Returning to Traverse City for their second blockbuster performance, the Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band will rock the City Opera House next Tuesday evening.
Featuring local band Elmwood Kathryn and guest vocalist Gail Heath, the Big Band Show is a fund raiser for the Traverse City Music Boosters' Adrian Morris and Christian DeWitt scholarships. Honoring two high school band students who died in a car crash in 2004, the scholarships are funds of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation.
Under the direction of Mike Irish, the band this year features one Traverse City West Senior High School graduate: Aaron DeGabriele, on tenor sax. A physics major, DeGabriele is a three-year veteran of the renowned Jazz Lab Band, which kicks off an annual tour with the Traverse City show. Other stops on the four-day tour include performances and clinics at Benzie Central, Manistee, Cadillac and Grayling high schools.
Playing at a university more known for its technical education than music does not compromise the quality of the sound. DeGabriele, who is also part of a seven-member smaller ensemble that plays jazz, blues and rock, appreciates the opportunity to pursue his passion for music while immersed in his career studies.
"The students are very committed in general,” said DeGabriele, a 2005 graduate of West Senior High School, noting the music class meets three days a week. "I like playing music, jazz music in general.”
The Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band previously visited Traverse City in January of 2006, wowing the audience of 250 people, including many Michigan Tech alumni in the region. That event, a direct fund raiser for the Traverse City Music Boosters general scholarship program, raised $1,400.
"Aaron told me they were blowing through, we had three players from Traverse City, and Pat [Brumbaugh, band director at West High School] hired Mike to do the clinic,” recalled Robert DeGabriele, Aaron's dad. "I said to Mike, 'Since you're going to be here, play a concert at the Opera House.'”
The Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band alternates tour years between Wisconsin and northern Michigan. With the Michigan year on deck this time, DeGabriele again arranged a fund raising concert.
"Right now, Mike, out of the graciousness and goodness of his heart, is not charging us for his playing,” noted DeGabriele. "If we get an underwriter, we can pay him.”
Since they were established, the Adrian Morris and Christian DeWitt scholarships have raised approximately three quarters of the $10,000 goal. DeGabriele hopes that proceeds and donations from the 2008 Big Band Show will push both scholarships over the top.
Attendees at Tuesday evening's concert may also choose to donate directly to the Reggie Box scholarship or to the Music Boosters general scholarship fund, which annually grants 18 scholarships of $350 each to Traverse City Area Public Schools band, orchestra or choral students. Auditions for students in grades 8-11 will be held later this month.
Until the Adrian Morris and Christian DeWitt scholarships are fully endowed, the Traverse City Music Boosters organization has granted two annual scholarships in honor of the girls, both band students at West Senior High School. After endowment, each fund will give one $400 scholarship per year to a music student.
"It was a very traumatic loss for our community so it was a way of honoring those children and their families” said Mary Manner, current president of the Traverse City Music Boosters.
The Big Band Show featuring the Michigan Tech Jazz Lab Band, with special guest vocalist Gail Heath and a performance by Elmwood Kathryn, will be held Tuesday, January 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the City Opera House. Tickets are $8 for adults and $3 for students.
For more information on the TC Music Boosters' Adrian Morris and Christian DeWitt Scholarships at the Grand Traverse Regional Foundation, or to make a direct donation, see the web site www.4good4ever.org.