Jazz Bands shake it up in Reno

While an April 24 earthquake in Reno measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale grabbed the attention of Sisters students, those students grabbed the attention of audiences and judges at the 45th annual Reno International Jazz Festival.

The Reno festival took place throughout eleven performance venues on the campus of the University of Nevada, featuring over 300 student groups and employing over 55 of the top jazz educators in the country.

In Reno, Sisters earned as much recognition as any school district attending, with all bands placing in the top five of their respective divisions.

Of 30 middle school programs attending, the Sisters Middle School Septet was one of only four groups involved in the challenging Middle School Combo division, a performance category where small bands of nine members or fewer perform.

Generally only the most advanced middle school programs present groups in the Combo Division, and though the SMS student performance was ranked fourth place, they received performance scores within less than thirty of 300 points from the other programs participating in that division from Seattle and Agoura Hills, California.

Sisters High School presented two jazz combos in the Reno festival, a septet and sextet. Both groups earned top-five recognition with fourth and fifth place in the High School Combo A division which included 21 bands from schools with less than 1,200 students, including several private schools which focus on music.

The 14-member Sisters High School Jazz Ensemble earned first place in their High School Band D division including schools of less than 600 students. Each year the high school large jazz ensemble has performed in Reno they have received top-five recognition, and this is the third time in eight years that Sisters High has earned first place.

A highlight of the Reno festival is attending performances given by top college and university jazz studies programs. Sisters students took in performances given by CSU Northridge, CSU Fullerton, CSU Sacramento, UCLA, University of the Pacific; and the winning four-year college band, the University of Oregon.

This year the Reno Festival featured the headlining performance by a legend in the music who is considered to be a grandfather of modern jazz drumming, 83-year-old Roy Haynes. Haynes prides himself in hiring some of the finest young players in the music to perform in his bands.