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GPFAA Jazz Band Story

student playing saxaphone

From its humble beginnings in 2014, the GPFAA Jazz Program has grown to include approximately 80 students in 5 ensembles ranging from beginner to advanced. GPFAA hosts three audition dates each year and enrollment is open to students both within and outside the GPISD. Jazz students at GPFAA have intensive study during a 90 minute period each day where the focus is on instrumental fundamentals, music theory, improvisation, jazz history, as well as the opportunity to play in both combo and big band settings. Students participate in many events throughout the school year including campus concerts, community performances, field trips, festivals, and on-campus workshops.

The accomplishments of the GPFAA Jazz Program continue to grow. Individual musicians from GPFAA have been recognized for superior musical achievement through numerous placements in TMEA All-Region Jazz Ensembles and the Texas AllState Jazz Ensemble, as well as continuing their studies at major university jazz programs. GPFAA Big Bands have been recognized and awarded through outstanding performances at the UTA Jazz Festival in Arlington, the TCU Jazz Festival in Fort Worth, the Plano Jazz Invitational at Plano Senior High School, the Texas Wesleyan Jazz Festival in Fort Worth, the Hill Country Jazz Festival at Texas State University in San Marcos, the Longhorn Jazz Festival at The University of Texas in Austin, the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival, and the Loyola University Jazz Festival in New Orleans.

In addition, GPFAA students have traveled to hear the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band in Denton, the US Air Force Airmen of Note in Dallas, as well as hosting the McNallySmith College Faculty Jazz Quartet, the Brian Piper Trio, the Texas State University Jazz Ensemble, the Caroline Davis Combo, the salsa group ‘Havana NRG’, DFW local group ‘In Focus’, the David Pierce Big Band, the Jazz Monsters Big Band, the Ben Patterson Sextet, and the Stockton Helming Trio. The inaugural GPFAA Jazz Invitational in 2019 featured 12 outstanding high school big bands from DFW and Houston. In April of 2023, the GPFAA JI will feature a full day of outstanding HS groups from across the region, as well GPFAA’s award-winning big bands and the locally renowned Texins Jazz Band with renowned trumpeter Wayne Bergeron.