You’ve seen her in the marching band at home games, on stage in band concerts, hanging out in the band room, and even playing her saxophone in Mass. Senior Angel McCray fills the halls of GC with her musical talent. She is a member of Good Counsel’s Instrumental Music program as a saxophone and bass player. In addition, Angel can also play bass, clarinet, piano, and drums! Outside of school, Angel is a member of a jazz trio of high school students, which recently released its first album. She has even played at the Kennedy Center twice! To learn more about Angel and her passion for music, I sat down with her for an interview.

Angel’s introduction to instrumental music occurred in elementary school. She admired the 4th and 5th graders in the band and knew she had to join. She “liked the idea of playing something” and started with bass clarinet at a new school in 4th grade. However, Angel says that her passion for music didn’t start until middle school when she switched to playing the saxophone. Now, as a member of the Instrumental Music program, she is in GC’s Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Pep Band, and Marching Band, where she is a wind instrument section leader. Angel’s favorite part of the band program at GC is the “community in the sense of coming together musically and focusing on yourself as part of a larger group and making a product out of it.”

In addition to her accomplishments at GC, Angel has performed jazz music in public. She is a member of a jazz trio called the VMT Trio (an abbreviation of the members’ last names). She met her bandmates through their jazz academy, and, this past summer, Angel “made a group chat and was like, ‘Hey guys want to perform street music with me?’ And they were like ‘Yeah,’ and, from there, we kind of formed this interesting connection through having really good vibes with each other and enjoying each other’s company musically.” Since then, the VMT Trio has performed jazz, Latin, and funk music at parties and local venues. Angel is proud of “getting my first gig and playing at a private party. I did it recently this summer, and it was very cool.”

Angel is also excited about the VMT Trio’s recently released first album. The album is called Janus, after the Roman god of new beginnings. The VMT Trio has always wanted to make an album, and after a few weeks of successful street performing, they “really [liked] this idea of starting anew” and decided to work on an album. The album’s theme is Latin Jazz and includes Samba, Mambo, and Mozambique music styles. The album also includes Discussion, a song Angel composed, inspired by her junior English class! Angel describes the album as “a mixture of chill and do your homework music and get up and dance music,” and believes it “has a little bit for everybody.” Janus will be available soon on major streaming platforms!

In the future, Angel hopes to “continue going around the country, maybe the world, to spread music and be happy and make other people happy.” She would like to pursue a career in music therapy, allowing her to spread music to people in hospitals. And for the aspiring jazz musicians in the audience, Angel says, “Although I am still technically still an aspiring jazz musician, I’d say from the mentors here and outside of school, focus on listening first. Like, literally, you can learn music therapy way down the road but focus on listening because that’s how you learn the language. As many of my mentors have said: jazz is a language that, like English, you can’t learn without listening to others.”

We wish Angel the best of luck with her music and are proud to have her as a member of the GC community!

The VMT Trio’s website: https://vmttrio.wixsite.com/my-site
The VMT Trio’s socials: https://linktr.ee/vmttrio?utm_source=qr_code
Link to Janus on bandcamp: https://vmttrio.bandcamp.com/album/janus