It was big band night at the Emerald of Siam on Wednesday April 19^th, and the Pasco High Jazz Band 1 class was invited by the Emerald of Siam to play and open for the Isolation Big Band. Pasco High will also be sending a smaller jazz group back to the Emerald on Wednesday April 26^th, for jazz combo night.

What happened on April 19th?

Pasco High’s Jazz 1 class was invited to open for the Isolation Big Band. Jazz 1 played four tunes, “Big Swing Face” by Bill Potts, “Alone Together” by Arthur Schwartz arranged by Mike Kamuf, “When You’re Smiling” arranged by Tom Kubis, and “Nutville” by Horace Silver arranged by Bryan Kidd.

How did they do?

Being a member of the band myself I thought we did well. Soloists did great, the stage was small, but we made it work. I also got opinions from a few of the other band members. I talked to three of them and asked them all the same question. I asked them “how they felt about our performance?”

“I felt pretty good about it, it wasn’t too bad… honestly, I feel like that was one of the better performances. All trumpets sounded really solid the rest of the band [sounded] solid too, the soloists’ ideas really flowed [well] that time,” lead trumpet Joel Mata said. Joel also told me that it was one of his best personal runs with these songs. Other band members also felt that we played well, “I think it went really well it was really cool to be right next to the crowd, I kind of felt bad for them because we were really loud, but it was fun, and all the solos sounded good Isolation Big Band was amazing.

“Overall, really good experience,” tenor saxophone player Bailee Peterson said.

I heard a lot of good about soloists from that performance.

“As an Overall performance we did amazing honestly, your solo the journal himself did great. I really did enjoy it.” lead trombone Daniel Chuquizuta Cruz said.

Many other PHS band members not in Jazz 1 and a few alumni also came to support and they brought a lot of energy. The rest of the crowd at the Emerald was great they were very engaged cheering and recording and taking pictures while enjoying their food.

What happens on April 26^th?

On Wednesday April 26^th, band director Mr. Edwards will be sending a smaller group of players from Jazz 1 back to the Emerald for their jazz combo night where all high schools in the Tri-Cities will be sending their own combos to play 3-4 songs on their own. The Pasco High combo will be playing “There Is No Greater Love” by Isham Jones, “Afternoon In Paris” by John Lewis, and “All Of Me” by Seymour Simons.