The first Santa Barbara Jazz Society Student Scholarship Competition was held on Sunday, May 17 at SOhO to a full house of Jazz Society members and families and friends of the young musicians who competed for prize money and the honor of being the chosen as the best in their category. The decision must have been a difficult one for the esteemed jazz panel of professionals who included Ian Bernard, Dr. Chuck Wood, Dauri Kennedy, and Sandy Cummings. There was an abundance of young talent displayed, but it all came down to two winners: trombone player, Max Fourmy, an 11th grader from Dos Pueblos High and vocalist, Nathaniel Neumann, a 12th grader also from Dos Pueblos. The 15 contestants from the three public high schools in the area were chosen to compete by their instructors. Each were required to play or sing a song from the American Songbook. In addition the instrumentalists were also required to play a blues number. The students were accompanied by the well seasoned trio of Peter Clark on piano, Randy Tico on bass, and drummer Craig Thatcher. The event was the “brain child” of Peter Clark who also produced, directed and funded it with the help of SBJS Scholarship Chair, ReVay Seifert. We can only hope that this will be only the first of many such competitions in the future. It was inspiring to see these young musicians give it their all! Yes, jazz is alive a well in Santa Barbara!
– Natalie Wilson
Photos by Mark McDonald
Mark has posted about 40 more photos from the event: Please visit his web site album to see all of them.