41st Annual Jazz Festival

GRAMMY AWARD WINNING GENERATION GAP JAZZ ORCHESTRA HEADLINES NEW TRIER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2024

What: Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra headlines 41st Annual New Trier Jazz Festival
When: Saturday, February 3, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Where: New Trier High School’s Gaffney Auditorium 385 Winnetka Ave., Winnetka, IL
How: Tickets are $40; buy online at www.ntjazz.com. A limited number of tickets may be available at the door.
Contact: Nic Meyer, Director of Jazz Ensembles at New Trier Township High School: meyern@newtrier.k12.il.us

GRAMMY award winning Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, led by Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson, will headline the 41st annual New Trier Jazz Festival on Saturday, February 3. Grab your grandparents and your grade-schoolers for this special event that celebrates musicianship across generations. Featuring the brilliant compositions of Steven Feifke and the dazzling lead trumpet of Bijon Watson, Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra was the 2023 GRAMMY recipient for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

“We are honored to feature the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra at this year’s Jazz Fest,” said Nic Meyer, New Trier’s Director of Jazz Ensembles. “I’m so excited to host this diverse, all-star ensemble that puts on display all the energy of the current generation of jazz musicians in creative cooperation with their mentors. I know our audience is going to love their music and be dazzled by their performance. I’m especially excited for all of the students to hear and be inspired by this band.”

In an interview with NPR, Feifke reminisced about how GGJO came together: “Bijon and I met at a gig one night and we just hit it off.” With two decades between them, “more or less”, they aimed to assemble something that would “reinvigorate the spirit of mentorship that the jazz idiom itself is so founded on,” Feifke said. Upon winning the GRAMMY, Feifke said, “This album for us is truly a mission of celebrating and showcasing generational diversity.”

“I’ve been an educator and a performing artist for many years. For my students to see this is an inspiration to them, too,” Watson said in an interview following his GRAMMY win.

For its 41st year, the New Trier Jazz Festival will host more than 40 visiting high school and middle school jazz ensembles from around the country, many of whom return year after year for the unique, non-competitive educational experience the event delivers. Students spend the day performing for world-renowned jazz clinicians, attending workshops and master classes, taking in concerts, and meeting young jazz enthusiasts like themselves. All daytime events are free and open to the public, and the entire schedule is available at www.ntjazz.com.

The evening show will open with a rousing set by New Trier’s top jazz group, Jazz Ensemble I, followed by the headlining ensemble that will perform selections from its GRAMMY winning album. Tickets for this perennially sold-out event are on sale now at www.ntjazz.com.