2025 Invitational Jazz Honor Band

Dear Band Director,

The University of Louisville School of Music Jazz Program under the leadership of our director, Dr. David Clark, is proud to continue its annual tradition of hosting a high school honor big band on April 25 – 26, 2025. Six years ago, we created a jazz honor band to bring together and feature the talented jazz students throughout Kentucky, and we have since had the privilege of making music with dozens of them. We even continued the tradition during the pandemic year by making asynchronous videos of custom-written big band charts combining high school and our very own amazing college students. Please view them at The In Between and How Low Will They Go?

This year we are fortunate to have special guest director, Rob Parton, to work with students and lead the band. Rob Parton is a trumpet artist and music educator starting his tenure at the University of North Texas in the Fall of 2019 as Associate Professor of Jazz Trumpet and director of the acclaimed Two O’clock Lab Band.  Parton is in demand as first trumpet at various “Pops” orchestras across the mid-west including the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Columbus Symphony. In addition, our jazz faculty will be on-hand to conduct masterclasses and give the students the best possible experience. You will find many examples of the jazz faculty and our wonderful students in action at our jazz youtube channel.

We invite you to nominate your outstanding students that would benefit from this incredible experience. Please fill out and submit the online nomination form by February 26, 2025.

Invitational Honor Jazz Band Nomination Form  

Selected students will be contacted through email with more details, a registration form, PDF’s of their music, and a schedule. The concert will be in the early evening on April 26, 2025. The band will rehearse and perform in the University of Louisville School of Music, and there will be a $50 dollar fee to cover our costs.

Please email me with any questions.

Sincerely, 

Dr. Gabriel Evens, Associate Professor
University of Louisville School of Music
Louisville, KY 40292
gabriel.evens@louisville.edu