Photo by Andrea Canter

High school musicians performing at Catalina’s Jazz Bar in Los Angeles? Don’t be surprised if this is one of the best musical evenings of the spring in southern California! As part of the Young Artists Series, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Jazz Ensemble will be on the bandstand for their annual performance on Tuesday, June 6th^th. This is a golden opportunity to refute the refrain that “jazz is dead” and instead witness living proof that jazz is alive, well, and will be around for years to come.

Located on the campus of California State University/Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) is a tuition-free, fully accredited public high school that offers specialized instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts in addition to a rigorous academic curriculum. Students have included Presidential Scholars in the Arts, finalists in the National Arts Recognition and Talent Search, winners of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County’s Spotlight Awards, and participants in the Gibson/Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz Ensemble. With 550 students in grades 9-12, LACHSA was named a California Distinguished School for Academic Excellence, earning a score of 10 out of 10 on the Academic Performance Index. The school has received the Bravo Award, presented by the Music Center (now the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) for excellence in arts education, and the Music Department recently was selected as a 2006 National Grammy Signature School “Gold” recipient.

Jazz is a major presence at LACHSA under the leadership of Dr. Dan Castro, Chairman of the Music Department, and Monk Institute alumnus Jason Goldman, Director of Jazz Studies. Recently the Jazz Ensemble was awarded first place at the first annual KJAZZ High School Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, and will travel this spring to New York to perform at Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of 15 bands nation-wide selected to participate in the Essentially Ellington Festival. In March 2006, the LACHSA Jazz Sextet, featuring six of the most talented jazz students in Los Angeles (or anywhere!), served as the first band to travel as part of the Peer to Peer Jazz Education Program of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (housed at the University of Southern California), with which LACHSA has enjoyed a ten-year association. Under the direction of Monk Institute Vice President of Education and Curriculum Development J.B. Dyas, the LACHSA Sextet spent a week in residency in Minneapolis, performing and mentoring at area high schools, capped by a two-night engagement at the Dakota Jazz Club with guest artists, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson and vocalist Lisa Henry. Noted Dan Castro, “We can teach them the notes and tell them why they need to prepare like professionals but there is nothing like actually having to do it.” The members of the sextet are core members of the jazz bands that will perform at Catalina’s. The scheduled ensembles will include Combo G (directed by Jason Goldman), Combo L (directed by Dan Lutz), Combo W (directed by Bill Wysaske), and the Vocal Jazz ensemble (directed by Pat Bass).

There is no doubt that within the next decade, you will be able to see many of these fine musicians on the bandstands of the top clubs in the country. But you don’t need to wait—you can catch the future stars of jazz today, or at least on Tuesday, June 6th^th, 8:30 pm, at Catalina’s.