St. Olaf Jazz Ensembles

St. Olaf Jazz Orchestra

Music Department

Jazz Auditions

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The **Inaugural Annual Regional Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Festival** is coming to St. Olaf in March 2027! Click on this link for more details.

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Concert: St. Olaf Jazz Orchestra

The Lions Pause

Concert: St. Olaf Jazz Ensembles

The Lions Pause

Welcome! As Director of Jazz Ensembles, I am thrilled to introduce you to our vibrant jazz community at St. Olaf.

Whether you are an incoming student, a prospective applicant, or a jazz enthusiast, our program offers a dynamic space to grow, collaborate, and perform at the highest level.

Our Ensembles

We offer both large and small ensemble experiences designed to challenge and inspire our musicians:

St. Olaf Jazz Orchestra: The premier 21-member, award-winning large ensemble.
St. Olaf Jazz Ensemble: A versatile big band performing both traditional and modern compositions.
Black and Gold Jazz Combos: Small groups focused on improvisation, chamber interaction, and flexible programming. These groups also perform throughout the region and the greater Minneapolis area.

Across our program, students explore a rich spectrum of musical styles—including swing, bebop, fusion, funk, salsa, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and traditional jazz idioms.

Excellence & National Recognition

Our flagship big band has earned international and national reputation for musical excellence:

Midwest Clinic (2025): Selected to perform at the 79th Annual Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference—one of the most esteemed events in music education.
DownBeat Student Music Awards: Voted “Best College or University Big Band” (May 2011) and awarded “Outstanding Performance by a Large Undergraduate Jazz Ensemble” (2019).
International Tour to Cuba (2016): Performed in Havana and Matanzas, collaborating with renowned trumpeter Rodolfo Jorge Horta Hernandez, the Banda Provincial de la Ciudad de Matanzas, and Joaquin Betancourt’s La Joven Jazz Band. This historic tour led to the release of our vinyl record, Cubano Be, Cubano Bop.

Guest Artists & Masterclasses

St. Olaf Jazz regularly hosts world-class guest performers, clinicians, and educators to work directly with our students. In recent years, our ensembles have shared the stage and learned from an extraordinary lineup of artists, including Sean Jones, Willerm Delisfort, Alison Crockett, Melissa Aldana, Alison Crockett, David Sanchez, the Matt Wilson Quartet, the Kenny Werner Trio, Fat Kid Wednesdays, and many more.

We invite you to explore our campus, attend a concert, or audition to become part of our tradition!

Dr. Joseph L. Jefferson
Director of Jazz Ensembles, St. Olaf College