The Kenwood Academy jazz band, a Chicago Public High School congregation, got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in 2014. This highly acclaimed high school orchestra had a suite written specifically for them by Jason Moran, the renowned jazz composer and pianist who is also a MacArthur "genius grant" winner and the Kennedy Center's artistic director for jazz. Despite contending with the violence surrounding them on Chicago's crime-riddled South Side, the students succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, performing this suite at its world premiere at Chicago's Symphony Center at Orchestra Hall, the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
