When Charlie Phillips was in fifth grade, he decided to try his hand at the trombone after discovering it “made a race car noise.”
Now a junior at Lindbergh High School, Phillips still plays the large brass instrument, and has even picked up two more: the tuba and the bass trombone, primarily focusing on the latter. His bass trombone playing, in fact, is what got him noticed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (NGJO) last spring.
For those not versed in the world of jazz, the renowned NGJO brings together the top 20 high school jazz musicians from across the country, each chosen through a highly selective audition process. Phillips heard about the ensemble from his band director this past March, and decided to try out “with no expectation of making it.”
“I filmed, I believe, five different videos in different styles. I had to write a mini essay and then film a video of me answering some other questions. I sent those in late April and I got the results in May,” Phillips said.
In his own words, the results were “shocking.”
“I was kind of shocked. I had a friend from Lindbergh who had tried out the year prior. He was really good, and he didn’t make it, but he (told me), ‘If you try out, they’ll give you feedback.’ That’s the only reason I tried out, to get that feedback. I had no expectation of making it. So when I got the email that I had made it, I was just, like, in shock.”
The high school ensemble — under the direction of acclaimed, six-time Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and composer Gerald Clayton — met in Monterey, California, the last week of September to rehearse, learn and explore the iconic Monterey Jazz Festival. The exploring was a trip highlight for Phillips.
“I got to see a lot of my favorite jazz artists,” he said. “My favorite was probably Keyon Harrold; he’s a big inspiration to me, as well as Trombone Shorty.”
Phillips himself had the chance to take the stage at the festival as well. The first performance was in a community courtyard for local elementary schools’ music classes, and later that day, the jazz ensemble played at the organization’s annual gala. This year’s gala honored Christian McBride, another favorite of Phillips.
“I thought that was really cool to expose (the elementary students) to that type of music,” Phillips said.
This was not the final time Phillips and the rest of the NGJO took the stage, as the experience culminated with a performance on the acclaimed Jimmy Lyons Arena Stage, one of the most prestigious jazz stages in the world.
“It was amazing to play on that stage. That morning, we had a very short rehearsal, then we went over to the stage. They had a microphone for each of us — I’d never played like that. It’s such a big stage and arena that they had to have us all micced up. It was incredible to play on a stage that so many amazing musicians have played on before. It was unbelievable.”
Phillips was the only LHS student accepted, though he saw two familiar faces while in California: Harrison Hendrickson of St. Charles and Ezekiel Dittmer of Mascoutah, Illinois. The three, all trombone players who have met previously, almost solely represented the Midwest; the majority of students hailed from California or the East Coast.
