[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 73 (Thursday, May 15, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CALABASAS HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ``A'' BAND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 15, 2003

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a truly 
remarkable and accomplished group of young musicians in the 30th 
Congressional District who are part of the Calabasas High School Jazz 
``A'' Band.
  The Jazz ``A'' Band has been named a finalist in the most 
comprehensive high school jazz competition in North America, which is 
produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Fifteen finalist bands will compete 
in the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & 
Festival, which takes place in New York City on May 17, 18, and 19, 
2003.
  Over 1,200 bands in the United States, Canada, and American schools 
abroad registered and received the competition music. From that group, 
over 130 of those bands were able to submit a recording for the 
competition. Just 15 bands were then selected as finalists from these 
recordings.
  I am delighted that Calabasas High School is one of just 15 bands 
selected to compete for over $11,000 in cash awards at the competition 
finals. The three-day festival in New York will include workshops, 
rehearsals, a banquet dinner and jam sessions with members of the 
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (LCJO).
  The competition will culminate on May 18 in a competition before a 
distinguished panel of judges, including composer, conductor, and 
Ellington authority David Berger, bassist and composer Rufus Reid, 
saxophonist, bandleader and educator Loren Schoenberg, and LCJO's 
Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis. The three top bands selected in the 
competition will then perform alone and with Mr. Marsalis as soloist. 
LCHO will then conclude the evening by playing an all-Ellington set.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Jazz ``A'' Band 
at Calabasas High School on being selected to participate in this very 
prestigious competition and to wish them the best of luck at the 
Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival.

                          ____________________