The Concord High Jazz I competed at the Folsom Jazz Festival on Saturday, January 27, 2024, just like Concord has done many times over the last 34 years of the festival’s existence. This is the largest jazz festival in California, with anywhere from 50-60 jazz bands competing every year.
Throughout the history of Concord competing in Folsom, they have generally placed in the middle of the pack (somewhere in the 20s-30s). A few times, they have cracked the top 20. Last year, they finished 8th overall. During Mr. Lejano’s first year as director, they finished in 60th place. They have been up and down throughout history. Here were this year’s results:
Concord’s Jazz Combo “Thelonious Punk” received 3rd place in their division of 10 combos! They were 7th overall out of 29 high school jazz combos.
Concord’s Jazz Ensemble I competed in the largest big band division of the festival with 15 groups. They received 1st place in their division! In addition, they were invited to perform at Festival Finals, an honor only given to the top 5 bands of the entire festival. Concord High has never received this honor in their history of competing at the festival! The kids were ecstatic in disbelief, played their hearts out amongst the top jazz bands in the whole state and got home at 1AM.
Congratulations to our jazz band students! They accomplished something never before done in the history of this school, and established Concord as one of the top jazz programs in California!
