Foxborough High School Jazz Band Hitting Highest Note of Excellence this Season

Over February vacation, four members of the Foxborough High School jazz ensemble were selected to attend the Charles Mingus High School Competition and Festival in New York City.

The students – senior pianist Alex Olsen, senior guitarist Kevin Scollins, junior bassist Alexa Dumont and junior drummer Nick Adair – submitted an audition recording in December and were selected as one of three high school finalists in the country to attend the competition.

“They began last summer putting together a set of music of Charles Mingus, writing their own arrangements, developing them, working on their improvisation and soloing,” said Foxborough Music Department Director Steve Massey.

At the competition, held Feb. 15-18, the students attended workshops, cavorted with other musicians and took in some of the city's many jazz clubs.

As a group, the Foxborough students performed well in the competition but came up short.

“They felt very good about their performance and had a lot of respect for the group that won,” Massey said.

Dumont, however, stood out amongst her peers and was named an Outstanding Soloist for her performance with the bass.

“She was invited, along with some of the other outstanding soloist winners, to perform with the professional Mingus big band at the Jazz Standard, one of the nice jazz clubs in New York,” Massey said. “That’s like some high school basketball player playing point guard with the Celtics,” he said.

Now back in Foxborough, the full jazz band is preparing for yet another competition. The ensemble was selected as one of the top 15 high school jazz bands in the country and will travel back to New York for the Essentially Ellington festival in May.

In its 18th year, Foxborough has been invited to the Ellington competition 14 times where the school has won once, finished second twice, finished third twice and was named honorable mention six times.

For Massey, it's not about the awards and competitions but rather the quality of the program put in place from K-12.

“That’s never really been a goal of the program but it is an outgrowth of a successful curriculum,” he said. “If you teach them well then you might just do well at a festival. Rather than teaching them to do well at the festival.”

Success has bred immense popularity for Foxborough students at the high school as there are about 180 students in teh band, choir and orchestra programs, which is over 20 percent the school's student body.

“Nationally, [Foxborough's participation in music is considered] very high," Massey said. "Nationally, 10 percent of students in music performing ensembles at any high school is considered good.

“We’re proud of the culture that we have here. The student leadership, the attitude, the positive spirit, the community service; everything about what we do as student musicians is part of this overall culture."

Massey believes the popularity among students is a testament to their hard work.

“They’re not one-dimensional," Massey said. "Many of them are also athletes. Many of them are involved in the drama club and student government. These are not students with just one interest. These are high achieving students all taking high demanding course loads here at the high school. They’re achievers.”

The next performance for all concert bands at the high school will be the Bandorama Concert, March 27.