PHS Jazz Band to Perform at Pearl Harbor's 70th Anniversary Concert

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Army led an ambush attack on the U.S. Naval base of Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,000 Americans and prompting the U.S. to declare war on Japan the next day.

Next month, during the 70^thAnniversary Pearl Harbor Memorial Concert Series Dec. 4-7 in Honolulu, Princeton High School's Studio Band will perform as the only high school jazz band invited to play. 

“It’s obviously a big honor,” said Joe Bongiovi, the band’s director since March 2007. “You want to be better than the best because so many people are depending on you, we want to make sure we do our best to represent the state and the country."

The band will perform at the official Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony on Dec. 6 at the USS. Missouri. That event will be followed on Dec. 7 by a performance at Waikiki Shell.

“What’s going to make it really special, they’ll have interaction with people who actually lived through Pearl Harbor and are alive to share their stories,” Bongiovi said. “If we wait much longer, these people are going to be gone.”

The band is well-known for its big band swing era tunes and that’s what members will play during the hour-long performances on Dec. 6 and 7.

The playlist includes hits from 1941 including Glenn Miller's "In the Mood” and "Pennsylvania 6-5000,” The Andrews Sisters' “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and Duke Ellington's “Take the A Train."

The Princeton band was named the 2010 and 2011 winner of the Berklee College of Music’s High School Jazz Festival. Two years ago, the band performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

“I think the real appeal for us was the way they came to us after doing some research. They said our name kept popping up from high profile’s music educators when they asked what programs were great.”

The band will travel to Hawaii on Dec. 3 and return Dec. 10.

Students learn about Pearl Harbor in history class, but they’ve also had special activities throughout the year, including a special Pearl Harbor program last week, Bongiovi said.

The program included presentations by Princeton’s University’s head of the ROTC program, along with Princeton University graduate Herb Hobler, who was a college sophomore during Pearl Harbor. Hobler later joined the Army Air Corps and was stationed as an air navigator in Pacific, Bongiovi said.

Hobler is now making a documentary about Pearl Harbor, including stories from survivors.

“The enormity of whole Pearl Harbor experience is beginning to hit them,” said Deanna Anderson of Cranbury, whose son Alex plays in the Studio Band. “They’re really beginning to grasp this is not only an honor to play, but a critically important time in history.”

Besides the Pearl Harbor event, band members—who range in age from 14 to 18- will have time for other activities.

They will participate in music clinics at the University of Hawaii, tour the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center, pick pineapples at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, see a depiction of colonial-era life at The Polynesian Cultural Center, hike the Diamond Head volcanic cone, relax on the beach and snorkeling.

Band members will miss five days of school, but must complete as much as possible ahead of time, and are responsible for everything they miss.

“Academics come first,” Bongiovi said.

Alex Anderson, 18, has been playing drums in the Studio Band for four years.

“I was in the band program at Cranbury,” he said. “I had known about studio band, it was a big deal, they would play at Cranbury each year to showcase what they did."

“The level of playing, it’s a lot closer to a professional band, most of the students have been doing it for years or are extremely proficient and are ready to play at a level we can showcase.”