Every year, the Lodi Jazz Ensemble tour all of the elementary schools in the town to showcase the Lodi schools music program and what it has to offer. The band gets into a bus and start travelling around the schools to do performances that feature solos from the graduating seniors and upcoming upperclassmen. The performances always captivate the little kids and sometimes get them into a little frenzy of excitement. The best thing about these performances are, though, is that they help these little kids figure out what they might possibly want to do the upcoming years of school. Learning music and playing musical instruments is a great way to develop the brain as it works on different techniques such as dexterity, multi tasking, and mental endurance. It is scientifically proven that kids who play instruments are better at school subjects like Math, Science, and English.

This year, the Lodi Jazz Ensemble played many classic jazz tunes such as Yardbird Suite, Apple Honey, Stormy Weather, and Night Train. The first tune that they played during their performances was Apple Honey which was a fast-paced, exciting jazz song that always got the kids jumping up and down on their seats. It’s an energetic song and features a couple soloists to get the crowd ready for more solos to come. There are many highlights in other songs as well.

Night Train was played in the performance as well. It featured a slow blues feel and a classic bluesy bass line that pushes the song forward into the melody. The melody is loud and organized and hits the audience right in the face! The song’s biggest highlight would be the long solos performed by the graduating seniors like Kyle Crouchelli, Ryan Lindsey, Jason Lambe, and more. The solos were improvised and showed the children and audience what musicians can do with constant practice and hard work.

Yardbird Suite was another great song that the Jazz ensemble played. Yardbird Suite is a classic Bebop tune that was converted into a nice big band piece for the Lodi Jazz Ensemble to play. It features a classic, memorable melody that is very catchy. The saxophone line plays the melody incredibly synchronized. The biggest part of the song, though, would be Kyle Crouchelli’s solo rendition of Charlie Parker’s solo on the very first recording of the song. He played it with amazing accuracy and phrasing and did a great job playing this classic solo. Jason Lambe also performed an improvised solo that fit the song’s sound perfectly.

The Lodi Jazz Ensemble did it again this year with their JAM tour around the elementary schools. They captivated the little kids and entertained the teachers and faculty with their impressive playing and performance. Their set of songs this year was very entertaining and varied and helped expose students to the world of Jazz.