The tradition of Seattle’s Roosevelt High School Jazz Band performing Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's version of The Nutcracker turned a quarter century this year.
Scott Brown was the band director at Roosevelt for 38 years. He led students year after year through this one one of a kind rendition of a holiday staple before retiring in 2022.
"It's really about — not the continuation of a particular set of music — but of a culture," Brown said. "A culture of improvisation and excitement about the music, and kids working hard to try to do their best.”
Kids like Pauline Beckett, a junior at Roosevelt who plays tenor saxophone. She’s been hearing Roosevelt's version of The Nutcracker since middle school.
“Maybe you've heard it before — and that recognition, it makes you feel good," Beckett said in a recent interview after a rehearsal. "Like, 'oh my gosh, I recognize this, but it's even cooler.' Sorry, Tchaikovsky, but it's even cooler. It's jazzed up. You're swinging, you're dancing. It brings everyone together.”
For the past 25 years, this version of The Nutcracker has inspired students like Beckett to take up an instrument in the hopes they too could perform with Roosevelt's jazz band.
And there's a bit of a whirlwind story to how the tradition got started.
Brown, the former band director, was the mastermind behind getting the music for the arrangement. Back then, he wanted to do something special and decided the band should perform Ellington and Strayhorn’s version of The Nutcracker.
"And so we put the wheels in motion," Brown said. "The band was excited about it, but we didn't have the music."
Brown booked Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle for the performance and got in touch with the publisher that had the manuscripts. But he said the deal fell apart when a person transcribing the music skipped town.
"He had a falling out with that publishing company and he took all of his scores and all the parts, and he went back to the Netherlands. And all of a sudden, we're hanging out to dry — we have no music," Brown said.
He said he can't remember exactly how but he eventually got the person's number and convinced him to sell the music scores directly to the school.
A few days later, a delivery arrived.
"It was a cardboard box. I can show you where it is," Brown said. "And you know, it came with no — the parts weren't bound. They were just a stack of originals."
He said parents and students helped organize and label parts into plastic sleeves. Then came the hard work.
"I believe it was about three weeks ahead of the opening, we started rehearsing. And I'm telling you we rehearsed hard to put that thing together," Brown said.
That hard work has endured and inspired new generations of musicians. A few students in the current jazz band program told KNKX that this version of The Nutcracker piqued their interest in music when they were younger.
Griffin Keen, a junior who plays tenor saxophone, said he was "blown away" when he saw the jazz band in middle school.
"I think it was just the phenomenal way everyone played everything," he said. "Everything was to such a degree of excellence that you just couldn't help but enjoy it."
Now he's on stage with the band, and Keen said he hopes audiences have a similar experience.
"I hope, first and foremost, people are inspired by our playing," he said. "Because if previous years of Roosevelt Jazz could do that for so many people, I think we should be able to too."
Current Band Director Hannah Mowry said she’s keeping the tradition going and is including all the different skill levels of the jazz band program.
"I think it's important that every kid feels like they're a part of this project because it's such a staple of the Roosevelt Jazz program," she said.
Who knows, Mowry said, next year's version could include a washboard soloist or a tap dancer. In the end, it will be up to the students.
