On Wednesday evening, November 2, an audience made up of Glenaeon parents, relatives and friends were treated to an evening of superb Jazz at the school’s Jazz Café, organised by a committee made up of members of the school’s music staff, and three parents: Melony Browell, Sabine Simmonds and Ally Seymour-Smith.

Throughout the evening, in a hall suitably decorated by parents and children, and seated around candle-lit tables, the audience was entertained by the twenty-nine musicians that, together, make up the school’s co-curricular wind ensembles: our Big Band, under the direction of Phil Arnold, our Concert Band, under the direction of Christine Young, and our Jazz Combo, under the direction of Adriaan Mees.

They were joined by two ‘pop-up’ groups: a clarinet ensemble, directed by Christine Young, and a saxophone ensemble led by Joshua Willard, as well as two solo items: a vocal solo from Ava Keys and a saxophone solo by Riley Brown.

In addition to enjoying the superb music, audience members were able to purchase a two-course dinner made up of delicious home-made soup and bread, and a dessert of petit fours and an abundant raffle basket of delicious gourmet food. As a result of this, and supplemented by a generous donation of $750 by Anthony Browell, $2,711.50 was raised towards the purchase of equipment for the school’s co-curricular ensembles.

It has been almost three and a half years since the school’s first Jazz Café in pre-covid 2019, and the packed hall of enthusiastic relatives and friends showed just how much the Glenaeon community appreciated the opportunity to, once again, experience the achievements of the school’s growing co-curricular music program.

The school’s music staff wish to sincerely thank the music students for their outstanding commitment, Evan Sanders, for his contribution throughout the process and on the night, and all who contributed to the success of the evening in any way. In particular, we want to thank the parent support committee for their tireless efforts in producing what we hope will be the first of many such musical occasions.