Jazz festival brings music to the ears of Milledgeville

A well-known spring event in the Milledgeville community made its way to Heritage Plaza last Friday at 5 p.m., once again. It has been held at this venue for the past three years. GCSU’s Department of Music and Theatre and Allied Arts sponsor this annual event. The Jazz Festival brings people of all ages from surrounding counties to Milledgeville.

This year’s Jazz Festival showcased jazz bands from GMC, Oak Hill, Warner Robins High School, Jones County High School, Baldwin High School and our very own GCSU Jazz Band.

Police blocked off McIntosh Street so the children could run around safely and parents could set up lawn chairs to relax and enjoy the music under the shade of the trees. It was the perfect family outing – not a cloud in the sky. There were GCSU Jazz band CD’s for sale along with a Deano’s table selling pizza to families for reduced prices.

The festival began with the Georgia Military College jazz band. Each school performed for about 30 minutes and all featured young soloists.

Lauren Adel, sophomore theater major, attended the concert for a class.

“I had to come to the Jazz Festival for one of my classes,” Adel said. “Once I got there I ended up really enjoying it. It was a great way to spend my night listening to good music and getting credit for school at the same time.”

The high school bands performed pieces from Benny Goodman, Earth Wind and Fire, The Sound of Music and Stevie Wonder. The master of ceremonies for the night announced each piece and every musician that had a solo.

The GCSU Jazz band featured soloist Dr. Gordon Vernick who plays jazz trumpet. Vernick also coordinates the jazz classes and is a professor here at GCSU.

Dr. Vernick has an outstanding background in music from some of the top musical institutions and has performed with some of the top symphonies and jazz quartets.

Dr. Todd Shiver, GCSU director of bands, was there to support all the young jazz bands and then conduct his own, the GCSU Jazz Band. Two names that were mentioned numerous times throughout the event were his sons John and Andrew Shiver, who both attend Jones County High School.

“It was really nice to have Jones County High School back after being gone for three years,” Shiver said. “It was John’s first time to play at the Jazz Festival and Andrew’s second time, and both my boys had solos.”

The festival encourages these young students to continue their musical talents throughout their educational career. It is a great way for them to see what GCSU has to offer them one day if they continue to play their instruments.

Ricky Irvine, junior business major, is a member of the GCSU Jazz Band and plays the bass.

“Playing bass for the GCSU Jazz band is truly an honor,” Irvine said. “This year’s jazz festival went really well, and the crowd was really great too.”

“Musically, I think the concert went really well and I am very proud of our jazz band,” Shiver said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on May 1 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry