Deck the mall with Holiday Jazz.
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Besides over 500 retail shops and restaurants, Bloomington’s Mall of America boasts an amusement park, an aquarium and a mini golf course.
But on Thursday afternoon, the US’s largest shopping center also featured a concert by the CHS Holiday Jazz band.
Flanked by a pair of colossal tinsel-covered Christmas trees, directed by Erik Hermanson and donned in their orange blazers, the band performed pumped up seasonal tunes—like “Angels we have Rocked the House”— on stage in the mall’s rotunda. A state-of-the-art sound and light system operated by engineers enhanced the expierence.
Mallgoers filled the bleachers in front of the stage and lined each floor of the three-story rotunda. Several band member parents made the trip as well.
“It was really cool to see the audience watching from the floors above,” Hermanson said.
The trip was a whistle stop. There was no time for shopping, not even a coffee from Caribou. Band members road a school bus up, took the stage for 40 minutes and loaded up for the trip back to Cleveland
“I think they really like it when we get a time of day when they can spend a little time here,” Hermanson said, “but we don’t get to choose. Today was a hit and run. We got here just in time to play, and we’re heading right back home.”
But despite the tight schedule, it was a enjoyable trip, said saxophonist Ariel Murphy, who was making her third performance in the mall as a Cleveland jazz band member.
“It’s a fun bus ride getting the opportunity to bond.”
Holiday Jazz included Jackson Bowen, Mylie Dylla, August Keltgen and Judd Gibbs on trumpet; Melissa Miller, Jackson Wille and Jackson Shouler on trombone; Maya Lassiter on clarinet; Anna Kawatski-Klein on baritone saxophone; Murphy and Evelyn Keltgen on tenor saxophone; MacKenzie Smith, Allison Cink and Sierra McCabe on alto saxophone; Vivian Hilfer on piano; Clara Hilfer on lead guitar; Elijah Mons and Dacota Lotspeich on bass guitar; and Reid Knish, Ben Traxler and Wyatt Williams on percussion.
The group is all about desire and talent, Hermanson said. Members range from eighth graders, like Clara Hilfer and August Keltgen, to seniors, like Knish, Bowen, Dylla, Lassiter, Murphy, Smith, Cink and Evelyn Keltgen.
“The great part about this group is, unlike bands that meet during school hours, it doesn’t have anything to do with their year in school. It can really be a group of kids who are dedicated because they are willing to practice at 7:00 a.m., and they can be of any age, so it is really fun to have them.”
While Hermanson said the members of Holiday Jazz are fantastic to work with, it's difficult to get them all together.
“The only problem is that because they’re such hard workers and go-getters and they’re in everything, it’s hard to get any dates to perform. We have a lot of students missing at each event we play because they have basketball, they have hockey...dancing, FFA. They are the class of the school in this group.”
The MoA gig, which Hermanson and company has been doing since before 2020, was the third this year for Holiday Jazz.
As a fundraiser for Dollars for Scholars, Family & Consumer Science and the band program, Holiday Jazz will perform in the school commons on December 16 at 7:00 p.m. and again during the Elementary Concert on December 20 at 1:00 p.m.
Video: Angels we have Rocked the House