Earshot Jazz recap; Nutcracker coming up!

Wow! What a show! The Roosevelt Jazz Band started off the year with their first public performance at the Earshot Jazz Festival. Opening for the renowned Count Basie Orchestra, the band, with the amazing and energetic new Director, Hannah Mowry, swung hard.

Next up, the band will be featuring the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn in the Roosevelt Jazz tradition, “Jazz Nutcracker”. Save the date for December 3 and 4, 2022.

Ticket information coming soon! Stay tuned to this website for more info.

Scotty Barnhart joins in with the Roosevelt Jazz Band. Photo: Jim Levitt

Welcome, Hannah!

Just a quick update to let you all know how excited we are to welcome Hannah Mowry as Roosevelt High School’s new Band Director. She comes to us most recently from Mt. Si High School where she served as the Assistant Band Director. Here’s a bio below, and we encourage you to check back for updates later this summer!

Hannah Mowry is a trumpet player, songwriter, educator, and advocate. Originally from Tri-Cities, Washington, Mowry obtained her Bachelor’s in Music Education with a minor in Interdisciplinary Honors from Central Washington University and graduated from the William O. Douglas Honors College cum laude. She is now pursuing her Master’s degree in Music Education from the American Band College of Central Washington University.

As an undergraduate, Mowry served as the principal trumpet player for the top classical ensembles at Central Washington University, including the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. She has been a featured soloist with the award-winning Central Washington University Jazz Band 1. Both the Wind Ensemble and the Jazz Band 1 have performed at the WMEA and Northwest Regional NAfME Conventions in 2016 and 2017. In her time as a student musician, she performed with artists such as Ingrid Jensen, Jeff Coffin, Terrell Stafford, Dafnis Prieto, Derico Watson, Victor Wooten, Matt Harris, and more.

Mowry can now be found actively performing around the greater Seattle area, primarily in jazz big bands and small groups of all genres. She currently plays with the PH Factor, the Jazz Police, ProAm Big Band, and more. In 2020, she recorded on PH Factor’s EP release “In Case of Emergency: Break Glass”, and in 2017 on Seattle-based singer/song-writer Alec Shaw’s album “Uh Oh and the Oh Wells”. Mowry plays with groups whose music ranges from folk to rock, blues, hip-hop, funk, and more. She is currently playing trumpet and writing music for a contemporary funk fusion group in Seattle called Jamn. Most recently in June of 2022, Mowry shared her own musical compositions that showcased her take on contemporary singer/songwriter and R&B/funk.

From 2018-2022, Mowry served as the Co-Director of Bands at Mount Si High School, teaching Wind Bands, Jazz Bands, Orchestra, and various music elective courses. Mount Si High School Jazz Band 1 is a five-time attendee to the Hot Java Cool Jazz performance hosted by Starbucks, and a seven-time finalist to the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City. The band has been invited to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2017, as well as the Western International Band Clinic in 2019. In addition to these clinic and festival performances, the jazz ensembles perform at two home concerts each year, attend local festivals, and host an annual community Swing Dance that gives back to a local charity. 

Mowry co-founded the Central Washington University Women in Jazz Day in 2018, and has continued to be involved as a panel discussion moderator the last two years. As an active jazz musician and jazz educator, diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of her musical philosophy.

2022-23 Jazz Band Placements out!

The placements for the 2022-23 Roosevelt Jazz Band Ensembles are published below.

Congratulations to all the students on your hard work in preparing for the auditions. Here’s to a swingin’ school year!

 

Jazz Band 1

Alto

Teddy Goldman
Dylan Senescall
Charlee Dobson-Cohen
Henry Kelly

Tenor

Taiyo Fuwa
Yoshi Takeno

Bari

Oliver Nairn

Trumpet

Nico Garcia-Bompadre
Simon Harrington
Nick Chang
Chloe Mai

Trombone

Theo Long
Max Baker
Charlie Herzog
Alex Phelps

Piano

Nora Hakimian

Guitar

Linus Skucas

Bass

Cole Fung
Naomi Cole

Drums

Yoshi Stroh
Alex Polyakovski

 


Vocal Jazz

Singers

Annabelle Bachhuber
Sydney Bannister
Nicholas Christopher
Sasha Doran
Ellie Gilbertson
Lucinda Guthrie
Jack Hawley
Jack Hillstrom
Carly Holmstrom
Alma Liermann
Elle Olivier
Finley Ross
Ember Thompson
Julia Weber
Zach Monsey
Flaminia Zito

Piano

Nat Holland

Guitar

Annabelle Bachhuber

Bass

Brigid Bennett

Drums

Izzy Haakanson
Alex Pistler

 


Jazz Band 2

Alto

Moises Perez
Kiera Sanford

Tenor

Sky Van Skoyoc
Anna Sayrs

Bari

Hanna Honchar

Trumpet

Ryan Davies
Grayson Feldman
Aaron Avery
Quinn Burwell
Jasper Gronewold

Trombone

Will Bailey
Oscar Zimmerman
Sam Motto
Henry Vigil

Piano

Josh Gargett

Bass

Annie Faul

Drums

Ripley Silas
Luc Randell

 


Jazz Band 3

Alto (1 must play bari.)

Presley Beckett
Griffin Keen
Luca Chakravarti

Tenor

Theo Silas (or alto in JB2)
Elizabeth Speert

Bari

(From alto section)

Trumpet

Zachary Starke
Devon Osborne
Ivan Levy
Andrew Chung

Trombone

Oscar Edebohls
Ethan Ward

Piano

Jascha Silberstein

Guitar

Ellie Gilbertson

Bass

Teika Purs

Drums

Ian Halbgewachs
Momoko Heaton

Year-End Activities Coming Up

Lots going on as we near the end of an amazing schoolyear!

Auditions will take place May 31-June 5 for placement in next year’s jazz and vocal jazz ensembles! This includes rising ninth graders.  More info and signup details here!

https://www.rooseveltjazz.org/events/auditions/

Then mark your calendar for fabulous year-end music concerts the ENTIRE week of June 6! Come celebrate the amazing growth and talents of Roosevelt’s band, orchestra, vocal jazz and big band musicians. See calendar for details.

We are also celebrating the gifts and career of our longtime director Scott Brown, who retires at the end of this year. RSVP for a farewell gathering June 11: https://www.rooseveltjazz.org/save-the-date-rsvp-for-a-farewell-to-scott-brown/

(edit: gathering was a great success, and fun was had by all!)

And read this wonderful coverage in the Seattle Times in which Wynton Marsalis calls Brown “a true jazz man with grace and sophistication to spare.” https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/music/scott-brown-roosevelt-high-schools-longtime-jazz-band-director-to-retire/