COMMUNITY News:

Jazz Project will host “Black Box Jazz Club” 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 the “LAHS Jazz Band Two” & the incredible “Quemazón Combo”. Thursday’s show also will feature the “Potrillo”, “Capulin”, & “Guaje” Combos, and on Friday night, the “Atalaya”, “Pajarito”, & “Rendija” Combos will perform. 

The Jazz Project is a program run by the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association and led by local jazz program’s founder Ryan Finn. Now consisting 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 through the summer. The classes gradually grew in size and skill until the program hosted five groups in the spring of 2020.

Jazz Project classes were suspended during the COVID lockdown, and in 2021, Finn worked together with SFYSA to restart the program as well as expand it to Santa Fe. 

Now in its second year with the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association, Finn said, “The collaborative energy and excitement from everyone involved is amazing. The students, families, community supporters, and SFYSA staff and board make running this program a joy.”

More than 60 students in grades 6th-12th rehearse weekly throughout the school year, led by “Jazz Coaches” Alexander Mancino & William Finn.

The Black Box Jazz Club is taking place 7-9 p.m. both Thursday and Friday, Nov. 3 and 4 in the Black Box Theater at LAHS. Tickets are $10 and available at the door.

Visit sfysa.org/jazz.