On Tuesday, Dec. 10th, members of the wildly talented Jazz 3 ensemble at Boulder High travelled down to Denver to play live on the KUVO Jazz station 89.3 at 4:15 pm. The student instrumentalists, 24 in total, had been given the opportunity through the Colorado Gives Day to play for 45 minutes live on the air and showcase the hard work they have been putting in all semester. 

According to the KUVO website, the Colorado Gives Day is celebrated by inviting three local jazz bands from area high schools to perform throughout the day. This year, Boulder High has been selected for the privilege along with the Olympian Jazz Band from Gateway High School and the East High School Jazz Combo, and each have been given a time slot throughout the day. The station describes the event’s purpose as being to showcase the talents of up-and-coming student musicians in high school and to raise funds in the spirit of giving.

For almost a full jazzy hour, the students played their hearts out in the Phyllis A. Greer studio, showcasing a set of five pieces they have been polishing throughout the semester. Soloists including Louis King, Alex Loran and Ben Weiss received recognition for their stupendous performances live on air by their skilled director Beau Bryson. Members of the band described the performance as a “laid-back experience in a new environment,” noting that they felt lucky to be given the opportunity to showcase their talents in a real studio. 

The pieces Jazz 3 performed a range of songs from Latin pieces to ballads to an Afro-Cuban tune to a blues, spanning a wide range of skills and genres. Pretty much every student in the band got an opportunity to solo on a piece, demonstrating the prowess of the individual performers in the band. 

One of the noted challenges of this performance space, according to senior band member Dylan Tripp, was how each musician had their own microphone and each noise was individually processed, mixed, and balanced before being broadcast to the live audience. In consequence, each musician had to rigorously practice and prepare to bring the pieces to a performance-ready state. Any small mistake made by just one member of the band would be audible to the entire audience. As such, the experience was stressful to prepare for. Some listeners reported that they heard feedback or mics popping during the performance, but for the most part it all went off without a hitch. It’s no small feat to play for so many uninterrupted minutes, so kudos to our fantastically talented jazz band.