Friday, May 26, 2017
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Boardman High School’s spring jazz concert will take place next Friday at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of the school on Glenwood Avenue, featuring BHS Jazz Ensembles 1, 2 and 3, all of which are under the direction of Thomas M. Ruggieri.
Because there will be a dance recital in the school’s performing arts center at 7777 Glenwood Ave. that night, concertgoers must enter the school through the gymnasium entrance on the north side of the building. Admission is $3 ($2 for students, and free for senior citizens).
Ensemble 1 is the top group in the BHS jazz program. It will begin and end the program with selections that include: Radiohead’s “Bodysnatchers,” “I Can’t Get Started,” “Orange Colored Sky,” “Soul Vaccination,” “Delta City Blues” as done by Michael Brecker and Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.”
Jazz Ensemble 3 selections will include “Baby, You’ve Got What It Takes” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Ensemble 2 will play “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number” by Steely Dan, “Harlem Nocturne” and Trombone Shorty’s “Backatown.”
The seniors will be prominently featured throughout the three bands’ performances. They are John Beck, Mario D’Amato, Nick DiGiacomo, David Dutko, Kenny Nguyen, Helen Nguyen, Noah Ogan, Nic Ouimet, Michaela Ramirez, Courtney Segool, Stephen Stanko, Erin Straker, Rohun Vangal, Jamie Vitullo, Savanna Wade and Kayla Welton.
The Boardman jazz program is the most active one in the area, performing about 20 concerts during a typical school year. Ensemble 1 recently performed at BluJazz+ in Akron and at the Packard JAM Fest in Warren. It will play at New York jazz club Swing 46 on June 5. Jazz 2’s offshoot group, 2k17, played a pop-rock set at Boardman’s Relay for Life and will present a “School’s Out for The Summer” show in Boardman Park on June 12.
The BHS Summer Jazz Ensemble is slated to perform at Columbiana’s Firestone Park on June 25, Waterfire Sharon on July 15, Waterworth Memorial Park in Salem on July 23, and Boardman Park on Aug. 24.