Shead jazz band wins state festival gold

The Shead Jazz Quartet under the direction of Eastport schools music teacher Robert Sanchez received the only Gold Medal Performance Award at the Maine State Jazz Festival at Hampden Academy on Saturday, March 18.
Members of the quartet are Antonio Vizcarrondo, bass; Ellis Zipperer-Sanchez, guitar; Kieran Weston, drums; and Nate Tardif, guitar. Both Vizcarrondo and Weston earned outstanding musician awards for their performances. Zipperer-Sanchez received the Dale Huff Award for Top Soloist of the entire festival.
The quartet's musical selections are arranged by their director. While Weston has been playing jazz for a while and Zipperer-Sanchez started as a small child, both Vizcarrondo and Tardif began playing jazz only within the past year.
The quartet was honored at an assembly on Monday, March 20, in the Shead gym. Shead Principal Paul Theriault welcomed students and staff from Shead and Eastport Elementary School and community members. He noted that he is "not sure they [the quartet members] realize how good they really are." The audience watched a video of one of the songs of the quartet's festival performance, which by Saturday evening had received over 1,000 views on Shead's YouTube channel.
The Maine State Jazz Festival is organized annually by the Maine Music Educators Association. After a hiatus during the COVID pandemic, Shead returned to competition this year and proved their long string of outstanding performances continues.
Anyone wishing to hear the Shead Jazz Quartet for themselves can do so at High School Jazz Night at the Eastport Arts Center on Wednesday, April 5, at 7 p.m. Guest vocalist Lauren Koss will sit in for a special performance with the quartet.