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Grace Jackman

The Jazz Lab Band, composed of mainly freshmen, performs “Baytrail Shuffle” by Maria Schneider to kick off the concert, featuring freshman Lana Turner on guitar. “I hope that they'll be proud of their performance tonight, and they'll look back on it with good memories about not only the performance aspect, but just the fun that they had with friends,” Mr. Karnstedt said.

On Thursday, April 10, the Jazz Lab Band and the Jazz Ensemble performed in the studio theater at 7:30 p.m. The concert celebrated women in jazz, showcasing songs by female composers and songs featuring female vocalists or soloists.

The night kicked off with the Jazz Lab Band, featuring many freshmen, playing three songs, including the first song of “Baytrail Shuffle” by Maria Schneider; the lively, funky beat energized the audience. Junior Zoe Mueller accompanied the piece on the guitar, and freshman   Felix Kong played the piano.

The Jazz Ensemble began their performance with “Cactus Blossom” by Annie Booth, with fun melodies and unique harmonies, featuring vocalist and senior Wren Frey. 

Jazz Band teacher Mr. Matthew Karnstedt loved showcasing the students’ work throughout the year and seeing all the hard work from rehearsal pay off. 

“I feel like the programming was good,” Mr. Karnstedt said. “I really enjoyed working with students. I think the kids enjoyed [the songs]. I wish I would have built some more stuff in for more soloists. But other than that, I feel like it went as well as I thought.”

Junior Anna Garippo, who has been playing saxophone for seven years, often focuses on her individual performance and improvements as she continues throughout her time in Jazz Band.

“It’s a good thing to think about, like how the entire group did, but the main focus is always yourself and how you can get better,” Garippo said. “There’s a lot of things I think I could improve on, but I’m proud of what I did.”

Senior Annie Brody has been playing the guitar for seven years. Being an active Jazz Ensemble member for the last four years, she has mixed emotions as this is her final Jazz Band concert of her high school career.

“I’m always very excited about my future, but I’m also very sad to leave this ensemble of all my friends behind,” Brody said.

Many of the songs for both Jazz Lab Band and Jazz Ensemble were proven to be challenging at the level that the students are at.

“They’re playing mostly knowledge level and professional level music,” Mr. Karnstedt said. “So it’s a real challenge for high schools to pull it off, but luckily, we have program-dedicated students and teachers, and that makes it a lot easier to do those types of things.”

For the final song of the night by the Jazz Ensemble, Mr. Karnstedt recognized his mom and her support and commitment to his Jazz Band career at LHS, as he’s an LHS alum, as well as her continuous commitment to this day as he’s a music teacher now. He wanted to honor his mom with the song “Uncle Heavy’s Porkchop Revue” by Keith Foley, as he played it while in high school. 

Overall, for the group, “Uncle Heavy’s Porkchop Revue” was a large technical challenge as the bands don’t commonly play in that style.

“I had to talk to people [and] take a lot of advice on how to play in that style, and the saxes work together to work on that solo [for part of the song] and play the rhythms,” Garippo said. “It was challenging, but I really liked it.”

As the juniors finish off their year and head into their final year of high school, it’s bittersweet, yet exciting for what the future holds for them and within the Jazz Bands.

“I’m already starting to think of…who’s gonna come up after me,” Garippo said. “It’s exciting, and it’s also sad because I’m sad to see this experience go, but I’m really excited to see who really comes up next.”

Looking back on the concert, Mr. Karnstedt is proud of the students’ performance tonight and hopes students will look back on the memories they’ve had of the performance and the fun that they’ve had with their friends. 

“Ultimately, why we do music is so we can express ourselves creatively, but also be with people that we care about,” Mr Karnstedt said. “It’s one of those things that is truly collective in our society.” 

While this is the final Jazz Band of the year, the fine arts department isn’t finished. The music department will continue to celebrate spring through the Orchestra and Band spring concerts on May 1 and May 14. Additionally, Choir has a concert on May 13.