Feet tapping and finger snapping kept the beat as jazz music played through the hallways of South. From sweet blues to swanky swing music, middle and high school students from over 70 different jazz bands performed and competed at the North Shore Jazz Fest on Jan. 18. This year’s grand champion was Naperville North Jazz Ensemble, according to Aaron Wojcik, assistant band diector.

The 37th Annual Jazz Fest consisted of four different rooms at South where students played for judges and were scored based on their performance, according to Joey Gordon, Jazz Fest leader. Because South hosted the event, each ensemble participated as a non-competitive group. Competitions occurred for the high school Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab, as well as middle school jazz bands and Combos, which can have three to six parts, that features improvised solos.

“There is Jazz Ensemble, which is by audition only […] and then there is Jazz Lab which is open to anybody,” Gordon said. “[Jazz Lab is] a lot bigger than Jazz Ensemble and the purpose of Jazz Lab is to introduce people to jazz music and playing jazz so that when they audition for Jazz Ensemble, they’ll make it. It’s like a preparation band.”

Preparation had begun many months prior to the actual event, according to Greg Wojcik, band director and host of the all-day festival.

“The preparation for it is astronomical,” Greg said. “When you have that many bands coming in, you have to get judges. You have to make sure the rooms are ready. You have to get stands. […] There’s just so much you have to do and it doesn’t end.”

According to Greg, although parents and other adults helped prepare for the competitions, the students were in charge of creating the event and  making certain it ran smoothly.

“The kids really run the festival,” Greg said. “The students will be running the rooms. They’ll be setting things up. They’ll be working the microphones. They’ll be running the judges’ things back and forth. […] If they didn’t, I couldn’t do the fest.”

According to Lauren Yep, Jazz Lab member, Jazz Fest serves as a fundraiser for South’s band program, but money isn’t the only goal. Improving as a band musically is also a key component behind Jazz Fest.

“My goal is not really to get first place or to place at all at [Jazz Fest] but more of just to come together as a band and be able to play the music at the best level that we can,” Yep said.

Many of the jazz bands at Jazz Fest have used scores given by the judges in order to improve. Style, notes, dynamics and other musical components of jazz music determine scores. Judge Dr. John Cooper believes that these elements make jazz music so unique.

“I like the way it feels,” Cooper said. “It’s like the way a rose smells. You can’t describe it. You have to experience it.”

According to Greg, South’s unified jazz band is a reason that they are capable of accomplishing these important elements of jazz.

“You’ve got individual strong points throughout the ensemble,” Greg said. “Maybe in the past years we’ve had stars, but this is a more ensemble minded [band] so they sound pretty good.”

South’s jazz band has a lot of fun practicing and performing this style of music, according to Gordon. He believes that jazz is a unique style that isn’t as popular as it should be, and more people should come out to Jazz Fest.

“We like what we do and we have fun doing it,” Gordon said. “We have some great musicians. […] Jazz is something that people don’t really get into a lot, but […] it’s a whole new world and I think people miss out a lot on that.”