The Lafayette Jazz Band is composed of students who desire to express themselves through popular music, rock and jazz music. This aspect of the music program became a reality during the tenure of director Les Anderson in the early 1970’s. The Jazz Band has now expanded to a full-year music class, featuring two ensembles.

The “Lafayette Jazz Band” is the primary performing group and its members must be able to demonstrate a high proficiency on their instrument in order to meet the challenge that is created by this type of music. The course covers different jazz band styles and works on the development of improvisation by each member. Several performances are given during the year for school activities and community groups, including the Annual Jazz Band Dance and a dinner performance at The Lafayette Club, one of the city’s finest private dining establishments.

The “Jazz Lab Band” provides an opportunity for training and development of those students who are interested in this genre of music and performance style, with the objective to move quickly into the advanced group and its repertoire of music and event schedule.

Jazz Instructional Resources

Major Modes

• C Instruments
• Bb Instruments
• Eb Instruments
• Bass Clef Instruments

Blues Scale

• Major Blues Scale Licks
• Minor Blues Scale Licks

Manuscript Paper

• Treble Clef
• Bass Clef
• Grand Staff