Two TASSS jazz bands win Musicfest provincial gold

Two bands from Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School in Peterborough have won gold at the provincial Musicfest Southern Ontario Band Festival held Thursday and Friday at O’Neill Collegiate in Oshawa.

The Thomas A. Stewart Jazz and Junior Combo bands, under the direction of Vince Abrahamse, both won gold standard awards of excellence and qualified to compete at the 45th annual Musicfest Canada nationals being held in Niagara Falls in May.

HannahAbrahamse,leadtenorinthe TASSS Jazz Band, and Ambrose Veno, drummer in the TASSS Jazz combo, both won Don Strathdee awards for individual excellence, chosen by the adjudicators for each band.

The TASSS Jazz Band earned its gold standard for their performances of Blues Mode by Rich Sigler, Europa by Carlos Santana , and Ballistic Brass by Larry Barton.

The TASSS Junior Jazz Combo earned a gold standard for their performances of Comin’ Home Baby by Michael Sweeney, Angel Eyes by Carl Strommen and Chameleon by Herbie Hancock.

The adjudicators for each band included Gordon Foote, the associate dean and professor in the jazz studies program at the University of Toronto; Colleen Allen, a faculty member of the jazz studies program at Humber College; Neil Yorke-Sladder, composer and former superintendent of instruction with the Ottawa-Carlton District School Board; and Andy Ballantyne, faculty member of the Humber College jazz studies program and esteemed jazz composer and performer.