Lion's Tale

Jazz Band travels to Washington, D.C.

Friday, June 08, 2012 By Matt Wenz

New Hope-Solebury Jazz has performed all over the state, and country, over the last few years. They have performed in multiple festivals and venues across Pennsylvania, went out to perform and compete in San Francisco, and even went out to perform in Toronto, Canada. Now they’ve added one of their most impressive venues to date, the nation’s capital, to the list. The group spent three days playing multiple venues across D.C., starting with a performance at the highly-established Twins Jazz Club. The band played two forty-five minute sets along with the lead trombonist of the U.S. Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, Matt Niess. They continued their tour with a performance at the National Navy Memorial, during Naval Academy graduation weekend, in front of a crowd of Washington residents and tourists. The performance was highlighted by the debut of the group’s newest vocalist, Leigh Ferro, singing I’ve Got You Under My Skin, a chart previously performed with the group by such New Hope vocalists as Devyn Rush and London Clarke . That same evening, the group was able to perform the National Anthem at the Potomac Nationals baseball game, a minor-league affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Their performance tour concluded the following afternoon at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. The Jazz Band was able to take part in multiple clinics while in D.C., one from the Head of the Capital Bones Jazz Trombone group, Matt Niess at the Twins Jazz Club in D.C., and one with the Director of Jazz Studies at the Univeristy of Maryland, Chris Vadala. The group was also able to tour D.C. and visit the Smithsonian Museums, visit the Washington Monument and Capital Building in D.C., and visit Annapolis, Maryland during Naval Academy graduation weekend. The band will perform their final two concerts of the year in the upcoming weeks. Jazz Under the Stars, the annual outdoor concert featuring soloist and duet groups as well as the entire NHS Jazz Band, will take place on June 5 th in the theater courtyard. Their final performance of the year will be at the NHS student award ceremony on June 7 th . These will be the final performances for seniors Michael Manoff, Frank Dallago, Jamie Macnichol, Nicole Garafolla, Riley Frankhouser, Michael Rothblat and Spencer Coulton.