Seven of Santa Barbara High School’s award-winning Jazz Stars attending the acclaimed Berklee College of Music and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston will be closing down 2011 from 3 to 6 p.m. Dec. 27 at Montecito Country Club, 920 Summit Road.
The Santa Barbara High Alumni All-Star Jazz Band and Combos will be joined by local favorite Peter Clark and other guest artists.
The afternoon will be kicked off by Grammy Spotlight finalist and Berklee Presidential Scholar Lito Hernandez on alto sax, Berklee’s Jared Yee on tenor, Victor Murillo on bass, and Matt Raphaelian and Quincy Jones on drums. Berklee has more Grammy winners than any school in the world.
The Berklee boys will be joined by MIT’s 2012 Faculty Brushard Scholar nominee Andrew Adams on tenor and flute, Biola University’s three-time soloist awardee Robert Harrell on trumpet and bass, Nathaniel Taylor on keyboards, along with other SBHS alumni and current advanced jazz band students, including Johnny Wegar and Harry Swalley.
Tickets are $20 with reservation by Dec. 24; $25 at the door; and $15 for students, SBHS alumni, Santa Barbara Jazz Society members and Noozhawk readers who make reservations by Dec. 24.
For advanced reservations, text your name and number to 805.680.3939, or email sbperfectmix@gmail.com.
Student performers are available to play at private, organizational and corporate events from now through January. Their next gig is from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 29 at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club. Availability remains for Dec. 30 and 31 and throughout January.
Little-Known Facts
» The SBHS Advanced Jazz Band Program has historically had the highest concentrations of National Merit and AP Distinguished and Commended scholars, including a recent National Merit Scholar.
» World-class Berklee College is located across the street from M.I.T. and just down the street from Harvard. The Berklee Method is an elaborate system that employs mathematical permutation and combination process to generate rhythms, melodies and harmonies. It was founded in 1945 by a family with ties to M.I.T. to develop the highest level of nonconservatory musical talent aka jazz, contemporary, soul, rock, funk and Latin. Berklee is the hub for musical creation, production and implementation of the latest technology, much of it coming from M.I.T., where the Internet was launched along with many other inventions that “changed the world.”
— Andrew Adams is a 2010 graduate of Santa Barbara High School and a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.