Griffin Paterson, Reporter
@GPCourant
When students at NCHS think of jazz music, most people fail to realize how close at hand it really is here at school. The Jazz Band here at NCHS has been keeping the American tradition of jazz music alive through their dedication and love for the genre. With only eight members this year, the Jazz Band is comprised of a special type of music enthusiast.
“The Jazz Band is generally our strongest musicians but its also the kids who have an appetite to want to do more,” NCHS Band Director and leader of the Jazz Band Scott Cranston said. “So there’s that elite aspect as well as the willingness to pursue their interests in the genre further.”
The Jazz Band is different from the concert band for a variety of reasons. “It’s more challenging music opposed to regular concert band due to some of the more challenging rhythms and notes.” sophomore Jazz Band member Brad Newton said. “It makes for different players and sections have their sounds mix more fluidly and it sounds a lot better,”
“Jazz music is cool because it has a little more bounce, a little more swing, while band music is more straight up and very stiff,” senior member of the Jazz Band, Braian Qela said
Such a unique genre commands an equally unique type of classroom setting. “Right now, they’re rehearsing and learning most of the music on their own, almost the equivalent of a science lab situation, in order to give them the room to grow and to identify their strengths and weaknesses on their own.” Said Mr. Cranston. “The fewer members there are the more responsibility each member has, so there’s a leadership aspect in that too.”
Even as a smaller group, students in the program continue to sing the praises for the genre. “It’s just really fun to play,” senior member Jeremy Ryan said.
Brad agreed. “It’s really fun. You can do a bunch of different things with it. It can be more of a freestyle, improvisational style or it can be more blues or other more set style of that type,” he said.
The Jazz Band has been very active in bringing jazz to the community, playing at the New Canaan Inn as recently as November 18th and having partnered with the Summer Theatre this past summer. Mr. Cranston believes it is important that they continue to honor this style of music at the high school.
“As a style of music its uniquely American, for one. We play music of the great masters, like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, with the goal in mind to play them as inspiringly and accurately as possible,” Mr. Cranston said.
Braian Qela agrees with him. “It’s a great genre of music and it’s fun to listen to. It gets you pumped and it really just sets the mood for a good day,” he said. Jazz music is undoubtedly not as popular as it once was, so the jazz band serves as a vital link to keep the jazz genre in the minds of today’s youth.
“We try to get people excited about music they think they understand, but kind of don’t. People tend to think anything not on a pop radio station is jazz, but there’s swing, there’s latin, there’s all these different styles that we hope to help people get interested in. Hopefully, we’re creating interest in the styles that you don’t really hear on the radio so much anymore.” said Mr. Cranston. “People hear jazz and they’re like ‘Oh that’s cool,’ but how many people really listen to jazz? Not a lot. So, again, without that connection with the school it would kind of start to die away.”
