The SCW Jazz Band takes an annual trip to the Rolling Meadows Jazz Festival. This year, they took the 5 hour bus ride to Jazz in the Meadows. Over 100 bands and combos attended, from all over the area.

Their combo consisted of Scott Stratton-Henderson on tenor saxophone, Lincoln Clark on alto saxophone, Harrison Hendrickson on trombone, Rolen Moore on bass trombone, Cash Buehler on piano, Jacob Wortham on drums, and Jonathan Novelli on bass guitar. They played the swing piece entitled Straight Note Chaser, and a Latin piece called Ojitos. They scored a 2/5 and placed 9th in their class.

The whole SCW Jazz Ensemble played the Duke Ellington piece, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, Bob Mitzner’s Truth, and Better Get Hit in your Soul by Charles Mingus. They featured soloists Jacob Wortham, Harrison Hendrickson, Claire Mascia, Carter Johnson, Scott Stratton-Henderson, Caleb Yackley, and Jonathan Novelli. They got a 2/5 rating and placed 5th in their class.

The Grammy award winning Yellowjacket band performed as the special guest artist. Bob Mitzner played saxophone, Dane Alderson was on bass guitar, Will Kennedy played drums, and Russell Ferrante was on piano. They played an hour long set that included many of their hit songs.

When asked about why the band takes this trip every year, director Ben Meyer said, “Student life experience is very important to me, so I always look to schedule events for the group that will be memorable and strengthen the group’s bond.  Traveling out of state allows for these things to occur.  The Rolling Meadows Jazz Festival is one of the largest of it’s kind in the midwest area. The focus is usually two-fold, first to compete and second to see other bands perform at high levels.  It is important to see what other high school programs are doing.  It allows myself and our students to see the benchmark for success and evaluate where we are on that plane.  This was our fifth trip to Rolling Meadows and I anticipate that we will continue this trip annually.  We have placed as high as second in year’s past, so hopefully one of these years we’ll be able to win our class and make it to finals,”.

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