On Saturday, February 1, the Johnstown-based big band Jazz in Your Face celebrated its twenty-fifth year of existence by presenting a concert that also featured students from nine high schools in Cambria and Somerset counties.
Jazz in Your Face is an 18-piece jazz band dedicated to jazz education, entertaining audiences through regular appearances in the Greater Johnstown area and western Pennsylvania. It is led by Michael Bodolosky (BSEd ’72, MA ’78), an active clinician, adjudicator, guest conductor, and freelance musician.
Bodolosky has been an educator for over 50 years, serving as choral director and assistant high school band director in the Greater Johnstown School District before moving to the Richland School District, where he served as director of bands and Fine Arts Department chair. He currently teaches at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. Bodolosky was the recipient of the Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Citation of Excellence in Teaching in 2011, 2002, and 1987 and is listed numerous times in Who’s Who Among American Teachers. He was the recipient of the Bottle Work’s Arts Center 2007 Artist’s Hall of Fame Award and the Johnstown Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 Cultural Affairs Award. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Music Educators Hall of Fame in April 2017. He currently serves on the school board for the Richland School District.
Nick Jacobs (BSEd ’69, MA ’72) served as the master of ceremonies for the concert, which began with several works performed by Jazz in Your Face, including Harry Warren’s At Last, featuring vocalist Leanna McGiboney (BFA ’11, MA ’14). In all, eight members of JIYF attended IUP, including Bodolosky, Josh Brumbaugh, Mitch Custer, David Earnest, Kevin Eisensmith, Josh Hillard, Daniel Hutton, and Ken Young. Additionally, seven of the 11 contributing public school music teachers graduated from IUP, including Josh Brumbaugh, Jarred Cannistraci, Mitch Custer, Catherine (Kasun) Grove, Addison Holyfield, Michelle (Buige) Kokus, and Rebecca (Hiravi) Stombaugh.
The second portion of the concert featured high school students from Cambria Heights, Central Cambria, Conemaugh Township, Forest Hills, Penn Cambria, Portage, Richland, Somerset, and Westmont high schools performing side-by-side with the members of JIYF. The concert concluded with three works that incorporated orchestra students from Richland and Somerset high schools joining Jazz in Your Face.
Among those recognized during the evening concert were John Morris (BSEd ’66) and John Pencola (MA ’68). Morris taught instrumental music in Johnstown elementary schools for 25 years and taught jazz improvisation classes at IUP. Morris won several awards for his music, including a Down Beat award for arrangement in 1964, a Music Journal Award in 1968, and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Pencola taught music at Ferndale Area High School, Conemaugh Township, and Westmont, Richland, and Greater Johnstown school districts and retired from the Conemaugh Valley School District. He was a charter member of Jazz in Your Face.
The big band performs numerous concerts in the Johnstown area throughout the year. You can read more about them at Jazz in Your Face.