By Tiffany Xu, Staff Writer

On January 29th, the Mills Jazz Band participated in the Folsom Jazz Festival, winning first place. The Folsom Jazz Festival is an annual event within the state where middle and high school jazz bands come together to compete. Everyone gets a chance to listen to each other and interact with other bands. For the jazz members, it’s a special moment to be able to experience such an accomplishment and to meet new people.

Besides winning just first place in their category, there were soloist awards to seven people. The jazz band worked hard for their rightful place in the competition, having rehearsals and practices very often; arriving school early in the morning, and sometimes leaving school late. They rehearsed for months, paying very close attention to details, listening to original recordings to help them fix parts of their songs. Soloists and smaller groups practiced to perfect their songs. The jazz band played three songs, “Easy Money” (Benny Carter), “Dance Of Denial” (Michael Phillip Mossman), and “Johnny Come Lately” (Billy Strayhorn). 

Reflecting back on their performance in the festival, members are proud, as Erik Headley (senior) describes it, “We had some unreal time constraints but we managed to put it all together and give one of the best performances we’ve ever given.” Members were able to play perfectly, no sections overpowering others. Some favorite parts were watching certain bands from different schools play, interacting with others, performing, and eating crepes.
The jazz band individually had great contributions into their hard work to earn that first place award. This festival has been a remarkable place to see potentials in bands. It’s a memorable moment that the band will cherish forever.