The Berklee Jazz Festival may have come to an abrupt close last year, but the music doesn’t stop for the Princeton High School jazz bands. Launched with the help of PHS’s band director Joe Bongiovi, the National Jazz Festival took its flight on February 15 with an estimated 1200 students attending from 11 states and territories.

Among the award winners are Jazz Combo, winning third place in its division; Studio Band and Studio Vocals, each winning second place in their categories; Jazz Ensemble and Combo Ensemble, both going home with first place trophies. Individual musicians within these divisions were also recognized with some chosen for Outstanding Musician, including Irina Mukhametzhanova ’20, Matt Cincotta ’20, Charles Kolosvary ’20, Ethan Blazer ’20, Ashley Chen ‘23, and Ko Moulton ’21. Out of the eight winners in the Vocal Jazz Solo section, four are from PHS: Gillian Scott ’20, Molly Frain ’20, Ayah Mahana ’20, and Ashley Chen ’23. Last but not least is Sudhansh Kumar ’20, who won Composition category’s third place with his original piece “Day Break”. Up until last year, the Berklee Jazz Festival was the nation’s biggest festival for jazz education, so the announcement of its discontinuation spurred quite an uproar. Joe Bongiovi, the director of Studio Band, saw a need to create another platform that would allow young musicians to share their passion with their peers from all around the country.

“It originated right at the Berklee Jazz Festival when they [made the announcement]. I could see his wheels turning, and he’s going up and down the aisles to the other directors saying: listen, I’m going to start my own thing. … And he didn’t just talk about it — he did it,” said band director Scott Grimaldi, who led Princeton Jazz Ensemble and Combo Ensemble.

Although credited by many to be the creator of the National Jazz Festival, Bongiovi says he’s only partially responsible for its creation. The director gives extensive recognition for everyone involved.

“We weren’t the only ones who were disappointed. There was no place for everybody to go, especially on the East Coast. So [the other directors and I] decided to try to create a festival to fill that void and get as many of those groups to participate [in it] as possible,” said Bongiovi. “We [also] got a lot of help from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. They helped us line up a bunch of their faculty to [be our judges], and the rest were other college professors or other jazz directors who are performers in the Philadelphia and New York area who came down to volunteer their time.”

Perhaps one of the most notable differences from the Berklee Jazz Festival was that all the staff members at NJF were volunteers, including past jazz students, parents, and alumni who wanted to see the festival succeed. Nobody was paid, whether it was the organizers, judges, or adjudicators.

This, however, was not the only way that NJF differed from its predecessor. Although the Berklee Jazz Festival laid a foundation and set an example, there were many aspects of both competitions that were different. The judges had a closer interaction with the participants, giving longer verbal critiques. This way the participants were able to receive more feedback, which potentially paved the way for broader future improvements. The judging of the vocal divisions was also changed. Instead of having the acapella jazz and the rhythm jazz section in the same division, the two groups were separated. This way, the judges were comparing similar groups and not just everybody at once. A new section was also added to the festival: the Pop Capella division. This addition allowed pop student musicians to compete as well.

Grimauldi noted that the venue of the festival — the Pennsylvania Convention Center, stationed in downtown Philadelphia — provided a new environment that enhanced the experience.

“It was huge, and the venue was great. We loved the center — it just seemed more laid back and relaxed. The Hynes [auditorium] in Boston [where Berklee took place] was really great, but this just felt more intimate even though it’s really, really big,” Grimaldi said.

Bongiovi enjoyed envisioning and adding his own touch to the festival.

“The nice thing about creating your own [festival] was [that] we picked the things that we liked [from the Berklee Jazz Festival], and we emulated them and kept them. And the things we didn't like, we changed. It was sort of fun being creative on how to change some of the divisions and some of the educational opportunities, and if anything, we wanted to make ours more education based, instead of just a performance. We had some fun tweaking,” said Bongiovi. “[The Berklee Jazz Festival] laid the base format, I think, for what a festival should be. They did a lot of things really well. We took … what we learned from them through the years, and applied it to creating something that we hope will exceed the size of Berklee someday, and continue to do great things.”

However, the success of NJF’s maiden voyage lays on top of a colossal amount of effort from band members. Leading up to the festival, rehearsals often extended well into the night. In particular, the Friday before the festival was designated specifically for the setting-up of the 16 rooms in the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

“[The preparation for the festival] involves taking apart and labeling over 1000 stands with NJF stickers, and then putting the stands together and carrying them, and putting a certain amount in each designated room in this huge facility. And then after that we had to soundcheck to make sure the sound systems were set up and working properly, which was also very tiring,” said Will Novak ’21, a trumpet and flugel player in Studio Band. “It was very hectic. Everyone was running around trying to get things to flow, but [eventually] we got it done.”

The day of the festival was no less eventful, with back to back performances from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After the award ceremony and loading up the equipment, the band took off and eventually arrived at Princeton at 11:30 p.m. Regardless of the fully-packed schedule, Gillian Scott ’20 felt the experience was a fulfilling one.

“It’s a very long day but you’re so excited and hyped up on adrenaline, you don’t even notice that you’re exhausted,” Scott said.

Winning first place in the Vocal Jazz section, Scott performed at the final awards ceremony with the Jazz Ambassadors from the US Army Field Band, singing Ella Fitzgerald’s “A-Tisket-A-Tasket”.

“Performing with the [Jazz Ambassadors] was the best experience. They did everything perfectly — I only had to run through the song literally once and then they were like, yeah, you’re good. That was my favorite moment, just performing with them in front of such a big crowd,” Scott said.

Although NJF is only in its first year of existence, Grimaldi believes that the festival will continue for a long time.

“I see this going 50 or more years. I really do. He has a dedicated daughter right now that is actually working at Berklee. She's a recording engineer and she’s just like her dad. I can see her taking over down the road. I'm just, you know, assuming all this stuff of course, but knowing the way things are, I think [the festival] is going to snowball. I think it's going to double or triple by next year because word gets out there pretty quickly.”

While the NJF is in a way an extension and some may say a replacement of the Berklee Jazz Festival, Connor Stewart ’23, a drummer for Studio Band, thinks otherwise.

“The reason why [Bongiovi] created National Jazz Fest is not because he wanted to replace Berklee,” said Stewart. “It's because he did not want to get rid of his favorite 20 minutes of the year.”