ee

Roosevelt Jazz in the Big Apple!

by

Our musicians are off and running in an amazing adventure in New York City, learning about the Jazz culture and history in Harlem, catching a few LIVE jazz shows, and tuning up and staying in top performing condition for the coming Essentially Ellington Festival this week and weekend.

Stay tuned for more, and tune in to watch LIVE at 7 am PDT (10 am EDT) on Saturday, May 13! (Other festival performance sessions also available to stream)

https://www.jazzlive.com/essentially-ellington-23

A HUGE and HEARTY Thank You!! to all the supporters of the Go Fund Me, concert-goers at Hot Java, Cool Jazz, Jazz Nutcracker, bake sales, and donors. Your support of this program and of our young musicians in the schools is vital to keeping the learning of this art form alive, and we couldn’t have had these amazing opportunities without you.

Day 1: flight to NYC, dinner at Chelsea Market, Village Vanguard Orchestra

Day 2: Jazz walking tour in Harlem, National Jazz History Museum, soul food, sectionals and practice, Times Square

Soul food lunch ee23 Sax sectional ee23  

Day 3: rehearsal at The New School, sightseeing, show at Birdland

Musicians riding the Subway

more to come!

Roosevelt Jazz Band 1 Going to Essentially Ellington!

by
We’re proud to announce that Roosevelt Jazz Band 1 has been selected as a finalist to the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City. The Pacific Northwest is rich with such quality jazz musicians, educators, and programs that deliver excellence at the highest level. We are honored and deeply grateful to get to represent our region alongside our friends from Garfield High School and Bothell High School.

Essentially Ellington 2019

by
Roosevelt Jazz at Essentially Ellington 2019
Ayano Hisa/Jazz at Lincoln Center

We’ve had a bit of a week here at Roosevelt Jazz and are still catching up. Our first priority upon returning from NYC was getting audition info posted. Gotta look to the future, after all. And now that that’s done… Congratulations to Director Scott Brown and the Jazz Band for their first place finish in the 24th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival! Check out all of the competition results here. A huge thank you to all our friends and families, jazz mentors and teachers, and the entire Seattle jazz community. You’ve supported Mr. Brown and the band the whole way. We love you.

2019 Essentially Ellington Finalists!

by

Happy Valentine’s Day! Our hearts are certainly full today, with the news that Roosevelt Jazz Band I has been selected as a finalist for the 2019 Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. They’ll be in some mighty fine company in NYC come May, including neighbors Garfield and Mount Si. Congratulations to Director Scott Brown and all the students!

For more information and a list of all the finalists, hop over to the Essentially Ellington website.

Essentially Ellington 2018

by

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.