Audition Information

Information about auditions for all 2018-2019 Roosevelt Jazz ensembles is now available on our auditions page. Auditions take place June 4th through June 10th. Please read through all the information carefully for details on when and where your audition will take place, and what you’ll need to do to prepare. We look forward to hearing you swing!

Essentially Ellington 2018

Congratulations to director Scott Brown and the students of Roosevelt Jazz Band I for their performance at the 2018 Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival. In addition to their many section and soloist awards, the band received an Honorable Mention, its highest finish in the competition since 2013.

Section awards were: Honorable Mention, Drummers (Ethan Lefaive, David Maltby, Henry Mohr); Outstanding Saxophone Section (Sean Bowman, Kai Despain, Elliot Halpern, Xander Johns, Daniel Mengedoht, Misae Nguyen, Aiden Ryser).

Soloist awards were: Outstanding Piano (Aaron Korver); Honorable Mention, Alto Saxophone (Sean Bowman); Outstanding Tenor Saxophone (Elliot Halpern, Aiden Ryser); Outstanding Baritone Saxophone (Xander Johns).

Check out the complete list of EE 2018 awards. We are so very grateful for the folks of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and for our fellow performers, who made this event truly special.

Catching Up with Vocal Jazz and JB2!

There has been a lot going on; time to catch you all up.

Vocal Jazz recently returned from an excellent performance in Whistler at the Con Brio Festival. The ensemble received a Gold rating with a Superior score and were the only group at the festival to have a student rhythm section! Thanks again to Dr. Jean-Marie Kent and all the parent volunteers who made this trip possible.

Jumping to Jazz Band 2, they’re just back from competing in the AA High School category at the Reno Jazz Festival Both the big band and the combo took the top spots in their divisions, and the big band was featured in the evening showcase concert. Students, directors, and parents all put in a lot of hard work to make this event happen. Extra thanks to John Matsumoto for staying on top of all the trip logistics.

Gratitude, served up with some Hot Java, Cool Jazz

We hope you have your tickets to Hot Java, Cool Jazz at the Paramount Theater this Friday evening, because it looks like the show is close to selling sold out! Thanks to you all for buying up all the tickets, and thanks to Starbucks for donating ALL proceeds to the five participating schools.

And there’s more! A heartfelt thank you to everyone who pulled together to make the Roosevelt Jazz Gala a tremendous success. We were honored to have alumnus Jumaane Smith present. His performance was electrifying, his words deeply moving. A truly distinguished artist and human being, it was a joy to be in the same room with him.

Indeed, it was a joy to be in the room with all of you, the folks of Roosevelt Jazz, as we celebrated what we have and worked to keep it going into the future. The list of folks who donated, decorated, baked, bid, hauled, and performed is so long you wouldn’t even believe it; this was a true community effort. You all deserve a huge hug and a piece of cake.

Til next year!