On Wednesday March 12th the Creative Arts Jazz Band  traveled to Marlton NJ to  compete with 8 other schools for a spot in Divisions 1 for the NJAJE State Championships.  the Creative Arts Jazz Band received a GOLD rating for their performance and won best section awards for the trumpet and trombone sections.  Junior Trumpet player Jamal Dickerson II and junior Trombonist Michael Spearman won Outstanding soloist awards. Awesome Job!!!!!

The 9 bands to make the NJAJE Division 1 Finals are:

Camden Creative Arts
Bridgewater High School Tuesday
Cherokee High School
Edison High School
Elizabeth High School 1
JP Stevens High School
JP Stevens High School Lab
Randolph High School 1
West Orange High School 1

NJAJE Division 1 State Championship will be held Saturday April 26, 2014.
at JP Stevens High School starting at 5pm.

It was a very busy weekend for the Camden Creative Arts  Jazz band starting on Friday night with  a last minute addition to their competition schedule. They were in “Jazz @  The   Brook” at Overbrook High School in Pine Hill N.J. The band  received a rating of Superior for their performance with the Trombones and  Trumpets winning Best Section Awards.  Junior Trombonist Michael Spearman  received a outstanding soloist award along with being named the Tracey Scardia Honor for being best Musician  of the night.   $150 Rutgers  Scholarship Awards were given to  Junior Trumpet player Jamal Dickerson  II,  Junior Saxophonist Richard Williams,  Senior Trombonist Ronald  Torres, senior Bass player  Dan Andrews and senior  on the  Drum set, Charles Davis. The band was named Best Overall Band for the Festival.

On Saturday night  the band traveled over to the Cheltenham Jazz festival with The Little Jazz  Giants.   It was the first festival outing for The Little Jazz Giants  and they received a rating of Excellent for their performance. GREAT JOB!!!

 The CAMVA Jazz band received a  Superior rating while  winning the nights Best Section Awards for the Trombone and Rhythm sections and  Junior Trombonist  Michael Spearman received a Honorable Mention Soloist Award.

 Sunday morning   we held our Annual Fundraiser Jazz Brunch at Adelphia’s in Deptford NJ. It  was a great affair. From the parents of the Jazz Band students, we would like to
say Thank You to all those who came out and supported  our children. We  hope you had a great time listening to our students as well as our featured  guest Mr. Bootsie Barnes and his quartet.   They were great. 

This week will be just as busy as the band prepares for the  NJAJE preliminaries at Cherokee High School located at 130 Tomlinson Mill  Road  Marlton NJ 08053. The band is scheduled to go on stage at around  7:00pm. This event is to qualify for the NJAJE State
Finals.  

On  Friday will   be at the Lower Merion High School Jazz Festival at 315 East Montgomery  Avenue Ardmore PA 19003. Show starts at 6pm with Creative  Arts Jazz Band scheduled to be on stage at 8:05pm. On  Saturday the CAMVA Jazz Band will be at Pennsbury Jazz Festival at  Pennsbury High School located at  located at 705 Hood Blvd Fairless  Hills  PA 19030. Festival starts at 6:00pm with the band  on stage at around 8:00pm.  Good luck.

Last night the Creative Arts Jazz Band made their first appearance at the Upper Moreland High School Jazz Festival and were in competition with 12 other schools from around the region. The band received a rating of Superior for their performance and a best section award for the Trombone section. Senior drummer Charles Davis received a Honorable Mention soloist award while Junior trombonist Michael Spearman received a outstanding soloist award. Great job guys.   

Next week the band will be traveling along with The Little Jazz Giants to the Cheltenham High School Jazz Festival at 500 Rices Mill Road in Wyncote PA  19095. The festival starts at 5pm with The Little Jazz Giants performing at 8:20pm and the CAMVA Creative Arts Jazz Band performing at 9:35pm. Please come out and support the bands.

The Creative Arts Jazz Band opened up their Cavalcade of Bands 2014 Jazz season at the New Hope-Solesbury High School Jazz Festival last night with 10 other bands plus the host school. It was a great night of jazz. The  CAMVA Jazz Band received a rating of Superior for their performance. The Trumpet and Rhythm sections took home best section awards. Richard Williams won a Honorable Mention Solo award. Awesome job guys .

Next week 0n 2/28/2014 the band will be traveling to the Upper Moreland High School Jazz Festival at 3000 Terwood Road Willow Grove PA 19090. Show starts at 5pm.

Creative Arts Jazz Band plays at around 9:10pm 

The Camden Creative Arts Jazz Band traveled to the Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville MD to compete the Jazz Combo and high school Big Band competitions among 12 schools from the Mid Atlantic region. On Friday night the Jazz Combo took 1st place  and  on Saturday the Big Band placed 2nd with a outstanding solo award going to junior trombonist Michael Spearman. Junior Saxophonist Richard Williams was awarded as one of the best saxophone players of the festival. The Trombone section was treated to a masterclass with Trombonist extraordinaire Steve Turre. The band on a whole had a great learning experience meeting and learning from the best in the business.  GREAT JOB!!!!

Next week the band will open up it's Cavalcade of Bands Schedule at New Hope-Solesbury High School Jazz Festival on Saturday 2/22/2014.

The Camden Creative Arts Jazz Band on Saturday 2/8/2014 competed in The Annual High School Jazz Festival at the Berklee College of Music in Boston MA.  The band under the direction of Jamal P Dickerson finished in first place in Large Ensemble Class 6. Outstanding musicianship awards were given to Senior  Trombonist Ronald Torres and Senior drummer Charles Davis. The Superior Musicianship for Class 6 was awarded to Junior Trombonist Michael Spearman.  Michael was also the Judges Choice award winner .

The band also finished in first place in the Small Ensemble Class 4 with the Judges Choice Award going to Senior Charles Davis. Outstanding Musicianship were awarded to Juniors Michael Spearman on Trombone and Jamal P Dickerson II on Trumpet. Accepting the first place trophy was Camden Creative Arts Jazz Band Alumnus and Berklee College of Music Graduate Joseph Streater Who's work with the Small group must be  acknowledged.    GREAT JOB!!!

The band will next be traveling to the Mid Atlantic Jazz Festival in Rockville MD  to compete in the Small Ensemble and Big Band events on Friday 2/14 and Saturday 2/15. 

The Creative Arts Jazz Band went up to J.P. Stevens HS in Edison, NJ for the NJAJE State Finals Competition. There was a number of different bands in this competition including, J.P Stevens Jazz Band, Cherokee Jazz Band, and Eastern High School. The Creative Arts Jazz Band went out and gave their all and on that night, their all was good enough. They placed 1st and also came away with a best trombone section award, best trumpet section award and a solo award for Richard "Rick" Willaims. We would like to thank everyone for their support through this year. We are currently planning an award banquet where we will celebrate the victory. Please be on the look out for fundraiser events as well as the date and location of the banquet.

We would like to thank everyone who made this season a success. As we head to our last festival today we hope to have the support from all of our families and friends. The festival will be at J.P. Stevens High School in Edision, NJ and will begin at 5pm! Please come out and watch the student compete for the NJAJE State Championship!