Disk 1 Track 8 - Marion Jazz Band One

MARION HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ BAND

BLACKBIRD (Lennon/McCartney/arr. Mike Tomarro

Logan Vander Wiel, Director | Featuring Chris Merz*, Saxophone

*Soloist

Saxophone: Marco Olachnovitch, Esther Harker, Blake Hines, Sage Foster, Jesper Unger

Trumpet: Evan Wahlstrom, Jude Pestel, Daniel Knapp, Zachary Sloan

Trombone: Aaron Piper, Logan Frye, Andrew Henriksen, Katie Noll

Piano: Cooper Cook | Guitar: Ethan Johnson | Bass: Logan Ficek | Vibes: Ash Wasek | Drums: Chris Oberbroeckling

About Marion Jazz Band One:

Marion Jazz Band One this year performed several home concerts as well as in the Coe College Jazz Summit, where they placed 4th, and at the NEIBA District Jazz Festival.

Ethan Johnson, Aaron Piper, Zachary Sloan, and Evan Wahlstrom made the 2023 3A Jazz All-State Band.

About Chris Merz

Christopher Merz, Professor of Music, has served as Director of Jazz Studies and Director of the award-winning UNI Jazz Band One at the University of Northern Iowa since 2002. Under his direction, the band has traveled to Thailand as well as the east coast of the US, and has recorded 13 CDs featuring many original compositions and arrangements by student and faculty writers.

He is a member of the Iowa Jazz Educators’ Hall of Fame, Past President of the Jazz Educators of Iowa (JEI), and the founder and director of the UNI Combo Camp.

His 1997 release with his group the X-tet, Mystery is My Story, prompted Dave Brubeck to write, “I admire a group like yours that, to me, is a grand extension of what we were doing...when we were the ‘new thing’”.

Current projects include Christopher’s Very Happy. Band., which performs Merz’s originals exclusively, and Shorter Stories, a tribute to Wayne Shorter, with new arrangements by Merz.