Jazz Band is a long standing club that recently became a class starting in the 2017-2018 school year. The club meets in the band room at 7am on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings for rehearsals. One can audition for a chair in the Jazz Band by talking to Mr. Barbick and scheduling an audition time.

The main components of Jazz Band include rehearsing, learning improvisation, and performances. Learning improvisation is a key component of jazz, and is very important to the Jazz Band. The sponsor of Jazz Band is Mr. Jim Barbick, who is also the band director. A much used quote from the band director is “Stealing is good”, when concerning improvisation and taking other jazz musicians licks and lines to enhance your own solo. There is no current leader but the people to talk to for more information include Jadah Keith, Sofia Rabiela, and Natalia Almanza. The culminating event for jazz band is the Pops Concert, which is scheduled for June 6th. The Jazz Band has also performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Bucktown Arts Festival. One of the most important events the jazz band hosts is Jazz on the Bridge, a fundraiser for the whole band program where not only the jazz band performs but various combos that have been rehearsing for the entire year.

Donnie Trumpet went through the Whitney Young Band Program is still performing today with artists like BJ the Chicago Kid and Chance the Rapper.

Currently, the Jazz Band boasts twenty-one members, which includes five trumpets, four trombones, seven saxophones, one piano player, two drummers, one bassist, and one guitar player. The club does not have a social media presence, but will form one in the near future.