North Penn fields two high school jazz ensembles, which are named after the school colors — Navy and Columbia.
Navy Jazz Band
Director: Mr. DiValentino, divaledm@npenn.org
The goal of the Navy Band is to perform advanced big band repertoire from the classic books of Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, as well as progressive, new repertoire from today’s best jazz composers and arrangers.
Over the years, the Navy Band has performed at numerous conventions and festivals including PMEA, NaFME, IAJE, and MENC. Most recently, the Navy Band performed at the 2021 PMEA Conference at Kalahari, to a standing-room only crowd, and the 2022 NAfME All-Eastern Conference in Rochester, NY. The band is 4-time winners of the Artsquest Steel Stacks HS Jazz Band Showcase in Bethlehem, PA, which provided them the opportunity to perform for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and jazz saxophonist Jessy J. The Navy Band was also honored to be the first high school ever to be invited to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April of 2016. In addition to local festivals and competitions, they also perform jazz combo gigs and park concerts around the community each year as well. The Band is a 5-time winner of the ArtsQuest SteelStacks High School Jazz Band Showcase in Bethlehem, PA.
The Navy Jazz Band rehearses most Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, 2:45-4:45 PM, from December to April.
Columbia Jazz Band
Director: Mr. Charlie DiCarne
Like the Navy Jazz Band, the aim of the Columbia Jazz Band is to provide students with a top-notch “Big Band” experience at the High School level. Repertoire for Columbia is similar to Navy. Columbia is active on the local jazz
festival scene and also participates in larger events like the SteelStacks HS Jazz Band Showcase.
The Columbia Jazz Band rehearses every Wednesday night, 7:00-9:00 PM, from December to April.
Auditions
There is one audition for the Jazz program at NHPS. Based on the results of the audition, students are placed in either
the Navy or Columbia Jazz Bands. Occasionally, if there is a high level of students auditioning, some cuts are made. Jazz Band auditions take place in mid-November and are done in person. Students will be provided with the material a few weeks in advance. The auditions include a prepared solo, an excerpt from the repertoire, and an opportunity for students to demonstrate their improvisation skills.