February 12, 2015: This past Thursday, the Calvert County All-County Middle School and High School Jazz Bands performed at Patuxent High School.
The Middle School Band was directed by Carl J. Hautmann, the band director at Northern Middle School.
As a group, they performed four songs that got the audience bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. The first song they performed was made famous by Duke Ellington, titled “C-Jam Blues”. They followed that piece with “You’ve Got a friend in Me” by Randy Newman. There was an easy transition into their next piece as the Pianist, Laura Ragen of Southern Middle School, started playing the opening riff of “Oyé Como Va”, made famous by Carlos Santana, immediately following the end of the piece prior. The bass guitar and drums quickly picked up the beat and soon the entire band was playing as Mr. Hauttmann addressed the audience.
After Mr. Hautmann finished, he then cued the band who began to play much louder. This piece gave the band a large ovation from the crowd. They still had one more piece, and Mr. Hauttmann came to the podium, and said that the other middle school directors would sit in this piece and play alongside the band at their respective instruments. The piece that they all played was titled was “April in Paris” by Vernon Duke. The middle schoolers departed the stage, and the high school band took the stage.
The high school band was directed by Mr. Douglas Fraley, the band director at Mutual Elementary School. The high school band played 5 songs. They played “The Jazz Police” by Gordon Goodwin first, followed by “Big Swing Face”, by William Potts. They played a song entitled “Still a Young Man”, by Paul Murtha, and featured soloists Noelle Gebelein of Huntingtown High School, Emily Wose of Patuxent High School, Aaron Gregory of Huntingtown High School, and Michael Pettiford of Huntingtown High School. They then played “Mambo Hot”, a very popular Latin jazz piece. This particular version was written by Victor Lopez. They closed out with “In the Mood”, written by Joe Garland.
After the show, I caught up with both directors, and got a few words from both. Mr. Hautmann said that “He was honored to have been selected for the job, and really enjoyed working with these kids. They have great musical potential, and I look forward to seeing what they do with these talents.” Mr. Fraley said “Most of these kids were the first people I met in this county when I moved down here to be their long term substitute. It is an amazing thing to see their talents blossom into what they have. I am truly proud of them all.”