Jazz Too! kicking off season

Jazz, Too! started up on Monday, Nov. 21 and has since been rehearsing at the high school before and after school.

Gerald Ramsey is the director of Jazz Too, leading the 22 members of the band, with the assistance of college student Zach Miller.

“I did it all three years in middle school— seventh, eighth and ninth grade. Last year I didn’t audition because I didn’t think I’d get a part, but I didn’t realize they could have two bass parts,” junior Natalie Thomas said, “so this is my first year since ninth grade.”

The band meets on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, though they did not meet this past Thursday, Dec. 8 due to a band concert that evening. They rehearse at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and at 7 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. 

“Jazz band is a lot more different because it’s a lot more free-flowing. I would say the whole point of jazz is to improvise and make stuff up,” Thomas said. “It’s kinda to go with the flow and feel things. In normal band, it’s like, ‘this is the music chart, you play these notes, play them at this specific time,’ and in jazz, it’s mostly just following the cords.”

So far, the band has two songs in its catalog.