James Mons, Ty Waters, and Jake Greenlee capped their jazz band season by achieving the highest honor an Iowa high school jazz musician can receive: a successful audition into the All State Jazz Band, performing in May at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Convention. James, Ty, and Jake talk about the year in West High jazz …
Xavier Jazz Band One had a great year, winning their division at Coe’s Jazz Summit, and taking 3rd at the Iowa Jazz Championships for the second year in a row. Gus Brown, Ava Melchior, and David Weaver talk about their season, dish (just a little) about their bandmates, and play tunes that range from Charles …
Carley Spading and Jacob Morgan are our guests from Liberty, Iowa’s newest high school. In fact, Carley is the only senior in the band, which is in just its second year of existence. Carley and Jacob talk about helping start a brand-new program, and play tunes that include Max Roach, Gerry Mulligan, Mel Lewis, John …
Kaden Schilling and Cole Huedepohl from Prairie Jazz One spin tunes from Count Baise, Gary Burton, Gordon Goodwin and a British import from Louis Dowdeswell as guest DJs on Iowa’s Jazz Station.
Adam Sines and Ben Nucaro from Kennedy Jazz Band One both come from musical families, and it showed in their music choices. Adam brought a CD of his grandpa’s vocal swing group, and Ben chose tunes his mom sang when she was in Kennedy’s vocal jazz group, Moonlight Express. Plus, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Don …
Tori Jones and Lance Martin from the Solon Jazz Orchestra sing in the award-winning Solon Jazz Choirs as well as play in the band, so they feature past Solon guest clinicians Katie Thiroux and Carmen Bradford, as well as Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross; and Kurt Elling! All this and a CD that stopped halfway through …
It’s a rollicking hour of jazz and conversation with Riley Jones and Jacob Marcov from the Jefferson Jazz Ensemble, featuring Clifford Brown, Jeff Lorber, and even the Super Mario Bros!
Reddyn Brunner-Luse, David Reisner, and Austin Piper from Marion’s Jazz Band One played Marshall Gilkes, Bunny Berigan, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and more during their Guest DJ Hour on KCCK. They also talked about the highlights of their year in jazz band, which included making the Iowa Jazz Championships, and a service project where they play …
