COMMUNITY News:
Jazz Project will host “Black Box Jazz Club” on Thursday and Friday. The event transforms the Los Alamos High School (LAHS) Black Box Theater into a jazz club and features eight student jazz ensembles from Los Alamos and Santa Fe.
Both nights will feature sets from “LAHS Jazz Band Two” and the incredible “Quemazón Combo”. Thursday’s show will also feature the “Potrillo”, “Capulin” and “Guaje” combos, and on Friday night the “Atalaya”, “Pajarito” and “Rendija” combos will perform.
The Jazz Project is a program run by the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association and led by local jazz program founder Ryan Finn. Now made up of six student jazz combos in Los Alamos and one in Santa Fe, the Jazz Project was founded in 2015 by Finn as a casual program for LAHS students to continue playing together throughout the summer. Classes gradually increased in size and skills until the program welcomed five groups in spring 2020.
Jazz Project classes were put on hold during the COVID lockdown, and in 2021 Finn worked with SFYSA to restart the program and expand it to Santa Fe.
Now in his second year with the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association, Finn said, “The collaborative energy and enthusiasm from everyone involved is incredible. The students, families, community supporters, and SFYSA staff and board of directors make running this program a joy.
More than 60 students from grades 6 to 12 rehearse weekly throughout the school year, under the direction of Jazz Coaches Alexander Mancino and William Finn.
The Black Box Jazz Club runs from 7-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday, November 3 and 4 at the Black Box Theater in LAHS. Tickets are $10 and available at the door.
Visit sfysa.org/jazz.
