On Friday, February 7th, the Gig Harbor Jazz Band traveled up to Bremerton to perform at the renewed Quincy Square Jazz Festival. The festival was active under a different name till the 1970s but has, up until this year, been inactive for over 50 years. It is named in honor of jazz musician Quincy Jones, who found his love for music by spending most of his childhood in Bremerton.
The festival started at 8 am, and the 12 participating high school and middle school bands kept playing till 4:30 pm. They were all competing for the Ralph Mutchler Sweepstakes award, which gets granted to the best performing group. In addition, the two best high school and middle school bands who moved on to the final got to play at the Jazz Gala. The event took place in the Roxy Theatre, which is located in the middle of the Quincy Jones Square in Bremerton, at 7 pm that same evening.
Our own Gig Harbor Jazz Band arrived at the event around noon and started their performance at 2 pm. “We played with a lot of energy, and people could tell that we were passionate about what we were doing,” said Kaitlyn Stefanski (12). Their dynamic and well-executed performance received lots of applause in addition to a qualification for the final. “It was exciting and surprising,” said Henry Davis (12). The competition in the final was a highly esteemed band from Ballard in Seattle. “It was exciting to be a finalist alongside a band from Seattle; they’re some of Washington’s best high school jazz bands,” said Stefanski. Because of the opposing band’s impressive performance, the Tides did not expect to win, but in the end they ended up outdoing themselves and going home with the trophy. Percussionist James McCourt says that the band was very excited about their performance because it was one of the best that they have had. “We’re the first name on the trophy, so it’s really cool to be a part of something new,” said Davis. “It was exhilarating and felt almost unreal, especially being compared to a Seattle group; we haven’t won something like this in years,” said Caleb Place (11).
In addition to the band taking 1st place, Stefanski got awarded the best trumpet solo performance, and James McCourt won the award for best solo performance for the percussion category. “I didn’t believe it at first because it’s very rare for females to get recognition in jazz, especially in the male-dominated trumpet category,” said Stefanski. McCourt was also surprised by his award and didn’t see it coming. “There were other fantastic soloists that I would’ve picked over myself, but I’m still super joyous about the award,” says McCourt.
Overall, the Tides had a wonderful time performing and are glad that they got the opportunity to showcase their abilities. We are all proud of their achievement and all the effort that lies behind this trophy!