“[Essentially Ellington] is considered to be the most prestigious jazz festival in terms of its acceptance rate,” Sessink said. Taking place from May 7 to 11 in New York City, the festival celebrates jazz’s big band era of the 1930s and 40s, especially the works of composer Duke Ellington. This is the festival’s 30th anniversary, and to celebrate the festival is accepting 30 bands as opposed to the usual 15, including five international bands.

Last year, Garfield was one of 15 bands across the nation selected to compete in the festival. Though they didn’t turn out as finalists, many players received individual awards. “[The band] got a lot of individual student recognition and some section recognition… Timothy Park got outstanding trumpet, Elliot Beck got outstanding piano,” Sessink said. The band performed well, but “I didn’t think it was our best performance,” Sessink added. 

Tenor Saxophonist Eli Riggio also believed that the band experienced some setbacks in the previous year’s competition. “There were some little issues … some soloists that didn’t play the best solo that they wanted…we didn’t know what to expect,” Riggio said. 

Many of the band members have been to the competition before, and they feel more relaxed about participating again this year, if the band gets in. “This is my third year going…the first year I was really nervous because I didn’t know what to expect,” Miep Barr Clingan, Jazz 1 trombone section leader, said. “[Our second year] I was more at ease, and less stressed than the year before,” Barr Clingan added.

Other factors outside of the band’s control also impact their experience at the festival.

“A lot of the schools that attend are full-time art schools … they pay a large tuition to attend a school where the majority of their classes are music-related,” Barr Clingan explained. “Most of their day is rehearsing music, as opposed to public schools having one period – or not even a period – to rehearse per day.” Sessink agreed, and underscored Garfield’s success in the face of obstacles: “We’re competing with private schools … where the tuition is 40,000 dollars, and these kids go and play music all day, so it’s really unique that we even get to go.”

Garfield stays competitive through constant hard work. “Students meet in the morning several days a week for sectionals…we have very intense rehearsals,” Sessink explained. Jazz 1 is full of motivated and driven individuals who always want to improve their musical skills. “They’re just coming in and doing the same work, and that shows the level of maturity of [the] players,” Sessink added. 

Rehearsals become more intense approaching the competition day. “[The application] process involves us recording three songs… [they get] meticulously broken down by an adjudicator … [and] they get scored,” Sessink said. This year the deadline to apply was pushed forward a month to accommodate the additional entries in the competition, but the band has responded with intense dedication to their music.

 “Compared to other years, the band is very prepared. I’m really excited because every time we’ve done a take, it’s better and better… We just are going to keep doing that process to see what’s the best we can get,” Sessink stated.

Enthusiastic best describes the attitude of the band going into the competition. They’ve put in the work and are ready for whatever happens. “Our goal is to make the top ten, but even if we don’t accomplish that … our main focus is to just have a really swinging set that people really enjoy and think … ‘that’s the Garfield sound,’” Barr Clingan said. “We’re focused on having a set that is representative of Garfield’s history and style… Some schools that get up there and play really fast music that’s technically difficult… We’re more like: ‘let’s make a set that will blow people’s minds.’”  

Besides Ellington, Jazz 1 has many other competitions and concerts to showcase their talent to the community. “We have a tribute to Quincy Jones that we’re planning in April, we have Hot Java Cool Jazz which is in March … We have some competitions [at the] end of January, February, so Ellington is only part of our year,” Sessink said. “[Hot Java Cool Jazz] is … our other biggest show of the year because it’s at the Paramount Theatre, which is a really nice venue and professional musicians play there,” Barr Clingan added. Regardless of what happens at Ellington, Garfield will always be proud of the hard work and dedication of all the marvelous musicians in the jazz band. 

Graphics by Guillermo Mendez