Students Perform in Two Local Concerts to Raise Funds for Tour

Berkeley, CA – The Jazzschool Studio Band, featuring some of the Bay Area’s finest high school jazz musicians, will be touring Europe this summer, where they’ll be playing at the Vienne, Montreux, and Umbria Festivals, among other performances. As part of their fundraising campaign, the band is playing a number of concerts, including two special upcoming performances.

At the historic Hillside Club in Berkeley on Saturday, February 21st, the band will perform an 8pm concert that includes standards by jazz greats, including Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery, Chuck Mangione and Shorty Rogers, and will premiere a new composition, “Against the Current”, written by its pianist Matt Wong.

At the Margaret Lesher Theater in Walnut Creek on March 2nd, the Studio Band will play a “Big Band Summit” 7:30pm concert with the Las Lomas and Northgate High School Bands featuring special guests saxophonist Mary Fettig, trombonist Dave Eshelman and trumpeter Erik Jekabson.

Led by legendary bandleader, composer and arranger Dave Eshelman the Studio Band sounds mature beyond its musicians’ young ages. Concertgoers can expect incredible arrangements, fiery solos and amazing music, both exploratory and traditional. The group placed second at last year’s Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation national competition and a number of its soloists are in this year’s national selected Grammy band. If you want to see the future of jazz, this is the place to see it.

The Jazzschool Studio Band is part of the Jazzschool Community Music School at the California Jazz Conservatory (CJC) in Berkeley. The CJC is an innovative nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and performance of jazz and is the only accredited, stand-alone conservatory devoted to jazz studies in the United States.

Studio Band members are selected annually by audition; they perform frequently and participate in competitions throughout the U.S. The band has played at Yoshi’s and Savanna Jazz, as well as jazz festivals in California, New York, Seattle, Idaho and top European festivals. Studio Band members Lindsay Dobbs, Kanoa Mendenhall, Jonah Moss and Maxwell Schwartz, recently participated in the GRAMMY Foundation’s GRAMMY Camp at the 2015 GRAMMY Awards.

Tickets for the February 21 Berkeley Hillside Club concert are $20 general, $15 students and seniors, and $10 Hillside Club members. The Berkeley Hillside Club is located at 2286 Cedar St. Call (510) 845-1350 for information. Tickets for the March 2 Margaret Lesher Theater will be available at the door. The Margaret Lesher Theater is located at 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Call (925) 295-1400 for information.