The academic workday hadn\u2019t technically begun, but on a rainy morning last week<\/span> at Bothell High School, a melodic run by four muted trumpets blared down a beige linoleum hallway on the north side of campus. The song was \u201cAnnie\u2019s Dance,\u201d a composition by trombonist Melba Liston. And it was being played \u2014 quite well \u2014 by the Bothell High School Jazz Ensemble I, a 20-student big band preparing to head to New York City for the Essentially Ellington competition, the nation\u2019s premier high school jazz band showdown.<\/p>\n The competition runs from April 30 to May 2. It has traditionally been dominated by Washington groups. \u201cThe strongest high school jazz band tradition in America is in Seattle,\u201d Todd Stoll,\u00a0vice president of education at Jazz at Lincoln Center, said last year to Earshot Jazz<\/a>. When the competition opened to national competitors in the late ’90s, Garfield and Roosevelt high schools came roaring onto the scene under respective band directors Clarence Acox and Scott Brown. This year, those two groups will be staying home. Bothell High School, a finalist for the fifth straight year, owns the longest current streak in Washington state.<\/p>\n But this has been a year of change for the group. Zane Romanek, a 32-year-old saxophonist, took over Jazz Ensemble I this year after moving to Washington in August. He\u2019d previously been living in Casper, Wyo., working as an assistant band director. \u201cMy wife and I are Wyoming born and raised,\u201d he said. \u201cI came out to Washington State for All-Northwest<\/a> the other year and looked around and thought, \u2018Yeah. This isn\u2019t too bad.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n As Romanek adjusted to a damp winter on the north side of Lake Washington, the band adjusted to life under their new leader. The Essentially Ellington message arrived loud and clear: things are working out just fine.<\/p>\n Given a prompt about what jazz music meant to them in contemporary life, the Bothell High School musicians reflected on the intellectual heft of their early morning art form.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nate Bardsley, a senior, said, \u201cIn a world plagued by short-form content and quick dopamine, jazz is a slow, rewarding process in which one can find their true self.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathryn McFeeley, also a senior, said, \u201cJazz is a true form of connection. You can learn so much about someone by listening to them playing along or not.\u201d<\/p>\n The students broke into their second song, Duke Ellington\u2019s \u201cRockabye River,\u201d and their devotion to the form became apparent. Romanek, wearing Adidas sneakers, brown corduroy pants and a pineapple-print short-sleeve button-down, gave off a youthful, empathetic air. He paced around the rehearsal, counting off time, clapping rhythms and scatting melodic lines when something seemed off. \u201cWay to sing!\u201d he told a trumpeter after an emphatic solo.<\/p>\n Romanek\u2019s methods were remarkably democratic \u2014 he asked his students what they thought of his direction and relayed the thoughts directly onto his practice charts. During the third song of the band\u2019s Essentially Ellington set list, saxophonist Benny Carter\u2019s \u201cMovin\u2019 Uptown,\u201d Romanek had his soloists \u201ctrade fours,\u201d a jazz technique where improvisers shift solos every four bars. As the song came to the end of its bridge, Romanek asked his players to trade every two bars instead.<\/p>\n The students pushed back, telling him the quick swing rhythm came too fast to latch onto any melodic ideas in their improvisation. A few musicians nodded in agreement in the front row. \u201cOK,\u201d said Romanek, \u201cthat\u2019s fine. We\u2019ll just keep it like it was.\u201d<\/p>\n Nothing about the interaction felt sheepish or forced. If the musicians were students of Romanek, he was a student of the music itself.<\/p>\nRigor, connection\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
All about the music<\/strong><\/h2>\n