Acclaimed jazz drummer, bandleader gives Hoover jazz band tips for big competition

April 6, 2025

3:03 AM

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Photo by Jon Anderson

Nationally acclaimed jazz drummer, bandleader and music educator Steve Fidyk helps the Hoover HIgh School First Edition Jazz Band prepare for the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 30th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival on Thursday, April 3, 2025.

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Photo by Jon Anderson

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Photo by Jon Anderson

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Photo by Jon Anderson

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Photo by Jon Anderson

Aubrey Snow, a freshman member of the Hoover High School First Edition Jazz Band, practices music for the Jazz at Lincoln Center's 30th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival on Thursday, April 3, 2025.

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Photo by Jon Anderson

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Photo by Jon Anderson

The Hoover High School First Edition Jazz Band practices music for the Jazz at Lincoln Center's 30th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival on Thursday, April 3, 2025.

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Photo by Jon Anderson

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Photo by Jon Anderson

Hoover High School’s First Edition Jazz Band last week got a visit from an acclaimed jazz drummer, bandleader and music educator to help the band prepare for a major competition in New York City in May.

Steve Fidyk, who for more than 21 years was the drummer and featured soloist with The Army Big Blues Band at Arlington National Cemetery, spent several hours with Hoover’s First Edition Jazz Band to give band members advice about how to tweak and improve the music the band plans to perform in New York at the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 30^th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz band Competition and Festival.

Sallie Vines White, the director of Hoover’s jazz band, has applied for the competition more than 20 times. Normally, only 15 bands are selected, but this year, in conjunction with the competition’s 30th anniversary, 30 bands were chosen to compete. A record 127 bands from around the world applied this year, and Hoover’s band made the top 30.

This past Thursday, Fidyk worked with the Hoover band on three songs the band will play in New York: “Concerto for Cootie,” “Symphony in Riffs” and “Thanks for the Beautiful Land on the Delta.” The music originally was performed in the mid-1930s to the early 1970s, Fidyk said.

“It’s astounding how these kids are preserving the legacy of Duke Ellington’s music,” Fidyk said. “It’s really, really incredible. … It just shows the amount of dedication that these kids have, and it speaks volume to the instruction that they’re getting from their band director and how the kids are taking that information and running with it.”

Hoover’s band has been working on this music since November, Fidyk said.

“They’ve learned the notes on paper. Now it’s just trying to put more feeling and dynamic contrast and swing to the overall product,” he said.

Fidyk said his ultimate goal is to try to inspire the students to continue to grow musically, not only with this particular music, but as they continue to play for the rest of their lives. “It’s a lifelong study, working on this music,” he said.

Ellington’s band was full of incredible soloists, and Fidyk said one of the things that stood out to him about the Hoover band is the number of soloists they have. “That brings so much character and personality to the music that they’re doing,” he said.

Fidyk has appeared on more than 100 recordings as a co-leader, and his discography as a bandleader features original arrangements and compositions. Since 2015, he has been a member of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia. He also performs with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra in Washington, D.C.

With vocalist Maureen McGovern, he has accompanied symphony orchestras throughout the country, including The Cincinnati Pops, Spokane Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Plano Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Buffalo Philharmonic, The Richmond Symphony and the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon Big Band.

He currently lives in Davidsonville, Maryland, and serves on the jazz studies faculty at Temple University and The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He also is an educational consultant for the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Program.

In addition to visiting the Hoover band last week, he also in March visited two other bands in Florida that will be in the competition.

“It’s such gratifying work because the kids are just so engaged and dedicated to getting better,” Fidyk said. “I’m just so inspired by it.”

Aubrey Snow, a freshman in Hoover’s First Edition Jazz Band who plays the bass, said everyone in the band has put in a lot of hard work and getting a visit from Fidyk is a huge opportunity.

“It’s just so rewarding to get to play and learn from these good people,” she said. “We’re learning and having fun. It’s great.”

Levi Hansen, a senior trumpet player, said Fidyk has given the band some really good comments. The band also in December got to learn from Todd Stoll, the vice president of education at the Jazz at Lincoln Center, which also was beneficial, he said.

“It really helps us to have a different person come in because it brings a fresh perspective.”

Hoover’s First Edition Jazz Band has 24 students who will be performing in New York City on May 7-11, White said.

Tonight, on Monday, April 7, all three of Hoover’s jazz bands will perform in a concert at the school at 6 p.m. Then on April 17, all three jazz bands will perform at their state Music Performance Assessment.