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Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Dakota Combo—Student Septet Begins Rehearsals

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Tuesday, 10 October 2006

Owen Nelson © Andrea Canter

The first (annual) Dakota Combo – an elite ensemble of area youth jazz artists—has been selected following auditions in mid-September. Sponsored by the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education and the MacPhail Center for Music, the Combo will rehearse under the direction of trumpeter/MacPhail instructor Kelly Rossum and special guest artist, saxophone legend Bobby Watson, who is on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Watson is already familiar with some area student musicians, as the guest artist/educator who accompanied the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts (LACHSA) Sextet during their residency here last spring. Many of the local students who participated in the Dakota Combo auditions played in the open student jam at the Dakota with Bobby and the Sextet.

Student musicians enrolled in grades 9-12 were eligible to audition before a panel of area musicians/educators. Congratulations to the following students who will participate in the 2006 Dakota Combo, a three-horn septet representing programs throughout the metro area, with four coming from the fine jazz program at St. Paul Central:

Javier Santiago © Andrea Canter

Amber Woodhouse © Andrea Canter

Owen Nelson, Alto Saxophone, Edina High School
Amber Woodhouse, Tenor Saxophone, St. Paul Central High School
Ben Link, Trombone, St. Paul Central High School
Jack Davis, Guitar, Minneapolis South High School
Javier Santiago, Piano, Watershed High School (Minneapolis)
Daniel Duke, Bass, St. Paul Central High School
Nathan Whitley, Drums, St. Paul Central High School

The alternates (who will be called upon in an emergency) for this year are:

Stephanie Wieseler, Tenor Sax, Apple Valley High School
Eric Stroich, Alto Sax, Robbinsdale Cooper High School
Mike McCool, Guitar, Perpich High School for the Performing Arts (Golden Valley)
Fred Torvik, Drums, Hopkins High School

Javier, Owen, Amber and Daniel were on stage with Bobby Watson last spring during the open student jam at the Dakota © Andrea Canter

With the auditions over, now comes the hard work—rehearsing with Kelly and Bobby in preparation for two performances at the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis, set for December 1-2. Four two-hour rehearsals will be held in October and November, with additional sessions during the week of the performance. While this first year’s program will be limited to the Dakota performance, opportunities to provide outreach programs may be added in the future.

Combo director Kelly Rossum noted that he was pleased with the number of students participating in the auditions and was impressed with the quality of their efforts, which included at least one selection from a list of jazz standards to be played with the ensemble of judges. “The auditions were extremely competitive and the decisions were carefully thought through,” said Rossum. “I applaud everyone for achieving such a high level of jazz comprehension.”

Keep up to date with the new Dakota Combo via their website at www.dakotacombo.com

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