Medfield High School Jazz Band Heading Back to Charles Mingus Competition

Medfield High School's Jazz Ensemble I is headed back to New York City to defend its Charles Mingus Big Band title.

Medfield will compete against Lexington High School Jazz Ensemble and The Rivers Big Band, Rivers School in Weston at the Manhattan School of Music on Sunday, Feb. 19.

The jazz band will be in New York for the entire festival weekend, participating in workshops and clinics. Medfield, along with the other schools participating in the festival, will spend Saturday, Feb. 18 in clinics and workshops, including master classes for instruments and sections, lectures, films and clinics that explore aspects of Mingus music, according to a press release issued by Charles Mingus. Clinics explore aspects of Mingus music and the day will end with a student Mingus jam.

, Medfield's trombone section was named outstanding section and Kevin Holbrook, Medfield Class of 2011, was awarded outstanding soloist at the competition.

Charles Mingus, founded the Jazz Workshop that exposed young composers to audiences and was a jazz composer in the 1940s and 50s. Medfield's Jazz Band competed against Lexington and Wellesley High Schools in New York last February and was led by Music Director Doug Olsen. 

Olsen, a Mingus fan, played in a Mingus tribute band for seven years and was happy to share his passion for jazz with his students.