Mesa’s Jazz Band started off with a roar downtown at Dizzy’s Thursday Dec 7. James Romeo, teacher of Concert Jazz Band Music 252, has worked with his students all fall to get ready for the live concert.
“Our band leaves you with an impression,” Romeo said.
They blew the top off the warehouse-garage venue. Mesa’s Jazz Band kicked off the first set with apiece called “Pine Street Rumble.” They played for a full house, leading to a standing room only and people gathered outside to listen. As the band lead into an intermission, people excitedly awaited for the second set to begin.
The band started off the second set with “We Three Kings” and ended the show with “A Christmas Suite.” At the end of their performance they received a standing ovation.
The show consisted of two forty-five minute sets. The songs played that night included “Mondongo”, to “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to “What Child is This.” With some killer solos from: saxophonist Brian Roneses and Jesse Audelo. Also from guitarist Alan Worthington and lead trumpet Joe Simpson. Their performance could not have been better.
“The show properly represented Jazz, with unplanned improvisation, covering all three aspects of Jazz,” said Lea James, one of the singers in the band.
The band also had a special guest sit in and play with them at the show, Gilbert Castellanos, who is one of the leading trumpeters in the Southern California area.
The Mesa Jazz Band consists of everything from trumpets, to bass, to a guitarist, saxophone, trumpets, tubas, drums and even a bongo. Singers Zosia Boczanowski and Lea James added to the already great sound of the band.
James Romeo is the instructor/conductor. He participates in the band, as well as conducts and contributes to the positive atmosphere in the classroom.
“If it doesn’t swing, it’s not jazz,” Romeo said.
Romeo also provides a constructive learning experience.
“Slow down, you sound like you are hitting a bag of sand,” he said.
The Jazz Band is a great experience for anyone who plays music or is interested in playing in a big band. They meet twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday and practice for an hour in a half. They perform one big show at the end of each semester.
“What we do in class is tell stories,” Romeo said. “The challenge to a big band is all separate parts have to fit.”
The Mesa Jazz Band is a class that has been around at Mesa for at least 40 years and Romeo has been teaching the class since 1989.
“Jazz has been here as long as Mesa,” Romeo said.
The first president of the school was a jazz fan and started the class in the 1960’s. Some famous musicians that sat in and played with the Mesa band are Louie Bellson, Bobby Shew, Mark Vinci, Bob Magnusson, Howie Smith, Clarke Terry and Bill Watrous.
If you want to join a class with all that jazz, then the Mesa Concert Jazz Band is where you need to be. If playing music just isn’t your thing then catch their next spring performance and be ready to be taken away through the great melody and rhythm of our schools jazz band.