West Hartford’s Hall High School Concert Jazz Band was recognized with the top honor at the prestigious festival for the second year in a row.

By Harlan Levy

For the second year in a row, the nationally renowned Hall High School Concert Jazz Band has won the award for Best Big Band at the 17th Annual Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival.

The contest, a national competition, was held at the The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School’s College of Performing Arts in New York City from Feb. 16-19. The Hall band, led by Director of Bands Phil Giampietro, also garnered top awards for Outstanding Woodwind Section, as well as Outstanding Soloists for drummer Nathan Ben Ari and Chloe Madrak on tenor sax.

”Exciting!” was Giampietro’s immediate reaction.

Giampietro, 41, who left Staples High School in Westport to come to Hall this year, said there were 25% more bands competing this year than last. Entrants, consisting of 12 ensembles and 182 students in all, hailed from seven states, including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. Hall ended up facing off against three other finalists – two from Massachusetts and one from New Jersey.

Hall High School Director of Bands Phil Giampietro at the Mingus Festival. Courtesy image

The annual event, celebrating the music of the great bassist/composer Charles Mingus, is co-sponsored by Let My Children Hear Music (The Charles Mingus Institute) and The New School’s College of Performing Arts. Allegra Levy, an award-winning jazz vocalist/composer and a 2007 Hall graduate, helps coordinate the festival every year.

”The Mingus Festival is one of the highlights of my year every year,” said Levy, who serves as program administration manager for the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School. However, the competition felt especially meaningful to her this year. “It’s so timely to celebrate a true activist who used his music as a vehicle for change.”

She was especially proud to see her alma mater prevail once more. “It felt like everything had come fulI circle as I watched the Hall Band sound so great this past weekend.”

Not that everything proceeded without incident. One surprise, Giampietro said, was “an equipment malfunction an hour before going on stage.” One of Hall’s musicians’ saxophone mouthpieces broke. To their relief, a teacher from another band was able to replace it.

During the weekend the band participated in the Saturday program, which included workshops, instrumental clinics, lectures, films, and a performance by the Mingus Dynasty. Then Sunday, they performed in the high school competition and attended a performance by the Mingus Big Band, at Joe’s Pub near the New School, where the outstanding soloists, Hall’s Madrak and Ben Ari, had the opportunity to sit in with the band.

What accounts for the Hall band’s continued success? “Trust,” Giampietro declared. “Trust between the students and trust between the students and me, that all the work we put in will pay off.” Also, he added, “the tradition of excellence, the expectations that their success is based on individual preparation, and the initiative they take [to put in extra practice when needed].”

The band practices every school day, on average from 5½ to 8½ hours a week.

Notably, Hall’s 23-member band includes seven girls – three on sax (one alto, two tenors) and two on flute, also a pianist and a drummer.

“It was also not lost on me,” Levy said, “that the saxophone section was dominated by young women. It is definitely inspiring to see how things continue to change since I graduated from Hall in 2007.”

The Concert Jazz Band is also a finalist for the upcoming Essentially Ellington contest in May.

“People always ask me, why jazz?” Levy said. “And I explain that in West Hartford, there’s just something in the water.”

Apparently, the water has been strong for some time. The band won multiple awards from 2020 to 2023, including Latin Jazz Ensemble in 2023, Large Jazz Ensemble and Small Jazz Combo in 2022. The Concert Jazz Band has also won first place at the Berklee School of Music Jazz Festival in Boston, first place at the National Jazz Festival, and has been a finalist at the Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center in 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Catch both of Hall’s jazz bands in West Hartford at the annual Pops ‘n Jazz shows March 21-29.

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