Roosevelt Jazz Band 1 is NYC-bound for Essentially Ellington! Only 15 bands are chosen by audition from all of North America; what an incredible honor for these dedicated musicians! Special thanks to Director Hannah Mowry for her leadership, enthusiasm, and passion! Roosevelt will join two other jazz bands from Washington (Garfield High School and Bothell High School) at the event in May. Congratulations to all finalists!
Big congratulations to Roosevelt Jazz Band 1 for its success at the Bellevue College Jazz Festival on February 3rd! Roosevelt placed 1st for Big Band AND for Combo (Annie Faul, Taiyo Fuwa, Aytan Sternberg, and Alexander Polyakovsky)! Three Roosevelt individuals were recognized for their solo performances (Annie Faul, Henry Kelly, and Taiyo Fuwa). This was a big regional festival and included bands from Garfield, Mount Si, Bellevue, Bothell, and other accomplished high schools. Thank you to Ms. Mowry for her dedication and leadership, and a huge congratulations to these hardworking musicians!
Roosevelt Jazz is honored to once again be selected to participate in an evening of high school jazz at the Paramount Theatre, Hot Java Cool Jazz, sponsored by Starbucks. Stay tuned for direct ticket sales, which will provide 100% of proceeds directly to the Roosevelt Jazz program. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend; you won’t regret it!
December 2nd and 3rd, 2023 Roosevelt Jazz presented Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s Jazz Nutcracker, a fanciful and swingin’ take on the Tchaikovsky suite. This special Seattle holiday tradition returned for its 24th year to the Roosevelt High School Performing Arts Theatre and brought the house down! We are grateful to our outstanding musicians, our fabulous director, our tireless volunteer boosters, and our generous and enthusiastic audience! We were thrilled to host nearly 1000 attendees over two performances and are already looking forward to 2024. Please check back fall 2024 for tickets!
On Nov. 4th, the Roosevelt Jazz Band and the Garfield Jazz Band faced off in front of a sold-out crowd in the Roosevelt High School theatre for rousing Battle of the Bands hosted by Earshot Jazz. For both bands it was their first concert of the school year, and everyone brought their A game. The stage was set for both bands together, separated by dueling grand pianos. Garfield wowed with tunes including My Buddy and Days of Wine & Roses, while Roosevelt impressed with tunes including Basically Blues and Stompy Jones. The highlights, though, were the tunes that featured both bands at their finest, including Cotton Tail and Watermelon Man. We are so grateful to Earshot Jazz for the opportunity to participate in this event, and to the Roosevelt Jazz Boosters and Garfield Jazz Boosters who helped make it happen. What an amazing way to kick off the year! Your next chance to catch Roosevelt Jazz is at Jazz Nutcracker Dec. 2nd and 3rd.