By Andrew Huang ‘15, Staff Writer

According to the jazz great Wynton Marsalis, jazz is “music that swings”. On Tuesday February 22nd, seven select middle school jazz musicians showed their “swing” at the NJAJE (New Jersey Association for Jazz Education) Jazz Combo Festival at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.

The Middle School Jazz combo, who call themselves the “Gila Monsters”, consist of seven top middle school jazz musicians: George Austin ‘15, Josh Charrow ‘16, Kevin Jiang ‘15, Michael Lee ‘15, Aaron Levy ‘16, Rachel Neiman ‘15, and Aditya Srivatsan ‘15. The New Jersey Association for Jazz Education Jazz Combo Festival is an event for 3-5 small jazz groups (combos) to perform. There was no real “winner”, but every team got a participation award.

This was the first year that middle school musicians participated in the festival, and the Gila Monsters sure were excited for the experience. In the words of Aditya Srivatsan, the 1st trumpet player for the Gila Monsters, “It went very well. The middle school combo tried very hard and deserved the ‘win,’ we didn’t win officially but we were better than the other groups in the showcase. It was a great experience. Many great jazz musicians who showed us how to improvise on stuff like chord changes.”

At the festival, the Gila Monsters had a great performance. Mr. Tolentino, NA’s jazz teacher and leader of the Gila Monsters, said, “It was a huge success. Our jazz combo represented Newark Academy very well. We were able to play for one of the greatest living jazz pianists, Mullgrew Miller. I believe our group was a great example of what a strong middle school jazz program should sound like.”

The participation of the Gila Monsters in the Jazz Combo Festival shows the ever-increasing involvement of NA middle school students in extra-curricular activities. Middle school students get the opportunities to show their talent and skill – and they sure do.

“I think the band felt accomplished and proud of their achievements,” Rachel Neiman, one of the drummers for the combo, added. Without question, the Gila Monsters jazz group is a great success.