Jasper Winterton
Feature/Video Editor
“I want to thank our school and community personnel for supporting us. We live in a cool little town that embraces the arts, and we always hope we’re being good stewards of jazz.” Kevin Cole, music teacher and jazz band director, said via email.
The jazz band will perform at The Grandel with special guest Steve Ewing, member of St. Louis-based band The Urge on Saturday, Nov. 23, From 6-8 PM. Tickets can be bought online at MetroTix and are $20 a person.
This isn’t the first time that the band has done a collaboration.
Cole said the band has “Toured and performed with Grammy winners and some of the leading musicians and educators in the jazz world. We’ve played for local, national and international audiences, and now that we have alumni who are ‘on the scene,’ we’re even lucky enough to get to play with our own former students.”
Ewing is a 1988 WGHS graduate, and Cole added, “He’s a great artist, entrepreneur and person. He is definitely someone who ‘gives back’ to the community, and we have talked for years about a collaboration like this. I felt like he’d do a great job handling Ray Charles’s music, and I hope people enjoy what we’re doing.”
Molly Woodfin, senior, has been a member of the band since the beginning of her sophomore year, playing tenor saxophone.
Woodfin said via messages, “Preparation for the performance has been similar to that of our other concerts, but since the music isn’t super challenging Mr. Cole really emphasizes listening to the original tracks so we can sound as authentic (similar to Ray’s band) as possible in terms of style.”
Ewing’s official website describes him as, “the golden voice behind the seven piece powerhouse The Urge.” The Urge created a lasting impact on the community, as the website includes that “Formed in high school back in late 80’s, The Urge took their eclectic mix of punk, reggae, hip hop and ska, and sent a sonic shockwave from the Midwest that can still be felt to this day.”
Woodfin added, “(Ewing) was very personable and easy to work with. Finally getting to rehearse with him made everything we’ve been working on fall into place, since we got to feel how our parts interacted with Steve’s singing.” She mentioned that her parents are big fans of The Urge, so growing up listening to Ewings music makes the experience especially cool.
Cole said, “Jazz band includes anyone in the band program who reads music (at least at a basic level) and will have good attendance at rehearsals. In the case of guitar, bass and piano, we take students outside of the band (since traditional band programs don’t feature those instruments.)”
Cole added students can join the band by showing up, and he has had conversations with students outside of the school’s band program who would work on guitar, bass or piano.
Feature Photo: Junior Molly Woodfin plays the saxophone at the 2023 Old Webster Blues and Jazz Festival. Photo by Hannah Ensor.
Jasper Winterton-Feature/Video EditorThis will be Jasper Winterton’s second year on ECHO staff. He made several contributions while taking journalism class his freshman year. |
Support Our Sponsors
