National champ band relocating to Lynn

LYNN – The East Coast Jazz Drum and Bugle Corps, a national champion marching band formerly housed in Malden will be relocating to Lynn this fall, and could begin working with music students in city schools.The band participates in a national band tour and competes for the national championship each year. It is considered an “open class” band, and is affiliated with the “World Class” Jazz Drum and Bugle Corps located in Indiana.East Coast Jazz is compiled of young adults, most around age 17 from the Greater Boston area. Members join after open tryouts in the fall, and practice throughout the winter in anticipation for the tour and competition season in the spring.Executive Director Tom Chopelas said the group met with Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr., Lynn Public School Music Director Paul Bourque and Board Member Al Porter last week to discuss bringing the band to Lynn, after it was forced to shut down due to lack of funding last year after over 30 years in Malden.A non-profit organization, the band was raising funds by hosting bingo games in Malden, but several factors, including the new no smoking laws, eventually led to the demise of the bingo games, and a severe lack of funding.Chopelas said the band was looking for a larger community to relocate to, and with three board members from Lynn, the city was a natural fit.The band does not have a permanent practice facility in the city, but will use the Gregg House and any available space in local schools during the winter months.Bourque will act as a liaison between the organization and the schools, and Chopelas says once the band is established they could begin working with the school music program to set up classes to educate younger students in playing music.The organization is hoping to schedule several fundraisers in the city, including spaghetti dinners, concerts and fun family events at Flax Pond.”We reached a point where we had to close the bingo and return to more traditional non-profit fundraising,” he said. “We were looking for a larger community, so we reached out to (Clancy) told him our plan and he was very supportive.”The band will hold an open tryout on Thanksgiving weekend, where interested musicians audition for the band. Chopelas said they rarely have more people than they can handle, so anyone with enough ability and commitment can join the band. He did warn, however, that joining the group is very time consuming, and could be difficult for some that do not want to practice all winter for spring competitions.The band begins its tour playing concerts and contests on the east coast, and eventually makes its way to different competitions across the country before competing in the National Championship, which is held in Indianapolis this year.The band has won the championship twice, first in 1998 and again in 2005. It finished a close second in 2006, its last year of competition.The age restriction is 17-22 years old, but Chopelas said younger students may join if they show the dedication, accomplishment and ability required. Participants do not have to be from Lynn.Chopelas said the band is also looking for a large, well-lit parking lot that is not in a residential area to use for practice when the weather is nice once they are established in the city.The band has already preliminarily scheduled a concert sponsored by Youth in the Arts in the summer of 2008 at Manning Bowl, and hopes to have several other concerts and fundraisers on tap in the near future.A location and exact time has not been announced for the Thanksgiving open house.