'Pinnacle achievement'

Don Zentz, now in his fourth year as director of jazz studies at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, led the DA Jazz Ensemble to Chicago in late December for a rare appearance at the prestigious 72nd annual Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference.

“It is the pinnacle achievement and performance of my 34-year-career,” he wrote in an email. “And I’ve been blessed to have been able to do a bunch of these type of performances over many years now.”

The DA Jazz Ensemble was one of only five high school bands invited to take part this year in the conference, which is attended annually by more than 20,000 musicians, music educators and music industry representatives.

Joining the DA Jazz Ensemble for a concert on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 20, were three guest soloists.

One was renowned saxophonist Ernie Watt, whose 2008 album “Analog Man” won the Independent Music Award for Best Jazz Album. Watts is a longtime friend of Zentz. He worked with and performed with the DA Jazz Ensemble last spring. Watts called Douglas Anderson “a great school” and Zentz “a really great band director.”

Also performing as a guest saxophonist was Bob Smith, who toured with Frank Sinatra and in 1985 won a National Endowment for the Arts award.

Finally there was Scott Giddens, a pianist and a DA alumnus, who has toured nationally and now teaches at the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University.

Also making the trip was Zentz’s mentor, Bob Greenhaw, retired director of Jazz studies at Valdosta State University, Zentz’s alma mater. He was there as a guest conductor.

For Giddens, participating in this year’s Midwest Clinic was a reminder of an important early milestone in his career. In 1992, Giddens was a member of the Jazz Ensemble that was the first DA band ever invited to the Midwest Clinic. Last year was the second time the DA Jazz Ensemble got a Midwest Clinic invitation.

Four other DA bands have made the trip to the Midwest Clinic since 1992: the DA Chamber Orchestra made the trip in 2012 and the DA Wind Symphony has gone three times, most recently in 2016. At least two musicians who made the 2018 trip to Chicago were also part of the Wind Symphony that went in 2016.

One of them, Jenna Wolbers, the Jazz Ensemble's lead saxophonist who also plays the clarinet, described the experience of going to the clinic as “surreal.”

What was especially gratifying was playing before an audience of people who really know music.

“It’s great to play for people who know what you have been through,” she said.

Henry Tibble, a trumpet player, was also part of the DA Wind Symphony that made the trip in 2016.

This year’s trip was a better experience musically, he said.

“Partly it was better because I’m an older, more experienced player,” he said. “We were a lot more focused on individual playing.

“The concert was excellent. The hall was completely filled. And we were so well prepared it was like we were in autopilot mode. Everyone was really feeling it.”

Senior jazz guitarist Karlous Lampkin, who made his first trip to the Midwest Clinic, called it “a really eye-opening experience. The clinic as a whole was amazing.”

But Lampkin admitted to feeling uncertainty before the actual performance.

“At first it was a really nerve-wracking experience,” he said. “But when the day came, everything went smoothly. I was in a state of ecstasy. I just was thrilled at how well we played.”

In addition to their concert on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 20, the DA Jazz Ensemble had been chosen to serve that afternoon as a demonstration group for a clinic led by jazz educator J. Richard Dunscomb, former chair of the Music Department at Columbia College in Chicago and a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame.

Dunscomb visited Jacksonville in November to help prepare the DA Jazz Ensemble for the clinic. He later told DA student Kayla Graves that he had been impressed.

“They were extremely receptive and fun to work with,” Dunscomb told Graves. “This DA band has no weaknesses and they are incredibly eager to learn.”

Zentz said he was extremely pleased with the Jazz Ensemble’s performances.

“I’m so very proud of my kids both musically and as young people serving as leaders of their generation,” he wrote in an email. “We represented on the biggest national stage.”