“You can play a shoestring if you're sincere.”
We are the Bergen County Academies Jazz Club, a completely student-run organization and the culmination of our collective efforts to learn and play jazz together. We have had incredible success in our first two years, with multiple awards won at the Essentially Ellington Regional Festival at Newark Academy, and we plan to expand our club in the following year.
Because of the limited support and availability in jazz at our school, Mohit and Dillon founded this jazz club to allow anyone and everyone to join and learn what jazz is about. We are committed to developing a welcoming and encouraging jazz environment in our school, not to mention making it as fun as possible. Our club meets every Wednesday, 9th period, where we either rehearse our repertoire or teach a lesson in music theory.
Improvisation is the backbone behind jazz, but it's intimidating to get into. Throughout the year, we've taught about modes, scales, chord theory, and chord progressions, and continue to discover and showcase more concepts to build everyone's foundation for improvising.
We've also performed at multiple venues including Newark Academy and the BCA PPO picnic, and plan on performing at many more. Past repertoire includes:
