At this year’s Class Got Brass competition, which awards school bands with instruments, Edna Karr High School won the top prize.
A prize of $10,000 worth of instruments was awarded to the school’s band, who took home top honors in the advanced category. Langston Hughes Academy was first in the beginner category, winning $5,000 in instruments for the school. Put on by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Class Got Brass announced winners in Armstrong Park on Sunday, March 31 (during Congo Square Rhythms Festival).
Karr, led by band director Chris Herrero, has been competing in Class Got Brass every year since the contest’s inception in 2012. Until now, the school’s best results were winning third place in the advanced category in 2015 and again in 2018.
“This means a lot,” Herrero said of winning the top prize. “It’s the culmination of the hard work that these kids have put into the brass band over the past several years. We got over the hump, and it’s a great feeling. Some of our kids are seniors and have been participating in the bass band for all four of their years in high school and now they get a chance to go out on top.”
The complete results of the 2019 Class Got Brass are:
ADVANCED:
First Place: Edna Karr High School (Chris Herrero, band director), $10,000.00
Second Place: Landry-Walker High School (Wilbert Rawlins, band director), $7,000.00
Third Place: George Washington Carver High School (Eric French, band director), $5,000.00
L. W. Higgins High School (Justin Rush, band director), $1,000.00
McKinley Senior High School (Frank Williams, band director), $1,000.00
Riverdale High School (Desmond Venable, band director), $1,000.00
Rosenwald Collegiate Academy (Karron Brown, band director), $1,000.00
West Jefferson High School (Trey Varnado, band director), $1,000.00
BEGINNER:
First Place: Langston Hughes Academy (Samuel Venable, Jr., band director), $5,000.00
Second Place: Park Forest Creative Sciences and Arts Middle Magnet School (Doretha Williams, band director), $4,000.00
Third Place: Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts (Carlyn Glenn, band director), $3,000.00
Dolores T. Aaron Academy (Andy Bower, band director), $1,000.00
Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy (Ronald Totora, band director), $1,000.00
Lafayette Academy (Charles Jackson, band director), $1,000.00
Marrero Middle School (Jeremy Williams, band director), $1,000.00
Mildred Osborne Charter School (Thomas Grany , band director), $1,000.00
Renew Sci Tech Academy (Brandon Kelley, band director), $1,000.00
Stella Worley Junior High School (Edward Johnson, band director), $1,000.00
Young Audiences Charter School (Matt Bruzzi, band director), $1,000.00
2019 Judges:
Benny Jones, Sr., Treme Brass Band
Mark Braud, Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Woody Penouilh, Storyville Stompers Jazz Band
Louis Ford, Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Gregory Davis, Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes
Leslie Cooper
Barbara Lacen-Keller
Veronique Dorsey, Original Pinettes Brass Band
Christie Jourdain, Original Pinettes Brass Band
For winners and competitors in prior editions of Class Got Brass, please see www.classgotbrass.com.
