Stivers Jazz Orchestra 2008

The Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra swept the awards Saturday, February 9, 2008?at the 40th annual Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival in Boston.

The 16 student musicians took first place in the competition of 220 schools from across the nation.

"The festival is kind of like the Super Bowl for high school jazz ensembles," Claude L. Thomas, director and founder of the orchestra said Sunday, February 10.

"These students are the cream of the crop."

Sophomore Tyrone Martin, who plays alto saxophone, was awarded most outstanding soloist and senior Marselleus Farmer received an award for outstanding performance.

Most of the schools performed music arranged for high school students. The Stivers Jazz Orchestra took a more challenging route, however, selecting pieces arranged for professional musicians.

Their selections included "Four" by Miles Davis and "Blue Highway" by Paul Ferguson of Cleveland.

"We knew it was a powerful performance," Thomas said. "After the performance the (judges) who heard us play wanted the music."

This marks the second time Stivers students have won the competition since Thomas started the group in 1993. The Dayton school also won the Berklee competition in 2004.

And the youth of this group gives Thomas encouragement for even greater things to come. While the competition was for high school students, the Stivers orchestra included three eighth-graders in Phillip Hangen on trumpet, Matthew Quinn on baritone saxophone/clarinet and Christine Hoy on piano, Thomas said.