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Jazz On Campus <br />
School Notes <br />
Berklee student Dave Chapman<br />
Niles North Vocal Jazz Program<br />
sam lutomia<br />
Niles North Celebrates 20 Years of Vocal Jazz<br />
More than 90 languages are spoken across<br />
the school district that houses Niles<br />
North High School. But over the past 20 years,<br />
one common language has resonated above all<br />
others—and that language is vocal jazz.<br />
Since 1991, the Skokie, Ill., high school’s<br />
vocal jazz program has grown from one small<br />
group to three ensembles with a growing international<br />
reputation. But to current members and<br />
former students, the program is still a family.<br />
In May, “family members” packed the school<br />
auditorium for a three-hour, 20th anniversary<br />
celebration.<br />
The event showcased all three groups, concluding<br />
with an onstage performance of Kirby<br />
Shaw’s arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled<br />
Water” by 130 current members and alumni.<br />
That version of “Bridge” is the most recent<br />
milestone of Director Daniel Gregerman’s<br />
efforts to build one of the nation’s top high<br />
school vocal jazz programs. Gregerman started<br />
developing interest in teaching vocal jazz<br />
while getting his master’s degree at Western<br />
Michigan University. When he began teaching<br />
choir at Niles North in 1991, the entire choral<br />
program had just 32 students, prompting him to<br />
revamp it.<br />
“I realized that the school choral program<br />
was in dire need of being rebuilt,” Gregerman<br />
said. “As I started designing the program, I knew<br />
there was going to be a need for students to sing<br />
in a setting that allowed jazz, pop, rock, etc.”<br />
He began expanding choir repertoire during<br />
regular class time and also launched an extracurricular<br />
vocal jazz program. “My feelings<br />
were confirmed that vocal jazz was a vital part<br />
of a comprehensive choral program,” he said.<br />
“So I started on that immediately when I began<br />
at Niles North.”<br />
The school’s first vocal jazz group, Take<br />
One, began with a dozen singers and Gregerman<br />
accompanying on piano. The group’s popularity<br />
skyrocketed to the point that Gregerman found<br />
himself turning students away.<br />
To solve the problem, he formed Sound<br />
Check in 1996 and—due to a continued surplus<br />
of interested vocalists—added Harmonic<br />
Motion in 2007.<br />
“I’ve always believed in giving students as<br />
many opportunities as possible,” he said.<br />
While Gregerman continues to direct Take<br />
One, he’s recruited alumni to direct the other<br />
two ensembles—currently, Logan Farris and<br />
Clara Wong direct Sound Check and Harmonic<br />
Motion.<br />
Gregerman treats the ensembles like professional<br />
singing groups with serious rehearsal<br />
time and tour schedules. Take One and Sound<br />
Check have been invited to perform at Western<br />
Michigan’s Gold Company Invitational Vocal<br />
Jazz Festival, and all three groups tour to the<br />
Millikin University Vocal Jazz Festival.<br />
Internationally, Take One has toured<br />
Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, and<br />
Switzerland. In Switzerland, the group was the<br />
only high school vocal jazz ensemble chosen<br />
to perform at the 33rd annual Montreux<br />
Jazz Festival. The group has also been honored<br />
by DownBeat, receiving four Student Music<br />
Awards in the past decade.<br />
“The skills and confidence I gained through<br />
doing vocal jazz strongly influenced my choice<br />
to pursue a career in the performing arts,” said<br />
Julie Burt Nichols, a former member of Take<br />
One in the 1990s. The Chicago-based musical<br />
theater actor directly relates her career skills to<br />
the ones she developed in Take One.<br />
As the program celebrates its 20th anniversary,<br />
Gregerman still said the program “does<br />
not seem to be slowing down.”<br />
“We still need to turn people away at auditions<br />
each year,” he said. —Stephanie Drucker<br />
Stephanie Drucker<br />
World Music: Students from Berklee College<br />
of Music along with Newton North and<br />
Needham High Schools participated in a Kenyan<br />
cultural exchange program from June 24<br />
to July 15. In partnership with local organization<br />
Global Youth Groove (GYG), participants<br />
spent two weeks in Kakamega, western Kenya,<br />
where they taught music lessons, gave<br />
additional workshops and learned about<br />
traditional Kenyan music. They also donated<br />
a full ensemble setup and eight MacBook<br />
Pros to a local community center.<br />
Indie Prophecy: In other Berklee news,<br />
student-run label Jazz Revelation Records<br />
(JRR) recently released Oracle, its eighth<br />
album. The CD showcases original compositions<br />
by top Berklee players from such<br />
countries as Cuba, Israel, Italy, Mozambique,<br />
Norway and the United States. The album<br />
also features Habana Entrance, led by<br />
Dayramir Gonzalez, the first resident of Cuba<br />
to be awarded a full Berklee scholarship.<br />
Details: berklee.edu<br />
Revue Album: KPLU 88.5 has released<br />
KPLU School of Jazz-Volume 7, a compilation<br />
CD of Western Washington state’s best<br />
high school bands. The project stemmed<br />
from the radio station’s partnership with<br />
local high schools and middle schools for<br />
its jazz mentorship program. The album<br />
also includes such guest artists as David<br />
Marriott, Chad McCullough and Jay<br />
Thomas. All proceeds benefit Western<br />
Washington state’s school music programs.<br />
Details: kplu.org<br />
Class Act: On Sept. 11, New York-based<br />
vocalist Fay Victor hosted a Jazzschool<br />
master class that explores creative jazz<br />
vocalization techniques. During the daylong<br />
workshop, Victor used her own repertoire<br />
to demonstrate how sheet music is interpreted.<br />
In addition to directing exercises<br />
in lyric writing and collaboration, she<br />
also allowed students to develop their own<br />
material.<br />
Details: jazzschool.edu<br />
70 DOWNBEAT SEPTEMBER 2011