Generations in Jazz

A Monumental weekend of jazz performance 

Last weekend, Northcote High’s Intermediate and Senior Stage Bands, as well as Harmony Vocals went on a trip to Mount Gambier in South Australia to perform at Generations in Jazz, an annual jazz competition held in the first weekend of May every year. Over 3500 students from all over the country attended the event. None of the competing ensembles from Northcote this year had ever been to Generations in Jazz before, because of Covid-19. We were all very excited for a way to experience music we’d never seen before. 

On the way to Mount Gambier, we stopped at Ararat Primary School to perform to their students at an assembly. Many students at Ararat hadn’t encountered a big band before, and some were taken by surprise when what they thought was called a xylophone was actually called a bass. Performing for them gave us good preparation for the day to come and brought many a smile and head bob to the kids, which put a smile on all of our faces. 

After our long, karaoke-enchanted bus ride, enhanced by the sweetest of Carolines and the most American of pies, we had a pit stop at our hosts, Mulga Street Primary School to drop off bags, and then continued our journey to the actual location of Generations in Jazz. This turned out to be a somewhat muddy field covered in all manner of pergolas, tents, food trucks, with performance spaces glittered across it, as well as the world’s largest modular tent. That night we watched a jaw dropping performance by professional jazz musicians and singers Thndo and Adam Lopez.

After the concert, we were back off the Mulga St. Our coach had been parked so far down the road, we weren’t sure we were still in South Australia by the time we found it. Never had any of us felt warmer or more comfortable getting on a bus. When we had walked across the frigid, wet, grass to the bus, we went past enough buses to take the whole school and more, which goes to show how many students had travelled here. We subsequently headed back to Mulga Street to sleep and prepare for our performances the next day.

We woke up at the ungodly hour of 6am and ate breakfast (provided by the lovely staff at Mulga St PS), which would fuel us for the over 15 hours of Jazz we had ahead of us, and prepare for the day. Instruments were tuned, pieces were practiced, and bow ties had been bought. We were finally ready to perform.

First up on this rainy day was the Intermediate Stage Band at 8 o’clock, one of the opening performances of the day. We had to prepare and warmup in a tiny room near the performance tent and then walk in from a back entrance. We came in excited and walked up on stage with no issues to speak of (there was minimal ice on the music stands).

We began our performance with the competition test piece for our division, “The Bold One” by Steve Newcomb, a slightly suspenseful piece that prepared us for the rest of the performance. Our second piece was “Emily”, a relaxing ballad that was composed by Johnny Mandel. We went out with the exciting piece “Splanky” by Count Basie. Overall, the Intermediate Stage Band had fun and all thought that we performed our best.

Following the Intermediate Stage Band, we all went to find one of what felt like hundreds of tents, and eventually located the Division 2 Stage Band Pavilion. We were introduced to the impressive quality of the division 2 bands after witnessing performances by schools sporting uniform blazers (some of which had mustered an impressive 20 people on stage), however we remained undaunted, and we were still determined to play our best. We prepared in what resembled a renovated shipping container and travelled through a muddy quagmire which resembled the Somme in World War One. 

We began our performance with the test piece, “Breadcrumbs”, by Grant Windsor. A seemingly endless (and shockingly difficult) big band chart that culminates with a “greasy” shout chorus. This was followed by our ballad, “’Round Midnight”, by Cootie Williams and Thelonious Monk, featuring a mesmerising trumpet solo by Leo Pinnuck. We concluded our set with a stage band arrangement of the funk song “Brick House” By the Commodores, featuring solos by many members of the band. We played very well, and we had fun which was all that mattered.

After locating yet another tent, treading through the mud, and listening to some vocal ensembles, Harmony vocal were ready to perform. They began with the test piece “Hi”, composed by Ed Fairlie, which sounded exceptional, and followed this with the jazz standard “Moon River”, By Henry Mancini (arr. Sara Garrard), which was hypnotic. Harmony vocal sang exceptionally well, and it was a testament to their hard work.

By 1pm we had all performed, feeling more relieved than ever. We spent the afternoon visiting different pavilions to watch the other schools. We came to realize that the morning performances might have not been so bad, as some schools were dealt the unfortunate fate of torrential rain and hail during their performances. Singers weren’t the only thing belting across the festival.

That night, announcements of the “Superband’s”, big bands comprised of the best player of each instrument chosen by the judges took place interspersed with more professional performances. After the announcements were over, the stage was overtaken by Dirty Loops, a Swedish electronic and jazz fusion band for a loud, exciting concert with all members of the crowd encouraged to stand up and dance.

The following morning was friendlier, with a 7am wake-up time and another fulfilling breakfast. We departed for our final time to the tent-alizing GIJ festival site. After attending some workshops ran by some of the musicians we had seen perform on the big stage, we proceeded to the award ceremony. It became clear that our jazz drive was wearing thin after the muddy weekend, but we held strong (and our eyes open) for the award ceremony. Seeing the super bands perform, who were only given that morning to rehearse, excited us all. 

A huge congratulations was in order, when Northcote High Drummer, Luca Guiney, won the Ross and Jenny Blanchard Development Award. The funded prize is for talented instrumental students in either their first or second year of high school, to help them reach their full music potential, and no one was more deserving than Luca!

After the conclusion of the award ceremony, we filed out of the tent for the last time and hopped on board our coach to depart for Mount Gambier. After a brief stop in Hamilton to empty and refill our water bottles, and a less brief dinner stop back in Ararat, we were soon entering Melbourne, and were at NHS at 8:30 PM on the dot (60 hours after we departed).

It was a monumental weekend, and we couldn’t have done it without the fantastic and indefatigable dedication of our Musical Directors, Tessa Bodenham, Basil Byrne, and Cindy Frost, as well as the irreplaceable Jackie Brogan for all the hard work that she put in as part of the preparation for the trip, and Martin Ramsay for coming along to take part in all the fun! We would like also to acknowledge and thank Basil, Cindy, Jackie, and Martin for giving up their weekends to supervise us jazz enthusiasts. additionally, a huge thank you to our bus driver, Peter for doing an exceptional job.

Performing Arts Captains, Patrick Byrne and Tom Leslie