Santa Fe Jazz band: a breath of fresh air

Five years ago, Tony Romano, a young aspiring director fresh out of college, created the Santa Fe Jazz program. Romano majored in music education and minored in jazz studies.

The Jazz band started in 2016 as an organized group. Predecessors of the band began as far back as the early 2000s, where Mike Lowry, a former Santa Fe band director, made groups of kids perform at state.

Jazz band was never pushed to be what it could be. They were inconsistent with performing so the Jazz band was never made an actual class and was strictly an extracurricular activity.

while fighting through the restrictions of Covid-19. Romano wanted to jump-start the Jazz band he never expected the greatness that would come out of the program. Just last year, the band went to state and secured second place.

This year, a second Jazz band has started, and it will be more student-friendly. There was no audition requirement as well as music that is not as difficult.

Since Covid many restrictions have been lifted, the band is now in full swing working on two major charts: “Nutville” by Horace Silver, a hard bop which is a Latin-style song, as well,s “You Go To My Head” a slow swing arranged by Bill Hollman. These two songs are not high school level, music that is often performed by professional big bands.

“These two songs are not high school level music; they are often performed by professional big bands,” Romano said. The Jazz band will have many more performances throughout the year. Director Romano’s aspirations for the future are simply to “be better” make sure to check out the jazz program this year; it may be a historic year for the Jazz band.