In March, President-Elect Tom Gruenwald welcomed Pete Ellman as the featured speaker to the the Rotary Club of Naperville/Downtown. For the past year, Ellman, co-owner of Elllman’s Music Center and director of The Pete Ellman Big Band, has been planning the Naperville Big Band Jazz Fest 2015 at North Central College.
Open jazz sessions, free to the public, were planned to be held all day on Sat., April 11, in the North Central College Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave.
The day-long event will wrap up with an evening concert at 7PM featuring The Pete Ellman Big Band with guest musicians Wayne Bergeron, Jeff Coffin and Andy Martin.
Ellman explained the festival’s purpose as a noncompetitive educational experience for ensembles, and/or “second” ensembles from high schools with more than one jazz ensemble.
These ensembles (up to 12 musicians) often have little opportunity to perform outside their school district, Ellman said. Performing for professionals, the students will benefit from the comments of great clinicians and hearing a professional big band.
“No director should disqualify their ensemble from participation in our festival because they feel they might not be good enough!” said Ellman, during the Rotary presentation.
Update, April 11, 2015 / Beginning early Saturday morning, after a 30-minute warm-up, ensembles took center stage at The Wentz to perform and then receive a professional critique by one of three visiting jazz greats, Wayne Bergeron, Jeff Coffin or Andy Martin.
Participating high schools were Naperville Central, Director Earl Talbot; Naperville North, Director Don Stinson; Neuqua Valley HS2, Director Jonathan Lauf; Neuqua Valley HS1, Director Charles Staley; Waubonsie Valley, Director Thomas Tait; West Aurora, Director Director John Seirakowski; East Aurora, Director Brin Liska; Bolingbrook, Director Bob Hanerhoff III; Hinsdale South HS2, Director Patrick Maag; Hinsdale South HS1, Director Patrick Maag; Leyden, Director Bryan Miller; Gemini Middle School, Director Natalie Scharf; and Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage, Director George Andrikokus.
For information, visit www.pebb.net. For tickets ($25), go to tickets.noctrl.edu.
