Fifty-two jazz musicians from Cape Elizabeth High School braved the snowy conditions on March 12 to travel to Boston and compete at the Berklee College of Music’s 37th Annual High School Jazz Festival. This event is the largest high school jazz festival in the country, with over 100 bands competing in six different categories based on school enrollment.

Four groups from Cape performed, two large jazz ensembles and two, seven-member jazz combos, with 52 students involved overall.

“All the Cape groups had a tremendous performance,” said Thomas Lizotte, Cape High School band director. “I was very proud of how they performed and handled themselves. They were a class act and represented the community well.”

Cape’s two ensembles, the Wednesday Evening Jazz Ensemble and the Concert Jazz Ensemble, placed third and seventh respectively and the two combos, the Thursday Combo and the Tuesday Combo, placed fifth and eighth in their categories respectively.

“The kids did what I asked them to do and a little more besides,” said Ralph Norris, the leader of the jazz combos. According to Norris, the Cape Elizabeth students did very well considering they were competing against bands from performance arts high schools. Competition between jazz bands, though, rubs him the wrong way.

“I can’t relate jazz to a hockey game, but that’s what this turns out to be,” said Norris. “I listened to both performances and I would have called them equal.”

Four students received judges’ awards for being most valuable player of their ensemble; Ben Pomeroy for piano and trombone – Wednesday Evening Band; Parker Marvin for trombone – Concert Jazz Ensemble; Reid Hansen for trombone – Tuesday combo; and Jeff Witherell for drums – Thursday combo.

Though Scarborough and South Portland musicians were also scheduled to perform in the festival, weather prevented them from attending.