From Feb 12 to 15, the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra, directed by Dr. Mitch Butler III, performed at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival at the Bethesda Marriott in Bethesda, Maryland.

Prior to the festival date on Saturday, Feb 14, the band first performed at the St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes private school in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday, Feb 12. The recruitment opportunity emerged from Dr. Butler’s longtime friendship with Vaughn Ambrose, tenor saxophonist and K-12 Performing Arts Chairman of the three St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes campuses. He is also the father of one of the Jazz Orchestra’s own tenor saxophonists, jazz education major James Ambrose (‘27).

In his position as Performing Arts Chairman, Vaughn Ambrose prioritizes exposing the roughly 1,200 students he oversees to jazz through weekly in-house performances with his octet, which had their own Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival slot on Friday night. Though jazz is already a consistently present component of music education in the private school, Ambrose brings in guests like the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra for the sake of his students.

“It’s very important for young people to see mirrors. And so, to see these incredible young musicians who are only four to five years older than them will have a life changing impact… growing up, (it) changed the trajectory of my life, so hopefully they’ll have that same experience,” said Vaughn Ambrose.

After two sets performed for the high schoolers and elementary schoolers, the big band hit the road again to settle into the Bethesda Marriott and enjoyed their free time until the next performance. In the hotel lobby, bandmembers and festival goers browsed vendors of artwork, original crafts, radio stations, schools, and record sellers. Jams were consistently held in the hotel restaurant and at night in one of the conference rooms converted into a stage.

On Saturday at 3pm, the Jazz Orchestra took the main stage to perform their seven song setlist. After opening with the standard “I Love You”, the subsequent “Groove Merchant” featured a fascinatingly complicated five-person saxophone soli before a solo taken by last-minute guest, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon.

Next, second-year graduate trumpet performance student Joshua Mercado (‘26) led the band through a moving rendition of “Chelsea Bridge”, until a change of pace came with the Clark Terry original “Dr. DD”, written for the former Jazz Studies Coordinator of the William Paterson music department, Dr. David Demsey.

For the last two numbers, the never-performed Thad Jones piece “Comin’ Out” and the standard “Cherokee”, trumpeter Jon Faddis joined the band on stage and kicked off rounds of solos by himself and students, including fellow trumpeters Mayuko Abe (‘26) and Violet Mujica (‘27).

The band received a roaring applause and left the stage to prepare for enjoying the

remaining shows of the night, one of which included an homage to Kind of Blue, hosted by the festival’s creator, saxophonist Paul Carr.

A highlight of the weekend for half of the big band came from a nearly two hour conversation with Jon Faddis in the hallway adjacent to the main stage on Saturday night.

“Having such a historical giant in one room surrounded by ten kids was really something special and showed how much he cares about the youth. He was very composed, but he was also very loose in the sense that he spoke to us as if we were peers, and to me that felt very reassuring to know we don’t always have to worry about being completely serious all the time,” said trombonist Bryan Castillo (‘28).

Overall, the tour over the weekend created lasting memories for all members of the big band. As one would hope, perhaps the hard work of the William Paterson Jazz Orchestra left a lasting impact on the students and all audience members alike.