Cleveland’s jazz bands went to the West Salem Jazz Festival on Feb. 7 and performed exceptionally well.

“I want to congratulate both Jazz Bands for excellent performances at the West Salem Jazz Festival on Saturday!” said Gary Riler, Cleveland’s band director.

The Jazz Lab first performed in the gym with 10 different soloists, and with one player soloing on two different instruments. Nate Childers, a bassist, learned two more charts at the last minute because the other bass player unexpectedly had to leave. 

The Jazz Lab band received the highest scores of any of our previous Jazz Lab bands at the event with a score of 74. This score then led them to place second out of 14 bands in the intermediate division behind Roosevelt Jazz 2. 

The Jazz Ensemble then performed in the auditorium with six different students performing solos. There were some minor issues with the precision in the band’s first chart and also some moments when the band wished they had some moments back, but even with that, they had amazing scores of 84, 85, and 86. 

“Excellent style and great attention to detail was on display with outstanding musicality,” said Riler. 

Jazz Lab ended up tying for first place in their division and Jazz Ensemble tied for third place in the advanced division.

The bands’ next performance will be at their special jazz night on Friday, April 24 and then at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival on April 25.