Arts & Entertainment

Town-Wide Jazz Festival Set for April 28

Festival will feature composer Ed Fast and members of Conga-Bop

Submitted by SHS Friends of Music and Performing Arts

Simsbury Friends of Music and Performing Arts presents the 2012 Town-Wide Jazz Festival featuring composer Ed Fast. Simsbury students, Fast, and members of Conga-Bop will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, at the Simsbury High School Auditorium, 34 Farms Village Road in Simsbury.

Approximately 75-100 students (grades 5-12) will perform in the festival, including all jazz students, second-year band students, and the Town-wide Elementary Chorus. Students will perform with Fast and members of the Conga Bop Latin jazz ensemble during the concert.

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Simsbury band students and teachers are preparing for the upcoming Jazz Festival as a part of a focus on advancing jazz education in the schools. Students in the elementary, middle and high school jazz programs will be working with Fast prior to the concert on April 28. Elementary band students from all five elementary schools will perform as a combined jazz band. Middle and high school students will perform as independent jazz groups after working with Fast on specific jazz and Latin jazz arrangements. Students who are already participating in jazz band at the elementary level will have the opportunity to sharpen jazz improvisation skills. Students who have not participated in jazz bands will be introduced to jazz as a performance art form.

“The annual Town wide Jazz Festival, generously funded by the Friends for Music & Performing Arts, helps to create a sense of community amongst the students in grades five through twelve involved in their musical discipline,” explained Angela Griffin, Director of Simsbury’s Music & Performing Arts Department. “It expands their pre- conceived musical borders and opens the door to new horizons!”

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Since 1995, Ed Fast has been involved in a variety of musical projects throughout Connecticut, New York, and around the world. He has toured with Broadway productions, was the drummer on the national tour of "Chicago," and worked with Chita Rivera on the national tour of "A Dancer's Life. In the Hartford area, Fast regularly performs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and at the Mohegan Sun Casino with such stars as Aretha Franklin, Charo, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Paul Anka and Martin Short. Locally, Fast has co-directed the SAA Jazz Academy in Simsbury, and has conducted Latin music workshops at Canton High School and the Neighborhood Music School for the New Haven Jazz Festival. Last year, he participated in the Town-wide Orchestra Festival as the professional drummer for guest artist and composer Randy Sabien. Fast is the leader and founder of Conga-Bop, a Latin jazz ensemble that combines the harmony and sensibilities of hard-bop with the rhythms of the Caribbean to produce an original and vibrant sound that is both Latin and jazz.

"This year’s festival is focused on Simsbury jazz students and their exposure to jazz and Latin jazz,” explained Griffin. “Our students currently study jazz, but Latin jazz is a genre that will be uniquely introduced to our students by Ed Fast. This directly addresses the Connecticut Music Standards guidelines for exposure to history and culture in music. As always, the Town-wide Festival is an opportunity for students to come together from all levels of their programs in order to collaborate in music making. I am looking forward to this year’s festival as an opportunity to sharpen their skills and to expand their knowledge base in regard to the jazz genre.”

The Town-Wide Jazz Festival will perform on Saturday, April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Simsbury High School Auditorium, 34 Farms Village Rd., Simsbury, CT. Tickets are $5 for adults, free for seniors and students under the age of 19. Tickets may be purchased at the door, beginning 30 minutes prior to the performance.
The Simsbury Music & Performing Arts Department is committed to providing all students with a quality education in music and performing arts. The arts are a rigorous and engaging subject that supports students in developing 21st century learning skills and understandings that are valuable in their own right, and provide a vehicle for learning in other disciplines. The Simsbury Music & Performing Arts Department believes the arts will play an ever-increasing role in our students' lives as they face new challenges in an ever-changing world.
For more information about the Town-Wide Jazz Festival, email Friends for Music at musical292@gmail.com. To find out more about the Music & Performing Arts programs and events at the Simsbury schools, please visit our website at www.simsbury.k12.ct.us/page.cfm?p=777.


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