By Jaehun Lee
Arts Reporter
Newton South’s Jazz Ensemble is arguably one of the school’s most exciting music groups.
After half of its members graduated last year (Josh Freier, Adam Verga, Alex Song, Anthony Denitto, Isaac Seabrook, Teddy Koker, and Harrison Miller), Jazz Ensemble’s remaining members are still looking to maintain an advanced level and hope to repeat their success from last year.
Replacing these well missed seniors are freshmen Evan Kos (trombone), sophomores Jonathan Chen (trumpet), Ben Jackson (baritone saxophone), Daniel Doubenski (tenor saxophone), Eu Ro Wang (alto saxophone), and Nick Adams (drums), juniors Thomas Blum (trumpet), Sam Marks (guitar), and senior Aidan O’Flaherty (drums).
With this influx of new members, sophomore Ben Romanow and juniors Caleb Fried and Abby Miller, all of whom are Jazz Ensemble alums, are excited to bond and become a cohesive ensemble over the school year.
“I’m excited to see this group of strangers practice and struggle together in becoming a good jazz band,” Romanow said. “It is cool to see things come together, but you can’t expect perfection from the beginning of the year.”
In addition, Miller hopes to be able to build on last year’s success, which included a gold medal at MAJE Regionals, a silver medal at MAJE State Finals and a 6th place finish in the Large Ensemble division at the Berklee Jazz Festival (a national competition).
“It is just a matter of confidence,” Miller stated. “If we think we can get gold, and we all work for it, we can. Honestly, it is a mindset issue. If you practice and maintain confidence, anything is possible.”
In order to accomplish this, Miller is taking on a greater responsibility to make sure she is able to set high standards for both her, her section, and the entire band.
“As an upperclassmen, I feel like it’s more of my responsibility for the group being good or not,” Miller explained. “I need to set the standards for what is expected from every group member so that we can succeed.”
Fried agreed, saying that he wants to be able to improve on consistency to make sure he can always set a good example for others in the ensemble.
“I’d like to reduce the number of ‘bad days’ I have so others always have a good example to follow,” Fried said.
Although one year is a short amount of time for the people to bond, Miller believes it will not be a hard task with the ensemble, as she senses a good social dynamic in this year’s group.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the band’s cohesion develops over the year, but it is safe to say that the Jazz Ensemble will remain a popular music group at South.
Their first concert will be on November 9th in the auditorium.
