The 45th edition of the JazzFest des jeunes du Québec took place on April 6, 2024 at the André-Laurendeau school. Participants included the Jazz Band Relève, the Combo Jazz and the Jazz Band Senior under the direction of Christian Scraire and Marc-André Thibault.

Both teachers at Cité-des-Jeunes high school in Vaudreuil-Dorion, they proudly report the results of all three groups. Their musicians all received gold awards. This is the highest achievable performance standard, meaning that all Cité ensembles “demonstrated a level of excellence in all facets of their performance”.

At André-Laurendeau high school, eighteen judges, all renowned professional musicians, evaluated the performances of the eighty-one competing Quebec jazz bands.

The Jazz band relève is made up of young musicians, some of whom are only in Secondary One. They have recently been introduced to the musical genre of jazz by Christian Scraire.  The Combo jazz is made up of more experienced musicians who have continued their jazz training with Christian Scraire, himself a specialist in the genre.

The Jazz band senior is also made up of more experienced musicians, generally at the end of their high school musical training. They are used to performing for a variety of audiences, and know how to interpret different musical genres (jazz, pop, rock). The ensemble is under the direction of Marc-André Thibault.

Following their performance, the Cité's senior jazz band has also been selected to perform at the upcoming Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

They will perform on Saturday, July 6 at 5:00 pm.

As every year, the experience proved to be unique and stimulating for all participating musicians from high schools, colleges and universities.The day of April 6, 2024 ended with a closing performance by the Altsys Jazz Orchestra, a fixture on the Montreal music scene co-directed by Jennifer Bell and Bill Mahar.