Welcome to our new JB2/3 Director

We are very excited to welcome Michael Van Bebber as our JB2/3 director!

Michael was raised in Seattle, and graduated from the University of Washington before going on to earn two M.A. degrees in classical trumpet and composition at Truman State University, and a D.M.A. in Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He performed many years as a member of the renowned Eastman Jazz Ensemble, and has shared the stage with many notable jazz artists including Lee Konitz, John Pizzarelli, the Woody Herman Band, Walt Weiskopf, Chuck Mangione, Jeff Beal, Walter White, John Fedchock, Pat LaBarbara, Marvin Stamm, and Bill Dobbins. He has also appeared several times at the Rochester International Jazz Festival, in both quintet and big band settings.

Michael is a member of the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. As a composer, he has earned several prestigious awards in composition, including the 2004 MACRO Composition/Theory Award, the 2005 CBDNA Wind Ensemble National Composition Competition, the 2005 College Music Society’s International Composition Competition. Michael has been the director of the Junior Jazz Band at Washington Middle School, the Director of Bands at Liberty High School and the interim director for JB2 last year. Michael is currently on the faculty of Northwest school.

RHS Jazz Program Welcome Picnic

Save the date! It’s been our tradition to start the year off with a potluck picnic so that we can get to know and greet our new families, as well as reconnect with the old ones.  We will have our picnic on Tuesday, September 8, 2015, at the Ravenna Park upper picnic area from 5-8 pm.  Details will be provided in late August.

Roosevelt Jazz Placements for 2015-16

New Vocal Jazz (1st )* and Jazz Band (5th) students MUST be sure to register for the class! If for any reason you cannot commit to the group in which you have been placed, LET US KNOW IMMEDIATELY. There are other students who would like to play!Thank you for auditioning and congratulations!!-Mr. Brown

* Vocal Jazz has been moved to Period One for next year.

Jazz Band I

Saxophone
Jesse Beckett-Herbert, alto 1
Sean Bowman, alto*
Madeline Toll, alto*
Aisling Doyle-Wade, alto*
Santosh Sharma, tenor 1
Elliot Halpern, tenor 2
Xander Johns, tenor 2*
Colin Cahill, baritone*

Trumpet
Ben Sahlin
Jack Bylund
Thomas Hinds*
Francis Nyssen*
Lily Schwartz*
Matt Gasper*
Sophie Aanerud*

Trombone
Porter Jones
Tom Maul
Elise Toney*
Nyal McCrea*

Piano
Leo Folsom
Rehka Olsen*

Guitar
Ravi Sharma
Rusty Farivar*

Bass
Tony Lefaive
Jack Hanish*
Cormac Liotta*

Drums
David Maltby*
Ethan Lefaive*
Sam Clement*

*These students will audition to be eligible for the Essentially Ellington recording ensemble.

Jazz Band II

Saxophone
Misae Nguyen, alto 1
Luciano de la Iglesia, alto 1
Daniel Mengedoht, alto 2
Anthony Lutenko, alto 2
Arthur Lindhjem, tenor 1
Aidan Ryser, tenor 1
Kai Despain, tenor 2
Lincoln Trelease, tenor 2
Austin Isgrig, baritone
Dylan Korver, baritone

Trumpet
Joe Garlid
Matt Buchanan
Carter Eng
Aidan McCoy
Gavin Susalsky

Trombone
Mari Kramer
Lily Brammer
Zach Sahlin
Ethan Nolander

Piano
Zain Wedemeyer
Eli Sheldon
Katie Benmar

Guitar
Julia Tanner

Bass
Max Young
Bazyl Carrol

Drums
Nate Koidahl
Henry Mohr

Jazz Band III

Saxophone
Sander Fogarty, alto 1
Olin Sorby, alto 1
Nicholas Araya Bain, alto 2
Karen Gaffney, alto 2
James Pettis, tenor 1
Kaiya Nishimo, tenor 1
Isabella Escobedo, tenor 2
Will Brown, tenor 2
Gabriel Sanchez, tenor 2
Henry Sanford, tenor 2
David Tabakian, baritone

Trumpet
Will Knight
Ryan Davies
Ferdos Al-Haider (pending waitlist)
Graham Fulton
Anders Bloom
Linus Senter
Jackson Baker

Trombone
Theo Ramels
2 openings for trombone!
Toby Jay (tuba and bass trb.)

Piano
Bryan Rhinehart
Kai Medina

Guitar
Simon Appel

Bass
Laurel Colescott
Maddie Herbst

Drums
Sophia Bondi
Benny Bruvold
Satchel Schwartz

Roosevelt Vocal Jazz!
New and Returning members for 2015-16 school year.
New members, please be sure to immediately make an appointment to register for 1st Period, Vocal Jazz for BOTH semesters. Congratulations!!

Soprano
Ava Yaghmaie
Maya Hunter
Sammie Cohen
Laura Madsen

Alto
Caroline Brammer
Eliana Colachis-Glass (also tenor)
Brigit Brady
Gabriella Green

Tenor
Miles Trieger
Nelson Lobo
Phillip Solheim

Bass
Sam Skalbania
Max Taylor
Ravi Sharma

Piano
Aaron Korver

Guitar
Kammy Yedor
Nick Swedin

Upright Bass
Jonah Harper

Drums
Thomas Symons

Jazz Band Returning to Essentially Ellington

The Roosevelt Jazz Band was named as one of the finalists in the prestigious Essentially Ellington Festival, held May 7-8 in New York. This will be the 16th time in 17 years that Roosevelt has received this honor.

Two other schools from our region, Mount Si and Garfield will also be competing this year (the same lineup as last year).

Essentially Ellington is presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center, the jazz nonprofit headed by Wynton Marsalis.

Four Singers from Roosevelt Vocal Jazz Honored

Roosevelt Vocal Jazz is shining bright this week: Four of our top singers have been honored as semi-finalists in the Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition.

The competition is sponsored by the Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association, which will select one high school and one adult female jazz vocalist from the greater Seattle area to travel to Kobe, Japan to perform at the Kobe Jazz Queen Vocalist Contest on May 9th, 2015.

Celeste Yglesias, Alex Mountsier, Eliana Colachis and Maya Hunter grabbed four of the six semi-finalist spots, and will all be performing at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley on Monday, March 9.

More info is available on the Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley website!