“The Wedding”

Praise for The Wedding:

“A beautiful celebration of jazz community that [highlights] the many important facets of the jazz ecosystem—from education to creation to documentation.”
Nicky Schrire, Host & Producer, The Jazz Session Podcast

”[A video that] models how to take a beautiful song and turn it into an all-encompassing lesson for students in music, journalism and other programs within your school”
Lewis Porter, Ph.D., jazz pianist, educator, author

“In this time of such darkness in the world…the story of “The Wedding,” from start to finish, gives me great hope for the future.”
Richard Kamins, Step Tempest

“The world needs more of this kind of collaboration to help the youth better relate to musics such as jazz and understand the cultural nuances associated with such traditions.  This genuine story of a community coming together has to inspire others.”
Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, D.M.A., Professor of Music History and Musicology & Director of Intercultural Institute, New England Conservatory

“It’s wonderful enough for a student band to be exposed to the music of Abdullah Ibrahim. But it’s even more so when that band has the opportunity to play an arrangement straight from the pen of Alan Ferber, one of today’s true masters of the large ensemble idiom”
David Adler, music critic and journalist, music educator

“Certainly, Alan’s arrangement of the Ibrahim piece is lovely and well-calibrated for these particular players, [the Harborfields High School Jazz Band] plays with surprising maturity and sensitivity, and [The Tornado News Team’s] video and audio students are working on the level of many of the university media students I’ve known.
Robert Mugge, documentary filmmaker

“Picking a solemn, haunting tune by the great South African composer Abdullah Ibrahim, and commissioning the Grammy-nominated Alan Ferber to arrange it, Mr. Bilawsky and the kids of Harborfields High School create something beautiful during a difficult period in our nation’s history. In the process, the students come to realize what they are capable of – and all of us experience their communal joy and sense of life’s possibilities.
Allen Morrison, music critic and journalist

“An inspired music teacher and his young charges hold up a gift to the light and remind us that there is still care and beauty in this world.”
Neil Gonsalves, pianist, composer, Lecturer in Jazz Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

“This sounds great! The essence of the composition is well captured.”
Claude Cozens, South African drummer and composer

“I was totally mesmerized when I watched [these students] perform this amazing work by one of our country’s greatest musicians.  The performance was exceptional, the documentary emotional, but, most importantly, [the entire production team] was able to demonstrate how music transcends and unites us against those traits that separate us human beings.”
Karen Devroop, saxophonist, Acting Director of Music at University of South Africa (UNISA) Music Foundation

“By simply asking the right questions—‘How do we make this happen?’ and ‘How do we maximize its impact?’—Mr. Bilawsky and his Harborfields High School students accomplish every artist’s goal: to create something of meaning/beauty, which will endure and inspire others. I love it!
Earl MacDonald, Director of Jazz Studies, University of Connecticut

“I have heard [Abdullah Ibrahim play “The Wedding”] many times, but never with a jazz big band. I was thrilled to hear that there was a big band arrangement of it. And what a [gorgeous] arrangement by Alan Ferber, beautifully performed by the HHS Jazz Band. Congrats, you captured the essence of this work.”
Carlo Mombelli, South African bassist, composer, educator

“Fantastic playing by everyone in the band and a beautiful arrangement by Alan Ferber. Congratulations to all on such a wonderful project.”
John Fedchock, trombonist, bandleader, GRAMMY-nominated arranger

“What is really amazing is how this authentic experience for students is a case where the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.”
C. Andrew Hovan, jazz drummer, photographer and journalist

“This is a superb documentation of the Harborfields High School Big Band performing, done by the Harborfields High School Journalism Department students, which certainly gives an insight as to how talented these students are in both programs. Kudos to Band Director Dan Bilawsky, arranger Alan Ferber, journalism teacher Vinnie Ambrosio and all of the students. I would love to hear (and see) Mr. Ibrahim’s reaction to hearing this chart and these students performing his piece.”
Dr. Brad Stone, Producer, Programmer and Host, “The Creative Source,” SoulandJazz.com

Additional Material From the OLQM Sessions

While the primary purpose of our recording session at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs was to capture “The Wedding,” we wanted to use the opportunity to showcase additional music, so, with a little time built in for this, we recorded this multi-camera, single-microphone music video of the Harborfields High School Jazz Band performing “Reflections,” written by Thelonious Monk and arranged by Oliver Nelson.

Both “The Wedding” and “Reflections” feature the full ensemble—the big band—but we also wanted to shine a light on our rhythm quartet, so, two rehearsals prior to our visit to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, we talked through a head-solos-head-tag arrangement of this classic, and the quartet recorded it at the sessions.

HHS Jazz Band

Director: Mr. Bilawsky

Reeds
Jennifer Bautista

Sydney Bayer

Peter Hoss

Kate Lysaght

Becca Terc

Justin Lowenhar

Trumpet

Robert Blosser

Ryan Casano

Kamden Johansen

Kyle Johnson

Hartley Semmes

Trombone

Alexa Best

Nathan Downey

Jackson Ferrara

Andrew Walden

Piano

McKenzie Coleman
Julian Moody

Guitar

Aidan Katz

Bass

Aidan Saunders

Drums
Jackson Ferrara

Ethan Rosenthal