Booker musicians reflect on Berklee jazz festival

Booker High School jazz musicians took their skills on the road last month to compete in the annual Berklee High School Jazz Festival hosted by the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The event, the largest of its kind in the United States, allows big bands, combos and vocal jazz ensembles from high schools across the country to compete in front of a panel of Berklee faculty for audition and scholarship opportunities.

This year, the Booker High School Jazz Combo took second place, and senior bassist, Brent Layman, earned the Outstanding Musicianship award.

“It was a really good experience,” Layman says. “With everything we did to get ready, we had a really good program. One of the biggest things was just preparing and learning how to properly rehearse.”

Layman has been to the festival for the past three years and says the experience was comparable to years past. After graduation, Layman is considering attending FCTI’s Fire Science Academy, but he plans to continue playing music around town.

Junior Ronan Cowan, who played drums in the jazz combo, also enjoyed his time in Beantown.

“We put together a good set, we worked really hard, and the combo took second place, so that was good,” he says. “This was one of the first years in a while where we had all new people, so I’m really proud about that. Overall, it was a really enjoyable experience.”

Cowan previously played piano, but he started getting serious about playing the drums about two years ago.
“I had a drum set that I would play on, but I wasn’t very dedicated,” he says. “I didn’t know much about playing, so coming in through the school was a really good learning experience.”

Cowan says Music Department Chairman Ned Rosenblatt put together a program with a good mix of genres to showcase the students’ full range.

“We tried to mix up our styles,” he says. “We played some Latin style, some samba, swing and some funk stuff, which really shows our diversity.”

Booker is able to compete in the Berklee High School Jazz Festival each year by fundraising with events such as February’s “Death by Chocolate” event, and the school has earned a reputation as solid competitors, earning 13 wins in various categories in the last seven years.