With the winter season upon us, the Greene County High School Band is underway with working on its next ensembles.

Band Director Wes Anderson says the jazz band season kicked off earlier this year in mid-September. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that their overall goal is to qualify for the Iowa Jazz Championships. He points out there are two ways to qualify: the first option is to win or place second in the South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association (SCIBA) Jazz Festival or win a contest with at least three other bands in the same division as Greene County.

“So that’s kind of where we’ve set our sites. We’re going to try to do some competitions around the state and see if we can win our division. So that’s our big focus for that.”

Anderson notes the four songs that the jazz band is performing for the year includes “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock, “Cute” by Neil Hefti, “Blue Bossa” by Joe Henderson, and “I Remember Clifford” by Lee Morgan. 

As for the concert band, Anderson describes how that ensemble is shaping up.

“We’ve got a lot of really great ability, a lot of great talent in our band right now. I already know what to capitalize on, who we want to feature on which concert, and which sections we want to feature in our contest music. So we’re in a good place.”

Anderson says the concert band is looking to perform in the December Dessert Concert, along with a February show and state large group contest in the spring.