The Jazz Band at Loyola University New Orleans, under the direction of Coordinator of Jazz Studies John Mahoney, performed at the fourth annual Jazz Education Network conference in Atlanta, Ga., earlier this month. The group’s concert was one of more than 80 performances at the conference.
In addition to playing at the conference, the Jazz Band completed a six-day tour, performing at seven high schools in Georgia and Alabama. The concerts featured a wide variety of songs, including Jim McNeely’s “You Tell Me” and Bob Brookmeyer’s “Hello and Goodbye,” as well as Thad Jones’ “Tiptoe” and Mahoney’s, “Thrice as Nice,” among several others.
The tour was an invaluable experience for the students for a variety of reasons, according to Mahoney. “The students had the opportunity to perform for an international audience at the only Jazz Education conference in existence and see other college and professional groups perform and gain perspective on where they stand in the bigger picture,” he said.
“Not only were they able to publicize Loyola’s excellence in music and inspire young audiences at seven high schools, but they also perfected a difficult repertoire through repeated performances and gained a sense of community through traveling and staying together for a week,” Mahoney said.
The Loyola Jazz Band includes students John Culbreth, Nathan Ward, Cyrus Nabipoor, Brad Fancher and Blake Johnson on trumpets; Nick Ellman, Michael Laurenzi, Ian Bowman, Wayne Mitchell and Scott Clemens on saxophones; Adrian Rotondo-McCord, James Keene, Jacob Hickey and Matt Sutton on trombones; J.D. Haenni on bass; Kevin Nolan and Bill Daniel on guitars; Sam Kuslan on piano and Brian Fleischer on drums.
The Jazz Education Network is dedicated to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance and developing new audiences.