Cerritos College Music Department and the Associated Students presented the Jazz Exchange Concert on Thursday.

There was a guest performance by CSULA Jazz Orchestra, which was directed by James Ford III and Adam Schroeder.

Adam Schroeder, a guest soloist who played Baritone Sax, played with the Cerritos College Jazz Ensemble for two songs; ‘Every day I have the blues’ and ‘Imagine what a change will do’. He was pleased with how Cerritos played, he said, “It was my first performance here, and It was an honor and a pleasure playing with the band. I would like to come back and perform again.”

He is a Los Angeles based baritone saxophonist who had the privilege to perform and record with some of jazz greatest artist such as, Clark Terry, Anthony Wilson, Ray Charles, Bennie Wallace, and Sting.

He had words of wisdom for the musicians. “John Clayton once said to me, ‘You take care of the music the music will take care of you,’ I said this same phrase last night to the band and a lot of them came to me tonight and said they went home and thought about it. All I have to say keep that phrase in your mind and in your soul and you will always have a smile on your face.”

Andres Garcia, who plays alto saxophone in the pop/rock ensemble, was excited performing at the student center.

He said, “It’s a good experience because we expand our type of music from jazz to pop and different artist like Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morissette, Otis Redding, James Brown and other well known artist.”

Baritone Saxophone player Steven McEvilly, a senior at a local high school, said, “This changed my life, because I had trouble with my high school band. It gave me a reason to quit and come play with this college.”

David Page, the vocalist for the jazz ensemble liked the performance of the CSULA jazz orchestra, he looks forward on seeing them perform in the future. They are talented people he stated. Alexa Macias, a vocalist and a returning member for the pop/rock ensemble comes and performs every year, “I have a good time because of the gigs we get are cool, I love performing and I look forward on meeting the new members of the band. I thought Adam Schroeder was impressive, it’s pretty cool that Dr. Betancourt could get him to perform with us.”

David Betancourt, the director of the jazz ensemble and the pop/rock ensemble, invited CSULA and Mr. Adam Schroeder to perform at the college. He had this to say, “I hope every one of them continue on playing their entire life either professional, amateur, or just for fun. I hope they play all their life.”

Their next performance will be The Fourth Annual Spring Sing at the Student Center Tuesday, April 27 @ 7p.m. Admission to the event is free