The School Band

Absent: Bevan Rix,  Geof Leeden

Front row: G. Carter, A. Daley, L. Pearson, G. Gibson, R. Ayers, J. McBain, S. Beamish, B. Simpson, D. Scoular.

Second row: C. Oakland, P. B. Childs, 0. B. Winefield, E. Moore, A. Daley, M. Degarnham, K. R. Hunt, P. J. Larkin, B. Johnstone

Front: P. de Wattignar, K. Geary, W. Myers

Centre row: B. Gillon, A. Patterson, N. Sudgroat, M. McLachlan, J. McBain, B. Johnston.

Front row: M. Knox, P. Childs, 0. Winefield, A. Daley, Mr A. Brieseman, E. Moore, D. Gillon, N. Gillon, C. Oatley.

Row 1: C. Oatley, B. Johnston, M. Larkins, Mr. H. Ide, D. Gillon, M. Knox, N. Gillon

Absent: N. Winefield

 Our combined King’s & Queen’s High Jazz Band has had another busy year. Directed by Paul Claman and assisted by music staff from both schools, the group rehearses weekly in the music room at Queen’s High School.

The band has worked tirelessly to learn a new repertoire for 2016, which it has had the pleasure of performing at a number of occasions this year including both King’s and Queen’s Open Days and Nights.

Once again the Jazz Band travelled to sunny Blenheim for the annual Southern Youth Jam Jazz Festival.  It was the tenth year the combined Jazz Band has participated in the annual festival and this year proved to be another enjoyable experience for all (see separate report).

The Band includes 13 King’s boys ranging from Year 13 to Year 9: Jake Andrews (2^nd alto sax), Bradley Taylor (1^st Trumpet), Alec Rogers (1^sttenor sax), Felix Morrison (guitar), Dale Dai (keys), Thomas Somerfield (2^nd trumpet), Luke Otley (keys), Reuben Morison (2^nd alto sax), Alex McAdam (trombone), Max McCormick (double bass), Corey Symon (trombone), Matthew Wong (2^nd tenor sax), Oscar Te Morenga-Wakelin (clarinet), Ryan McCleery (clarinet), Logan Cadzow (3^rd trumpet).

1ST ROW Peter Woodfield, Marshall Klenner, Damian Wylie, Jack Ingram, Stefan Keller, Isaac Douglas

2ND ROW Jo Dryden, Nikhil Rawat, William Harbrow, Blake Hughes, Emmanuel Keane

ABSENT Peter Blaikie, Samuel Goldfinch

1ST ROW Nikhil Rawat, Marshall Klenner, Damian Wylie, Jack Ingram, Stefan Keller

2ND ROW Blake Hughes, Jo Dryden, Emmanuel Kean

1ST ROW Kohl Goodfellow, Jayden Burgess, Will Summers, Reid Smith, Mitchell Lindsay, Ethan Shaw-Wood

2ND ROW Ashane De Silva, Blake Hughes, Luca Macnee, Kaine Harington

ABSENT Levi Simpson

1ST ROW Nathaniel Strange, Ted Menzies, CJ Henry, Ashane De Silva

2ND ROW Christian Fogavai, Kaine Harington, Blake Hughes

ABSENT Te Kahurangi Mclean, Levi Simpson

This year we have enjoyed a varied range including medleys from Billy Joel and Santana, as well as processional music for Prizegiving.
The Band gives opportunity to our instrumental musicians who enjoy playing a range of musical styles, at a variety of levels of difficulty, within the group situation.
With Mr Kane and Ms Dryden taking rehearsals, all participants were guaranteed a good time, while still putting in the
hard yards to turn the notes on the page into beautiful pieces of music.

We entered the Otago Youth Jazz Festival and Competition again, and for a third year running gained several awards. This year, the Jazz Band was awarded the ‘Overall Winner of the ‘Swing’ Category. Also, ‘Outstanding Musicianship’ awards were given to Emmanuel Keane (alto saxophone) and Matthew McIlroy (trombone), and Nikhil Rawat once again took out the award for the Best Performance on the Baritone Saxophone.

The Jazz Combo was set up in the latter part of 2019 at the behest of students who wanted to have the opportunity to perform in a ‘King’s only’ jazz combo, as well as tackle some more challenging music. This year the combo has provided entertainment in assemblies, prizegiving, open nights and at various concerts as well as at the Dunedin Youth Jazz Festival; delighting and wowing audiences with their impressive repertoire of jazz standards in a variety of styles.