FitzGerald's

The North High School Jazz Ensemble opened for the Jim Guter Big Band on Sunday, January 28 at FitzGerald's Nightclub. The members of the Jazz Ensemble were honored to play at this legendary establishment, and we thank Mr. Guter for the kind invitation to open for his band.

Mrs. Guter (North High Music faculty member) was also on hand, and displayed some wonderful dance steps in the second set!

Congratulations to the DGN Jazz Ensemble for a fine performance.

All State Band - 2007

Congratulations to Mark Dortwegt and Emily Kirkegaard on their selection to the 2007 Illinois All-State Honors Band, and for a terrific performance on Saturday, January 27.

DGN Jazz - Great success at 2007 Purdue University Jazz Festival

The North High School Jazz Program enjoyed great success at the 2007 Purdue University Jazz Festival. For the first time in the school's history, all three performing ensembles garnered "Division I" recognition in the same year.

Awards included:

The DGN Jazz Combo won 1st place "honor band" status. The Combo also won the "Judges Award" for their competition room. JJ Jehangir (drums) and Rusty Jehangir (trombone) garnered outstanding solo recognition, and Rusty Jehangir was named Outstanding Soloist for the day in the Combo division.

The DGN Jazz Lab Band won 1st place "honor band" status as well, in their particular competition room. Outstanding solo recognition included Michael Walser (saxophone), Ben Tullis (flute), Sebastian Garcia (bass), Rudy Rendek (guitar) and Hannah Shatzer (piano). Additionally, Sebastian Garcia was one of two students recognized as "Outstanding Soloist" for the entire day.

The DGN Jazz Ensemble received the "Outstanding Performance" award in the Loeb Playhouse competition venue. Their average score of 95 was the highest score the band has ever attained at this prestigious Midwest festival. Outstanding solo recognition included Zach Wetta (flute), David Musselman (saxophone), Alex Binek (trumpet), and Rusty Jehangir (trombone). Additionally, Rusty Jehangir was one of two students recognized as"Outstanding Soloist" for the entire day.

Congratulations to all the DGN Jazz musicians for an outstanding weekend of jazz and many great musical accomplishments.

Jazz Cafe welcomes Nick Mazzarella

DGN welcomed alumnus Nick Mazzarella (Class of 2002) back to campus on January 12th for the annual "Jazz Cafe" concert. A graduate of DePaul University with a degree in Jazz Performance, Mr. Mazzarella is a freelance performer/artist in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Jazz Ensemble "Final Exam"

Creativity points were awarded to Al and Zach for showing up at Mr. Teague's home tonight to attempt their scale test for the Semester I final. Jazz Ensemble students, who have had two months to find Mr. Teague (preferably at school) to complete this test, are now resorting to 'unconventional forms' of performance based assessment.

P.S. If anyone else tries this ... points will be deducted for being a copy-cat. :-)

P.P.S. Miles really enjoyed getting to stay up a little later ...