They take jazz seriously at Wauwatosa East High School.
The students in Jazz Ensemble I, which has been offered now for more than a decade, meets three days at week at 7 a.m. Yes, 7 a.m. Other rehearsals take place before school and over lunch. Other jazz classes and rehearsals occur after school and in the evening.
That might explain why Tosa East musicians have performed in London, Paris and Edinburgh, among other places. The school jazz band is again among the finalists in the Essentially Ellington competition and festival held at New York's Lincoln Center in May.
The students also take part in an annual concert at the school by the Northern Illinois University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. Ron Carter, a respected saxophonist.
This year's guest artist is hometown boy, drummer Carl Allen who is currently the Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School of Music in New York. Previous guests have included bassist Larry Ridley, trumpeter Randy Brecker, trombonist Steve Turre, pianist Willie Pickens, trumpeter Art Davis, saxophonist Charles McPherson, trumpeter Terell Stafford and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson.
"It all began with the creation of the Jazz At Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington program," says Rob Engl, band director at Tosa East.
"Essentially Ellington (EE) sponsored its first Band Director Academy in 1999. Prof. Ronald Carter, the Director of the NIU Jazz Ensemble, and the Director of Jazz Studies at NIU, was on the faculty. Many years ago the NIU band had appeared annually at the former Jewish temple adjacent to UW-Milwaukee. The connection was lost when the temple cantor accepted a position at a synagogue in St. Louis. Ron and
"I wanted to re-establish the tradition and 10 years ago we hosted our first NIU/East Jazz Concert at Wauwatosa East. Ron, my wife Robin, who is the other band director at Wauwatosa East, and I created the first concert 10 years ago. The rest is history."
Of the 1,200 Red Raiders, 400 -- a full third of the student body -- participate in the school's music program, which includes three concert bands, a competitive marching band, a pep band, student combos and four jazz ensembles. The band program is about a century old, says Engl, and the current jazz ensemble program has been in place for about 25 years.
With that kind of instrumental culture at Tosa East, you won't be shocked to hear that the students are juiced up about this year's concert, which takes place at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 31.
"Hugely," says Engl. "They very much respect and admire Prof. Ron Carter. In addition to his band directing work at NIU, Ron co-created Essentially Ellington with Wynton Marsalis, and is an EE clinician."
In addition to the concert, the students also get to take part in a clinic with the guest musician -- in this case Milwaukee native Carl Allen, who made his Milwaukee stage debut with Sonny Stitt and Red Holloway and went on to record a number of records, beginning with 1989's "Piccadilly Square" -- and then with Carter.
Engl says the shows are popular with the community and you can expect ...
"An absolutely great time," promises Engl. "Diane Loren will be master ofceremonies, the Wauwatosa East Jazz Ensemble I, rated one of the top 15 high school jazz ensembles in the country, will open for NIU, and then the NIU Jazz Ensemble, rated one of the top 10 collegiate jazz ensembles in the country, will take over, with Carl Allen. It is a very entertaining evening. Ron is a dynamic director -- he is part of the show. And both bands will feature outstanding vocalists."
In addition to having a great time hearing some great professional and upcoming jazz musicians, the concert benefits the Tosa East jazz bands.
"The show is a fundraiser for the London-bound Wauwatosa East Bands," explains Engl. "We have accepted an invitation from the Queen of England to perform at the 25th anniversary London New Year's Day Parade and Music Festival. As well, much closer in time is the Essentially Ellington finals competition in New York. We are in the process of raising $25,000.00 for that event."
Reserved seat tickets are $15 and $10 for balcony seats. Students and senior citizens pay $8. The concert takes place at the Dale K. Hidde Theatre on the East High School campus, 7500 Milwaukee Ave. Tickets are available at the door.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
