Princeton Studio Band and Studio Vocals Win State Championships

Princeton, NJ – For decades the legacy of the Princeton Studio Band has been simple: The Princeton High School’s jazz band wins -- and wins almost always on the biggest national stages. This week we received word of another Princeton “studio” ensemble, formed more recently, and already building a winning legacy.

The news is that both the Princeton Studio Band and the Princeton Studio Vocals have won state championships from the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education (NJAJE). For the Studio Band it was old hat – the band’s seventh New Jersey State Championship.

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The Princeton Studio Vocals, a vocal jazz choir (16 vocalists this year) that performs with a rhythm section from Studio Band, is a relative newcomer. The New Jersey Association of Jazz Educators (NJAJE) started New Jersey's official Vocal Jazz Festival in 2017. Princeton Studio Vocals won in 2017, 2018, 2024. The festival did not take place in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the state competition, Princeton Studio Vocals placed first and also won awards for Best Alto Section, Best Tenor Section, and Best Rhythm Section.

In addition to placing first in the state competition, the Studio Band won the Best Trumpet Section award and the Best Sight Reading award, making state history by becoming the first band ever to earn a perfect score in sight-reading.

Drummer Samuel Lee received the outstanding instrumental soloist award and Vivian Clayton and Syra Bhatt received outstanding vocal soloists' awards. Sebastian Bongiovi, singing with Studio Vocals, received a vocal soloist honorable mention. Bongiovi also played trumpet in the Studio Band’s award-winning trumpet section – a versatile musician, not unlike his father, Joe Bongiovi, the Princeton High School band director.

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Princeton Jazz Ensemble placed fourth this year. In addition, Peter Eaton received and outstanding soloist award and Lucas Comesana and Andrew Wakefield both received honorable mention soloists' awards.

Even though the school year is coming to an end, Joe Bongiovi, the longtime director of the Studio Band and now the Studio Vocals, still has some projects in the works. On June 14, the Studio Band will release its second album. The recording will feature seven-time Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker and his wife, tenor saxophonist Ada Rovatti, along with the Princeton Studio Band. It was recorded last December at Abbey Road Studios in London.

The Princeton Studio Band gets around. The Studio Vocals seem likely to follow.

Full disclosure: TAPinto editor Richard K. Rein is the father of two Princeton Studio Band alumni: Rick, Class of 2010, trumpet; and Frank, Class of 2010, bass trombone.

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