On Thursday, Dec. 7, the Archie Williams Jazz Band performed a concert at The Hub, a local restaurant in San Anselmo. Students, families, and staff came to enjoy the live music, along with other San Anselmo residents. The eight-member band started the performance at 5:00 p.m., and it lasted three hours.
The Jazz Band has put on five concerts in the ten days surrounding the Hub performance. Five days before their concert at The Hub, they performed in San Anselmo for the Christmas tree lighting in Imagination Park. They’ve also performed in the Little Theater throughout the semester.
The performing students and Archie Williams music teacher Mario Aparicio believed the concert to be a success. Sophomore trombonist Ryan Cunningham is a second-year member of the band.
“The balance and sound quality was great. I think it sounded great,” Ryan said.
Preparing for these concerts is no small task; the band started putting together this three-hour set at the beginning of the year. According to Aparicio, the band has been practicing their songs for months.
“This is a compilation of music from the whole semester. There are about 10 songs that we’ve been doing for two months and 30 songs we’ve been doing since the beginning of the year,” Aparicio said.
Aparicio has enjoyed his first year as a teacher at Archie Williams.
“It’s been really good [working at Archie Williams]… I really appreciate everyone who’s been supporting me, especially the parents who have been supporting all the different events we’ve been doing,” Aparicio said.
The Jazz Band, led by Aparicio, has ambitious goals for the rest of the year. In the spring semester, they plan to attend festivals to compete against the best jazz bands in Northern California. He hopes these recent concerts will allow the students to practice performing in order to prepare for the festivals.
