On Friday, Saint Maur hosted the KPASS Jazz Festival. International schools from all across the Kanto region came to our auditorium to perform with Big Bands and Combos.

They were then given detailed and constructive feedback by a team of four high profile adjudicators: Rick Overton (trumpet player and director of Tokyo College of Music's Big Band), Jonathan Katz (pianist and director of Tokyo Big Band, Brent Nussey (bass) and Kentaro Nakayama (drum set).

Saint Maur participated in this event with the High School Jazz Band, the largest of the groups on the day, praised for their togetherness as an ensemble, attention to detail and rhythmic drive. They performed a contrasting set including funk classic There's Only So Much Oil in the Ground by Tower of Power, Blue Monk by Thelonius Monk and latin vocal number Sway by Pablo Beltran Ruiz and Norman Gimbel.

The Saint Maur Combo kicked off the afternoon with a challenging set including Spain by Chick Corea, Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson and Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham and impressed with stunning improvised solos. The day concluded with an exhilarating performance from the quartet of adjudicators, which was no doubt inspiring for all the students to see and hear. They also spent a generous amount of time answering questions at the end. Congratulations to all the groups, especially Saint Maur's Jazz Bands, for organising and performing on this successful day!