All County Jazz

Hello WCSMA Band directors & Jazz educators,

I hope you are all off to a wonderful start to a new school year.  I’m very excited to announce the 2025 WCSMA All County Jazz Festival. This is my first email of the year to let you all know about our festival dates and other important details.  The 2025 auditions will be held on Saturday, January 11th from 9 am to 12 noon.   Every part of the Jazz festival including the auditions will take place at Hommocks Middle School located at 130 Hommocks Rd Larchmont NY 10538.

I am happy to share our two wonderful guest directors for this year’s festival.  Directing the “A” band will be acclaimed saxophonist & composer Jim Snidero.  Directing our “B” band will be bassist and jazz educator Dr. Anthony Maceli.  We are so excited to hear what these talented artists can do with Westchester’s best Jazzers :)

To continue to make things easy for both the teachers and students, we have a paperless application process.  I am including the link to the Google form application here:

Google Form Jazz Application Link

Please share this link with your students (but please make sure they only submit the Google form application once.)  Any student who is planning on auditioning needs to fill this out.  Additional audition details are discussed further on the Google form.

THE DEADLINE FOR ALL GOOGLE FORM APPLICATIONS IS FRIDAY DECEMBER 20th

Please discuss the Jazz Fest with your HS instrumentalists to see if they might be interested in trying out in January.  We love reminding graduating seniors that although NYSSMA is typically not done in 12th grade, the Jazz Festival welcomes and encourages them to audition. The instruments we are looking for include alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, trumpets, trombones, and all rhythm section. (piano, bass, drums, guitar & vibes).

AUDITION INFORMATION:

Date/Time: Saturday, January 11th, 2025 – 9 am-12 pm (Students will sign up for a time slot on the door of their audition room when they arrive)

Location: Hommocks Middle School, 130 Hommocks Road, Larchmont, NY 10538

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

1. A prepared Jazz NYSSMA Solo (Level 5 or 6 ) selected from the CURRENT NYSSMA Manual. (Unlike the current jazz NYSSMA requirement to perform your prepared solo with an existing accompaniment, the prepared solo portion if this audition should be performed unaccompanied.)

2. Improvisation (with cd or mp3 accompaniment) Level 5 or 6 selected from the CURRENT NYSSMA Manual (students will play melody, a minimum of two improvised choruses, and bring the melody back) All audition rooms will have their own CD player

3. Sight Reading (given at the audition; typically 8 to 10 bars)

There will be two judges in each audition room.

The dates of the entire festival are as follows. All students who are selected must be available to attend ALL rehearsals and concert dates in order to perform:

Auditions:     Saturday, January 11th         (9 am to 12 pm)

Rehearsal #1:   Wednesday, February 12th  (6:30-9:30 pm)

Rehearsal #2:    Tuesday, March 18th      (6:30-9:30 pm)

Rehearsal #3:    Wednesday, March 19th       (6:30-9:30 pm)

Concert:              Friday, March 21st        (7:30 pm)

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email if you have any questions.  I will be sending out other email reminders along the way as we get closer to the December 20th application deadline.  Lastly, please keep me in the loop with the email addresses of new hires and/or switches in your district with respect to who teaches instrumental Jazz band.

Thanks so much,

James Mullen

WCSMA Jazz Coordinator

jmullen@mamkschools.org

A BAND

Grammy award-winning alto saxophonist, composer and author Jim Snidero encapsulates what is both unique and compelling about jazz. Hailed as an “alto sax virtuoso” (Downbeat) with “mind-boggling” improvisation skills (The Guardian), he has amassed over 12 million streams on Spotify and Apple music presenting acoustic jazz of the highest caliber, including his 2021 album Live at the Deer Head Inn, (Savant) receiving a 5-star masterpiece review in Downbeat magazine.

Over the past 15 years, Snidero has been with the highly-regarded Highnote/Savant label, resulting in multi-year placement in the preeminent Downbeat Magazine International Critics Poll. Highlights from his Savant catalog include the critically acclaimed Far Far Away with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Project K with Dave Douglas and the above mentioned Live at the Deer Head Inn.

In 1996, Jim Snidero revolutionized jazz education by penning the first of three Jazz Conception book series (Advance), cementing his place as the best-selling jazz author of his generation, then continued his contributions with The Essence of the Blues (2018) and The Essence of Bebop (2020), considered a masterwork in jazz education. He is on the faculty at The New School, and was a visiting professor at both Indiana University and Princeton University.

B BAND

Performer, arranger, and educator, Dr. Anthony Maceli, has recorded, performed, arranged, and composed with the likes of Foreigner, Norah Jones, Robert Redford, Amy Lee (from Evanescence), Phillip Phillips, Ingrid Michaelson, Five For Fighting, Rachel Platten, Jackie Evancho, The Hot Sardines, and A Great Big World. In addition, Dr. Maceli has performed on several Broadway shows including Rent and Spiderman After Dark.

In his 32 years as an educator, Dr. Maceli has taught band, chorus, orchestra, music technology, music theory, music history, and general music ranging from grade K-12 and to college. Highlights include working at the renowned Crane School of Music, Indiana University, University of Louisville, and Teachers College Columbia University.

Dr. Maceli is currently employed by Valhalla Union Free School District in Westchester County, north of New York City. His current position includes instructing courses in Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, College Music Theory, College Music History, Jazz Improvisation, and Music Production. Additionally, Dr. Maceli serves on the Board of Directors for Jazz Forum Arts.