Plymouth Whitemarsh High School is proud to host the first-ever Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) District 11 Jazz Concert on Wednesday, November 19, at 7:00 pm. Thirty-seven high school students from 19 schools in Bucks and Montgomery counties will perform a variety of big band jazz music, ranging from classic Count Basie Orchestra and Duke Ellington to contemporary funk and everything in between.

Six Plymouth Whitemarsh students will participate: Ace Cratin, trumpet; Davin Haley, alto sax;
Jason Walters, percussion; Blake Ambler and Max Tobin, trombone; and Thea Kupersmith, trumpet.

The students will be in two standard jazz bands, each consisting of saxophones, trombones, trumpets, piano, bass, drums, and guitar. Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds, a Chicago native, will conduct the District 11 Jazz Band. She is a vocal jazz musician, composer, arranger, and educator who currently serves as Dean of the Professional Education Division at Berklee College of Music. Dr. Michael Hood will conduct the District 11 Jazz Collective. He has written for, directed, and recorded with The Hoppin’ John Orchestra, a 10-piece New Orleans-style Brass Band in Philadelphia, and was the director of instrumental music at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, PA, from 1997 to 2023.

The students will meet each other and the guest conductors for the first time when they rehearse on November 18 for six hours, but they’ve been individually practicing the music for a month. They will rehearse again on November 19 for about five hours and then perform a free concert.

PMEA District Jazz has been in existence for over 35 years. PMEA District 11 was the only area in the
state that did not have a district jazz festival until this year. “In a year that began with ‘19’… the PMEA District 2 Jazz Festival was one of my favorite and most memorable activities,” said Tonia Kaufman, the organizer and host of this festival. PMEA District 11 is proud to provide this opportunity for the students of Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Photos: Submitted