The City of Prince Albert will play host to inaugural edition of the Prince Albert Big Band Festival coming up on March 28 at Vincent Massey School.
The St. Mary High School jazz band will be among those performing. Band coordinator Shannon Fehr said they want to help create and grow a jazz culture in Prince Albert.
“This festival is a collaborative effort from four different bands and we are really there to celebrate and promote the enjoyment and participation in jazz music to develop a community and a following in jazz music here in Prince Albert,” Fehr explained.
The St. Mary High School band is one of four bands that will be performing at the Prince Albert Big Band festival.
Fear said the students are working “every last minute” to prepare for the festival. She said they’ve been rehearsing every week since the start of the school year, and hope to put on a memorable performance.
“We have a pretty good selection of listener friendly music,” Fehr said. “We have some straight ahead standard rock jazz arrangements, we have some swing arrangement and we have a couple of tunes that we are doing with singers as well.”
The St. Mary Jazz Band is composed of students from Grade 9-12. The Band will open the show with some strong pieces of music.
“We have got a very enthusiastic group of young musicians who are learning how to improvise well and are really learning how to adapt to play different styles of music,” Fehr explained.
Fehr has been playing and enjoying Jazz for more than 50 years. She stated that this festival will help the participants to develop their talents or expand their musical wings as well as their love for jazz.
“It’s great, its really exciting to be part of this festival,” she added. “Come and listen to everybody play.”
The Prince Albert Jazz Band, the Vincent Massey Band, The Lakeland Junction and Toontown bands will also be performing that night. The doors of Vincent Massey School will open by 3:30p.m. and the bands will start performing by 4p.m. and end by 8:30p.m.
