Jazz Band I

Jazz Band I & Jazz Combo

The Jazz Band I is the premiere jazz ensemble at Wheeling High School. It is open to all grade levels and meets twice before school and one evening per week. Private lessons are strongly encouraged to develop both stylistic and improvisational skills. For students who need assistance, there is lesson scholarship money available. The ensemble has performed with world-class guest artists such as Wayne Bergeron, Mark Colby, Peter Erskine, Rob Parton, Terell Stafford, and many others. The group performs numerous charts every year from a variety of professional big band libraries and has also commissioned several works by notable jazz composers and arrangers. The Jazz Band I has performed internationally at the Chicago, Umbria, and Montreux Jazz Festivals and at the Midwest Clinic multiple times. The band played at the National School Board Association in 2009, opening for Wynton Marsalis. They are also multiple Grand Champions of the Northshore Jazz Festival and the Jazz in the Meadows Festival. The Jazz Band 1 has released numerous compact discs to critical acclaim. Top players from Jazz Band 1 are selected for the Jazz Combo which works on more advance improvisational material.

Jazz Band 1

2016 Jazz in the Meadows Grand Champion performance

Here is a video of the Wheeling High School Jazz Band 1 from their performance at the NSBA Conference, opening for Wynton Marsalis in 2010.

Jazz Band 1

2015 Jazz in the Meadows Grand Champion performance

Jazz Band 1

2014 Jazz in the Meadows Grand Champion performance