Wheeling, Warren Twp. gunning for Roosevelt U. jazz band title

The jazz bands from Wheeling and Warren Township high schools consistently score at the top of their divisions at area jazz festivals.

From Jazz in the Meadows, where Warren Township of Gurnee won the grand championship title last year and Wheeling won it in 2008 and 2001, to the Mundelein and North Shore jazz fests, the two ensembles are among the best in the area.

Now, they will be putting their reputations on the line when they perform live at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts. Both are finalists in the "Battle of the High School Jazz Bands" contest.

Warren Township and Wheeling were chosen along with Oak Park River Forest High School and the Chicago Academy for the Arts High School as the top four jazz bands, based on their submissions, captured on YouTube. The recordings are at dailyherald.com.

At stake Wednesday night, Nov. 17, is a $2,000 cash prize for the winning band's jazz program. In addition, all four finalists will receive airtime on WLFM 87.7-FM as featured guest artists on the Steve Cole show, which airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

Wheeling's jazz band stepped up their rehearsal time last week in preparation for the big night. They gave up a day off school on Veterans Day to practice and returned the following morning at 6:30 a.m. for more.

Jazz band members play in a rehearsal room where the feeling of success is visually tangible. Players stand beneath a shelf that contains all of their trophies, which stretch across the room.

But teacher Brian Logan, now in his 20th year as band director, insists they don't talk about winning as they prepare for competitions like this one, and his students echo his sentiments.

"It's a celebration of music," says junior saxophone player Mike Taylor of Arlington Heights, who combines with all-state trumpeter senior Billy Kort of Wheeling during the opening of their first song, "The Jody Grind."

"That's what we think about," Taylor says, "celebrating our love of music."

He's not kidding. His classmates chime in with similar comments. Junior Leah Malsom, one of only three girls in the ensemble, plays the standup bass.

"We do what we always do," she says, "which is to play at a really high level."

That same mantra drives Warren Township's jazz ensemble, led by teacher Andrew Russell. He treats them as a professional quality group, he says, and he expects them to push the boundaries for high school jazz groups.

"We have a model of performance here at Warren that goes back 30 years or more," Russell says. "Knowing that, students have a tangible idea of the level of performance we are aiming to achieve, and it has caused them to begin the year with great urgency."

For the contest, they submitted a seven-minute rendition of "Mission to Monterey," arranged by Matt Catingub, but they will also play a Duke Ellington standard, "Happy Go Lucky Local."

Russell points to the experience of his brass section and soloists as strengths of the band, but he also surrounds them with high-level musicians. After performing for the contest, they return to Warren to prepare for their next gig, a jazz concert on Nov. 30 with guest artists Rob Parton and Paul Wertico.

At Wheeling, meanwhile, senior drummer Nate Lichtenberger of Wheeling, says the band has to let their love of jazz take over when they play in the contest.

"We have to feel it," he says. "We can't just play what's written on the page. We have to groove."