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When Aaliyah Lund ‘28 stepped off the plane in New Orleans, she didn’t even need to make it as far as the hotel before the musical moments began. 

Lund, fellow St. Olaf College Jazz Band I manager Will Christensen ’26, and bassist Holden Peckenpaugh ‘28 arrived late at night — and almost immediately ran into a saxophonist headed to the same event. 

“This guy was from D.C., but he saw our St. Olaf Jazz gear, and just started talking to us and and got to chatting about what all we were looking forward to seeing and hearing … and we were just like ‘is this real? Like, are we really here right now?’” she says. “I’d never made a connection like that, sparked by just the fact that all the strangers in the conversation enjoyed the same kind of music, organically in the wild.”

Ten St. Olaf student musicians traveled to the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in New Orleans, an annual gathering that brings together performers, educators, and students for clinics, masterclasses, concerts, and late-night jam sessions. 

For Associate Professor of Music Joseph L. Jefferson, director of the college’s jazz ensembles, the location offered a kind of learning students can’t replicate in Northfield. 

“The conference was hosted this year in New Orleans — the birthplace of jazz — which is the best place to go in terms of getting a deeper dive into this music, but also being kind of boots on the ground so you can understand the culture, go to the historic places, and in that way go beyond what you can learn in a classroom setting,” Jefferson says. 

Jefferson says he initially mentioned the conference to his students because he was performing there — but he didn’t expect students to attend as a group, especially given the cost of flights, lodging, and registration. 

“ Unbeknownst to me, they started meeting on their own and doing their research, and 10 of them came,” he says. “That really shows me the drive and the initiative our students have to want to learn more about this music form. My highlight of the conference was seeing all of these Oles showing up, because of the sacrifice that it took from them — to commit their time and resources for love of the music — is beyond impressive.”

For Christensen, that investment had immediate payoffs. 

“There was so much to do,” he says. “The conference center was huge, and there were constant performances from the best bands, ranging from middle school groups to seasoned veterans who have been in the industry for decades. I learned so much during just that short time.”

Amanda Klug ‘28 says the conference felt like a milestone, especially as she has only recently begun playing jazz. 

“I have always been interested in jazz — I’ve probably listened to jazz since I was in elementary school, and I got really into it beginning in high school — but my first time ever being involved in it and playing was at the end of last semester, in November,” she says. “So it was really cool to share this experience with other people, instead of just sitting and listening to it by myself.”

Jefferson says JEN gives students something rare: an opportunity to place their own musicianship, and St. Olaf’s developing jazz culture, in a broader national context.

“This really gets our students to see a global perspective of what is happening with jazz, but also what students are doing at other schools, to determine what things we find insightful that others are incorporating into their programs,” Jefferson says. “I like to state how this music is democracy on the bandstand in motion — the decisions that one person makes, the rest of the band adjusts to create something that’s absolutely beautiful. Jazz accepts people from all walks of life and all backgrounds, however they identify, and whatever they have to contribute to the space. And that’s the essence of this music.“

– Joseph L. Jefferson

Lund described the conference’s energy as something she hasn’t experienced before. 

“There was so much excitement and so much joy, jam sessions that went until one or two in the morning — it was just cool to see that jazz is still very much alive, people are wanting it and showing up for this community,” she says. 

For Amanda Klug ‘28, a music education major, the conference also offered practical tools she could bring into her future classroom. She attended a session focused on programming and rehearsing in elementary and middle school jazz bands. 

“They gave us a lot of repertoire, worksheets, and warmups — literally everything you would need as a teacher,” she says. “It was really helpful and kind of made me less scared for what will come.”

Lund, a fellow music education major, says the conference’s value for someone pursuing a career in pedagogy is immense.

“Jazz is such an important art to keep in schools, and unfortunately there are a lot of people who just have no experience with it and don’t understand it, so they can’t teach it,” she says. “I think it would be beneficial to any music educator to just have some insight or knowledge about jazz, because it is a varied medium that allows so much freedom to its musicians.”

When asked about their favorite elements of the conference, Christensen points to the late-night jam sessions as a highlight, and a reason he was excited to attend in the first place. He and Peckenpaugh headed to one such gig the night they landed. 

“We got into New Orleans at 11:30 p.m. … the jams go until 1 a.m.,” he says. “We made it to the hotel around midnight, and we rushed to the jam, and were able to play a bit with the others. By the last day of the conference, I had made it to playing at the pro-jam level— it was such an intense, collaborative space.”

Lund says that the ways in which the sessions felt like jazz functioning as a shared language across ages and experience levels was the best part of her trip. 

“It was college students playing with middle schoolers and professionals playing with high schoolers, and people reuniting after they haven’t seen each other in years,” she says. “ Playing jazz is a different language and way of speaking, and you just watch people’s energy and watch people bounce off of each other and bounce ideas back and forth. You’re all communicating without words, you’re communicating through the music.”

For Klug, the climax of the conference arrived when she and her fellow Oles had the opportunity to watch Jefferson perform with the Annie Booth Big Band.

“It was really cool to see him play and be in his element,” she says. “He’s also just friends with everyone, and it was great seeing him interact with Annie Booth, introduce us, and get to ask her questions about her compositions.”

From Jefferson’s perspective, this moment with his students was the pinnacle of the event as well. 

“It meant the world to see them out there,” he says. “To provide immediate feedback, and ask ‘Could we play this? Could we program that music?’ Those are lasting impressions.”

For both Christensen and Lund, the performance resonated because they recognized the tunes — Jefferson has programmed Booth’s music during his time at St. Olaf.

“I think three of the songs that we watched [Jefferson] play with the big band, we had done them here at St. Olaf,” Christensen says. “I was able to watch the drummer reading the exact same things that I was reading, and get slightly tripped up over the same spot that I was struggling over for weeks.”

Lund added that the Ole’s presence was notable in a space where many schools attend via invitation. 

“A lot of schools are invited to perform, but we were all just there to be there,” she says. “We were there because we wanted to be there, not because we had to be there.”

Outside of the conference schedule, Jefferson took students to try local cuisine (fried catfish, po’ boys, crawfish etouffee, chicory coffee and beignets) and to Congo Square, a historic site connected to jazz’s earliest roots. 

“Congo Square is the meeting place that enslaved African Americans could go on Sundays,” he says. “They could sell goods, they could dance, and they could worship — that is the birthplace of jazz.”

According to Klug, the visit added emotional depth to a story she already knew in outline. 

“It adds a type of level of tragedy almost, and also the hope that this music leads itself to,” she says. 

For Lund, being in New Orleans shaped her relationship to the music in a personal way, particularly as a Black student and musician. 

“It changed the way I feel about it,” she says. “ As a Black student and a Black person playing jazz, the entire community is different, because a lot of jazz communities here in Minnesota are mostly white, which is just a reflection of the population, but there it’s different. Seeing other people who look like me, other Black artists, it was really inspiring.”

Christensen says walking through the city made the music feel tangible. 

“To see the actual physical spaces where this music came from was really impactful,” he says. “It helped add a sense of material reality to the music, and contextualize it.”

Students say they hope the trip’s momentum carries into St. Olaf’s jazz culture.

“Going there and being able to see what’s possible … it’s something we would’ve never been able to see within the St. Olaf bubble. I hope we bring some of that energy back to the Hill.”