It's Jazz Time as Groton Plays Famed Cambridge Club

Students representing every form played with the Groton School Jazz Ensemble and various smaller school combos, covering works from artists including Stevie Wonder, Chick Corea, James Brown, and Earth, Wind, & Fire. The audience in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, club included alumni, locals, parents, faculty, and students, as well as Headmaster Temba Maqubela and former Headmaster Bill Polk.

 

The larger jazz ensemble, called Soul Sauce, opened with standards such as “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” rousingly sung by Fourth Former Dashy Rodriguez, who also plays tenor saxophone. Rod Temperton’s “Rock with You” had the Michael Jackson fans in the crowd clapping, before the set closed with the funk jazz tune, “Pick Up the Pieces.”

 

Soul Sauce features Sixth Formers Christine Bernard on alto saxophone and flute and Eddie Uong on tenor sax, Fifth Formers Paul Malone and Garvel Cassamajor on trumpet and Jon Lamson on guitar, and Fourth Former Brian Xiao on alto sax. Rounding out the rhythm section are Third Former Joshua Guo on piano, Fourth Former Andrew Lei on bass, and Second Former Kate Clark on drum set.

 

Groton’s Riverside Combo—featuring Christine, Eddie, Brian, Andrew, Jon, and Joshua—amped up the energy with Wayne Shorter’s “Deluge” and a high-voltage version of Chick Corea’s “Spain.” The combo accompanied Dashy as she sang a soulful “Cry Me a River.” Other highlights of the set included Peggy Lee’s “I Love Being Here With You,” rendered very up tempo, a la Diana Krall, by the remarkable Sixth Former Anson Jones. Anson also offered an expert take on “Orange Colored Sky” by DeLugg and Stein.

 

Soy Sauce, another small combo featuring Brian on alto sax, Joshua on piano, Andrew on bass, and Fourth Former Gloria Hui on drum set, impressed with an exciting realization of Freddie Hubbard’s “Crisis.” When Soy Sauce played Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke,” the crowd was on its feet.

 

The big band, Soul Sauce, came back for a final set. Fifth Former Randeep Grewal tore up the baritone sax solo in Charles Mingus’s “Moanin'.” The wows continued on the James Brown hit, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” and through Anson’s version of “Don’t Know Why,” a song made famous by Norah Jones. The crowd danced to Earth, Wind, & Fire’s “September”—then raucously demanded more after the final tune, bringing the band back for an encore, “The Chicken” by Pee Wee Ellis.

 

Groton’s jazz musicians will be back at Ryles next winter—watch out for the date and join us!

Watch Anson Jones '17 performing at Ryles. Video by Vladimir Gurin