Members of the US Navy Greatlakes Jazz and Rock Combo visited Sun Prairie.  They worked with all three jazz ensembles in short clinics as we round-robin performed for each other.   The night was capped off with a set of video-game tunes re-imagines for jazz.  There support for our students was fantastic, and they provided a ton of inspiration through their performance ..read more

Friday was our middle school jazz festival.  Students from Central Heights, Patrick Marsh, and Prairie View all met during the day to work on jazz with clinicians Bruce Hering, Jim Huwe, and Steve Sveum. The event ended with all three bands featuring the clinicians, and they were joined by Sun Prairie Jazz I for the evening concert ..read more

The 31st Annual Jazz Festival was held on Saturday, February 17.  16 High School bands joined clinicians for a day of jazz.  We partnered with Jazz at Lincoln Center as a Regional Essentially Ellington Festival.  Bands came from Brookfield, Columbus, Concord IN, Fond du Lac, Grafton, Mt Horeb, Menomonee Falls, Oak Creek, Sun Prairie, Waunakee, and West DePere. Jim Piela - saxophone, Erica von Kleist - saxophone, Dan Wallach - saxophone, Bennett Wood - saxophone, Derrick Gardner - trumpet, Darren Sterud - trombone, Rick Haydon - guitar, Reggie Thomas - pia ..read more

This past Thursday we were so fortunate to have Maxine Gordon visit East and West High Schools.  Gordon is an author, historian, civil rights activist, Harvard Fellow, and wife of late great saxophonist Dexter Gordon ..read more

Combo students were once again able to open for the Darren Sterud Jazz Orchestra.  The DSO has been doing their Nutcracker performances for the past 14 years.  We have been really fortunate to be involved as an opening act the past three years.  This has provided a ton of experience for our students. This year a smaller venue meant that we sent out a combo instead of the full band.  The engagement however was for two nights affording multiple horn lines the opportunity to do some small group work ..read more

We are fortunate to welcome  Ron Carter back to Sun Prairie to work with students.  Professor Carter got everyone singing and dancing and dealt with our foundation of swing ..read more

Jazz Bands form Beloit and Sun Prairie met for an evening of Jazz in Beloit on Sunday.  Groups were able to meet and great and participate in a Jam Session followed by each group playing an hour set for each other.  The Grand Finale put both bands together as they made up a Riff Blues by ear. Both Beloit and Sun Prairie are finalist bands for EE and will be heading out to New York next week ..read more

Our preparation for EE out in New York includes bringing a bit of EE into our area!  Today we were visited by Pharez Whitted, who help us with our preparations for the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York.  Pharez stressed the importance of believing in ourselves and each other.  He challenged us to find new levels of musical emotion and he provide some great inspiration and direction to get better. As a part of our clinic experience, we get to share Pharez with a partner school. We were honored to partner with Madison La Follete High School and their director Jamie Kemb ..read more

For 30 years the Sun Prairie Jazz Festival has been inspiring student musicians.  February 18, 2023 was a celebration of both the history and future of this festival.  Clinicians included Michael Brenneis - drums, Katie Ernst - bass, Dave Hammond - drums, Kellin Hanas, trumpet, Steve Horne - trombone, Jim Piela- saxophone, Marty Robinson - trumpet, Chris, Rottmayer - piano, Lauren Sevian - saxophone, Reggie Thomas - piano, Dan Wallach - saxophone.  16 bands and over 350 students joined us from Sun Prairie, Brookfield, Columbus,  Concord, Il, Fond du Lac, Menomonee Falls, Mi ..read more

​Jazz Ensemble I has been selected as 1 of 15 finalist bands to participate in the Essentially Ellington Festival May 11-13 in New York.  We are so excited to have these students make their mark on our program and perform in New York at Jazz at Lincoln Center. ​This marks the 14th time that Sun Prairie Jazz has participated as a finalist band ..read more