The Jazz Ensemble, the top jazz band at San Jose’s Valley Christian Schools’ Conservatory of the Arts, was named the nation’s Best High School Large Jazz Ensemble by leading jazz publication, DownBeat Magazine.
Details of the award will appear in their June, 2013 issue.
Saxophonist Howard Dietz was also honored by the publication for his arrangement of “Fables of Fabus.”
DownBeat also selected Room 107, Valley Christian’s jazz choir, for top honors naming them 2013’s Best Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble. The honor was handed down late in April at the University of Nevada, Reno during the Reno Jazz Festival.
In addition to winning top honors for their school category, the Jazz Ensemble tied for first place overall with perennial powerhouse Folsom High.
The Reno Jazz Festival attracts more than 100 high school bands. Students in the Valley Christian Jazz Ensemble are Sarah Chue of Los Altos, Alyssa Chung, Bryce Collins of Morgan Hill, Howard and Katelyn Dietz, also of Morgan Hill, Peter Freedman, Dakota Gregoric, Teresa Lem, Jordan Lief, Miguel Martinez, Kanoa Mendenhall, Dimitri Morris, Alex Popoff, Carly Pritchett, Daniel Santos, Ethan Saxe of Los Gatos, Wynne Stagnaro, Nathan Tao of Los Gatos, Co Tran, Adam Trinh, and Seiji Yamashita, who play under the direction of Dr. Marcus Wolfe.
With several members of the band graduating in spring Thursday was the last opportunity to see the nationally recognized band perform at the historic Corinthian Grand Ballroom in downtown San Jose. “Jazz at the Corinthian” was slated to bring together all the school’s jazz bands plus Room 107.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.