Two Oak Park and River Forest High Schoolers took their jazz skills to new heights, playing at the 2024 Chicago Jazz Festival in August.
Freshman Spencer Mamola,14, and senior Brett Linzing,18, both performed with the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Combo on Saturday, Aug. 31 at the Harris Street Theater’s Rooftop Terrace, a venue in Millennium Park.
The Chicago Jazz Festival is orchestrated by the Jazz Institute of Chicago and has grown to be a Labor Day weekend tradition promoting all forms of jazz through free, high-quality music programming. According to the City of Chicago’s website, the festival showcases local Chicago talent along with national and international artists to continue to appreciate “one of the city’s most beloved art forms.”
“It was a great performance,” Linzing said. “I loved the environment and the ambiance. Just everything about it.”
Linzing began playing drums in third grade, saying he always found himself drawn to music.
“I have always been fascinated by rhythm and music in general,” Linzing said.
He started at School of Rock Oak Park and joined the Oak Park and River Forest High School Jazz Ensemble when he got to high school. He is a Jazz Ensemble member.
Spencer, who plays guitar, said he also joined School of Rock Oak Park when he was in second grade. But it was during the pandemic that he found his passion for jazz music and began to audition for conservatory programs, including Midwest Young Artists Conservatory.
For Spencer, jazz is unlike anything else.
“You can play a lot of things and get away with it,” Spencer said. “The theory involved in it is so deep.”
With the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, the region’s largest youth music ensemble program, Spencer and Linzing performed five pieces at the festival.
“It went really well,” Spencer said, adding the energy of the crowd was really nice. “We had a few hiccups here and there but everybody performed really well.”
Linzing said that even from the back of the stage where he was playing drums, he could tell the crowd was into the performance.
“I really enjoyed finally putting this summer long project together with these members of our small ensemble,” Linzing said.
For Linzing, the experience was very “uplifting and positive,” which allowed each musician to express themselves in many different ways.
A highlight was having the opportunity to perform solos, which both OPRF students said they enjoyed.
Spencer said he loves to see how he can develop over the course of a solo.
“Not necessarily playing the same thing but changing over the course of the solo into something entirely different,” Spencer said, adding he strives for not only making it sound good but also it being inventive.
For Linzing, it’s the journey.
“Once it is your turn to solo, all the doors of creativity have opened and it is now your time to shine but also to highlight and for other band members to highlight and accentuate you,” he said.
Linzing said he hopes to encourage others to start playing music, saying it is never too late to start and to express oneself both creatively and musically with other people.
Spencer said he hopes to pursue music as well, adding that jazz music has been one of the best forms of self-expression.
As part of MYA, the students said they will have the opportunity to participate in more concerts including a Jazz Combo Concert on Oct. 19 at Madame Zuzu’s in Highland Park and fall concerts for all ensembles at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Hall on Oct. 20.