken Geoffrey played saxophone, and Art Baron was on trombone. The guest musicians showed their talents by playing a number for the students. They then spent some time answering student questions.

The large ensemble of over 75 musicians rehearsed a piece called "Code Blue". The piece will be performed at the combined Jazz "IN CONCERT" scheduled for April 7, 2008 at West Rocks.

The students broke into small group workshops. Members of the rhythm section stayed in the auditorium and worked with John Fumasoli (band director from Ludlowe MS) and Artie. The trumpet and trombone players went to the rear of the auditorium and worked on improvisation with Art Baron. The saxophones went to the balcony of the auditorium to work with Ken.

At noon the students once again assembled in the auditorium to work with the professionals on another tune called "Chicken Shack".

The day concluded with the members of the three ensembles having lunch together on the stage of the auditorium. A great time was had by all. We are looking forward to the next rehearsal on February 13th at Fairfield Woods in Fairfield.

Jazz Rehearsal with Fairfield

The kids did a wonderful job at both holiday concerts on December 18th. From the mayor on down I heard nothing but positive comments on how the kids performed and acted. I was very pleased with them. I would also like to thank all those parents who gave of their time, during a very busy time of year, to help chaperone the Red Jazz for the day. (Check out the photos)

For the past 11 years, our jazz ensemble has had the opportunity to work with 2 excellent middle school jazz ensembles, Fairfield Woods, and Ludlowe from Fairfield, CT. Our students enjoy working with the other musicians their own age, learn a great deal about improvisation and their own instrument. Additionally, students get to meet, learn from and work with professional musicians from around the area and New York City.

The first meeting will take place on Thursday, January 3rd, from 9:30am until 1:00pm at Ludlowe middle school. Our students will perform for the other musicians from the other 2 schools. They will take part in clinics run by the professional musicians. These artists have toured with such groups as The Duke Ellington Band, The Buddy Rich Big Band, The Average White Band, Bill Watrus and Steeley Dan just to name a few.

Please fill out the permission slip and return it back to school with your child by Wednesday January 2nd. Students are reminded to bring a bag lunch for the session and that they are also responsible for any missed work on the day of the meeting.

Holiday Jazz

The Red Jazz will be providing holiday entertainment at 2 separate venues on Tuesday, December 18th.

The first is at Norwalk’s City Hall at 10:45am. Red Jazz students should arrive at school wearing their black uniform. They will perform a concert along with the rest of the concert band for the Senior Citizen Concert at 9:30am. At 10:00am that same morning, jazz students will board a bus which will take the Red Jazz over to City Hall where they will perform a concert for workers at City Hall at 10:45am.

After the concert at City Hall, member of the jazz ensemble will once again board the bus which will then take the students to the Westfield Shoppingtown Mall in Trumbull. Once at the mall, the students will set up for a concert, which will begin at 12:45pm, and then have the opportunity to have lunch at the food court. Students are reminded to bring lunch money. Parent volunteers are needed to chaperone students throughout the day and at lunch.

At the conclusion of the concert at the mall, we will once again board the bus and return to West Rocks before the close of school.

Reception for Tom Vetter

On Wednesday, November 7th, the Red Jazz had the honor to perform at a reception given for retiring Board of Education member Tom Vetter. Tom has been a very big supporter of music in Norwalk, especially the music department at West Rocks. All 3 of his boys attended West Rocks and were a part of the band program. He would attend many of the performances at school whether his sons were involved or not. Annually, he runs the Norwalk High School Jazz Festival, and you can see him each week of the marching band season, running equipment on and off the field for the Norwalk Marching Bears.

When I had the opportunity to get involved at the receptin for Tom, it was a no-brainer. I wanted to take part in any way I could. With that said, it wasn't easy preparing seven pieces for the concert. Some of the pieces that we performed were from past concerts, but several were new to all the members of the Red Jazz. No matter what, this was the earliest in the school year the jazz ensemble has ever performed. I was so proud of all the students in the jazz ensemble, attending extra rehearsals before and after school, making the reception a special event for Tom. I was especially proud of Will our bass player. He is new to the group and had to learn 7 pieces in 2 weeks. That will put calluses on your fingers!

The next time we have the chance to perform it will be in early December. We will share some holiday jazz for the workers at City Hall and the shoppers at The Westfield Shoppingtown Mall in Trumbull. See you then.

Check out the photos of the reception in the photo section of my website.

November 1, 2007

The Red Jazz is working very hard to make next Wednesday night's event for retiring board member Tom Vetter extra special. We have finished 6 pieces and are hoping to perform 8 for the performance. With that said, I am calling an extra rehearsal next Monday, November 5th from 3:00 until 4:00pm. Parents are reminded to let me know immediately if their child will be unable to make this very important rhearsal.

September 23, 2007

This year is off to a great start. We have about 170 students enrolled in the West Rocks band program, each with an instrument and ready to go. It's now time to start our Red Jazz Ensemble. The group is almost intact from last year. There are 8 returning saxophones, 5 trombones, and 7 trumpets in the ensemble. Our rhythm section is almost set as well. We have a bass player, 2 pianists, and 2 drummers. We would like to have a guitar player join our group. We'll see if any students are interested when we start the audition process this week.

We will start rehearsals on Wednesday, October 3rd. Historically, the rehearsals have been on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 7:25am until the start of the school day at 8:05am. This year, I would like to see if it would be possible to have the morning rehearsals coincide with the days the students need the instruments for band. This would make it possible to have the students need their instruments only on the days they have band. The Red Jazz also has a rotating sectional rehearsal on Tuesday afternoons from 3 until 4pm. Students will be notified on a monthly calendar and by email when their sectional rehearsal takes place.

Generally, there is only one person per part, so nightly pratice is necessary. I know that private lessons are not always a possibility, especially with the rising cost of instruction, however, if you are interested in obtaining names of area teachers, please feel free to call me at West Rocks.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call anytime. The phone number at West Rocks is 899-2970. Thank you for your support.

-PRIOR YEAR RED JAZZ BLOG

March 22, 2007

Last Tuesday night, Red Jazz performed at the NHS "Winter Jazz Concert". I must tell you it was exciting talking with former students and parents that I haven't seen in a long time.

The concert began with Jazz 3 and Jazz 2 performing on stage. What a thrill it was for me to see so many former students burning it up on stage. Jazz 3 featured an alto solo by former West Rocks student Emily L. Her beautiful sound brought back memories of her performance on "Night Shift" a piece she performed with the Red Jazz on our stage just a year ago. Jazz 2 peformed next. Two of the numbers, which were performed so well, "Groovin' Hard" and Charles Mingus' "Moanin" aren't usually attempted by even the best high school groups because of their difficulty. What a super job!

It was now West Rocks' turn to take the stage. I could tell it was going to be a good performance as soon as we took the stage, because we all felt relaxed and confident. We started with "La Negra Tiene Tumbao", a Latin piece which we have performed a number of times, but one that never seems to lose its luster. Next we performed the ballad "Blue Midnight". We started rehearsing the piece only a few weeks before the concert. It wasn't difficult getting it all together, because saxophonist Lucas did all the hard work. I gave him the piece a couple of days before we started rehearsing with the rest of the group, and as you heard on Tuesday night he is an amazing performer with a super sound. Our third piece was the Average White Band hit "Pickup The Pieces". This is truly a high school piece and a lot of credit for its success goes to my saxophone and rhythm section. It's not easy getting some of those licks down. Also, how about Ian on lead trumpet? As a trumpet player myself, I can tell you playing up that high ain't easy. My biggest debt of gratitude goes to tenor sax player Mike who had to learn a solo that was easily 20 measures long. He never makes a mistake! Our last piece was a fun swing piece called "Jazzmanian Devil", now posted as an MP3 clip on our "MP3/Video" page. The song gives lot of kids a chance to solo. I thought that each soloist did a super job. Congratulations go out to William , Mike , Ian , Clifton , and Trevor for performing their first improvised solo on the stage at Norwalk High School. I know each of them will have many opportunities in the future.

I can not close without talking about Jazz 1. Wow! There are college groups which don't perform as demanding and entertaining a program. They are a tight band! The students on that stage are inspirational to the future of music in Norwalk.

In closing, I would like to thank my friend and colleague Jeff Smith for inviting us to perform, and all he does for the jazz program and music in general in the city of Norwalk.

The Red Jazz Ensemble is right in the middle of a very busy concert schedule. Last Tuesday, March 13th, we went to Fairfield Woods Middle School to continue to work on jazz improvisation with the professionals. Many students, including lots of West Rocks students, tried their hand at soloing, many for the first time. The results were amazing! So much so that all the teachers were talking about how successful the April 9th, "In Concert 2007" is going to be.

This Tuesday, March 20th, the Red Jazz will be on the stage of Norwalk High School. The concert begins at 8:00pm and will feature 2 new pieces. One piece is called "Jazzmanian Devil", an exciting, up tempo, swing piece that we are working on with Fairfield. You'll hear a number of improvisational solo's, including Mike on Bari Sax, William on Tenor, Ian on Trumpet, and two Trombone players, Clifton and Trevor trading 4's. The other pieces that we will be performing for the first time is a ballad by Larry Neeck called "Blue Midnight". Lucas , beautiful Alto Sax sound will be featured in this wonderful piece.

I hope to see you there.

Both Jazz Ensembles finished a very successful week at West Rocks. Our ensembles performed well at the Small Ensembles Assembly and Concert that was held at school on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jazz Clinic Comes to West Rocks: Red Jazz now looks forward to hosting the second session of the Jazz Clinic with Fairfield that has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 6th at West Rocks. Students will report to the stage after period one and will not return to their regularly scheduled classes until 1:10pm.

During the session the students will again work with professional musicians as will as the jazz students from Fairfield Woods and Ludlowe Middle Schools from Fairfield.

Students need to provide their own bag lunches. They will not be allowed to eat in the cafeteria on Tuesday.

January 20, 2007:

The West Rocks Small Ensemble Concert is scheduled for Wednesday, January 31st. The West Rocks String Ensemble and Concert Choir will join members of both jazz ensembles to perform at this annual event. The concert begins at 7:30pm and members of both the Red and Blue Jazz Ensembles should arrive by 6:50pm and report to room 151.

Parents are reminded, that if you are unable to attend the Small Ensemble Concert, an assembly concert is given for the school a day after on Thursday, February 1st at 8:30am.

The uniform for both programs will be the black collar shirt, black slacks, dark socks and shoes, and a tie.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to call me at West Rocks or email me anytime.

December 28, 2006:

November 13, 2006:

Red Jazz Ensemble is busy preparing for its first major concert date of the new school year, Tuesday, December 19, 2006. We plan on providing holiday entertainment in the atrium at City Hall in the morning and then performing a concert in the afternoon at Westfield Shopping Town Mall.

We are currently looking for parent volunteers to transport kids from West Rocks Middle School to City Hall, then to Trumbull before returning back to school by the end of the school day.

We plan on having lunch at the mall so students are reminded to bring money. Parents, please remember that the uniform has changed this year. Red Jazz students have elected to go with a black-collared shirt rather than the white-collar shirt which was part of last year's uniform.

I will be sending the permission slip home via email or the kids can pick one up from me at a rehearsal. Please fill it out and have your child return it back to me by November 22nd. As always if you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me at West Rocks.

October 2006:

Red Jazz was virtually in place and ready to go at the beginning of this school year. We had 6 returning saxophones, 3 trombones, 5 trumpets. We also had a complete rhythm section returning from last year's ensemble.

I am pleased to announce the addition of 4 new members to Red Jazz: William on tenor sax; Taylor (7th gr) on alto sax; Clifton on trombone; and Hannah on piano.

Red Jazz is an experienced ensemble that enjoys many playing opportunities during the school year. The ensemble meets 2x week. Red Jazz has a full rehearsal every Tuesday after school from 3 to 4pm. There are also 2 sectional rehearsals each week on Wednesday and Friday mornings starting at 7:25am. Wednesday is a sectional rehearsal for saxophones and rhythm members, and Friday is for the brass players.

Generally, there is only one person per part, so nightly practice is necessary. I know that private lessons are not always a possibility, especially with the rising cost of instruction. However, if you are interested in obtaining names of area teachers, call me at West Rocks at 203-899-2970, or email me at: jbellagamba@snet.net

June 2006:

Red Jazz performed some extraordinary jazz during the year! Here are a few of the titles performed by last year's Red Jazz (2005/2006):

"Buppert Takes the Train" (fast and catchy)
"St James Infirmary" (classic from the 30's)
"Caravan" (classic by Duke Ellington)
"Nightshift" (slow and easy)
"Georgia on my Mind" (60's R&B classic)
"Bring it on Home" (starts off slow with a dramatic trumpet section and then picks up the pace)
"Hocus Pocus" (fast, wild, catchy)
"In the Midnight Hour" (70's R&B)
"Kansas City" (an old blues/jazz standard)
"Coyote Cafe" (upbeat Latin style)
"Blue Monk" (played at IN CONCERT 2006)
"Night Train" (also played at IN CONCERT 2006)
"Someone to Watch over Me" (slow oldie)
"Don't Count Me Out"