The Jazz Bands

The Jazz Bands are an important part of the University of Georgia Band Program. Auditions are held during the first week of fall semester and first week of spring semester to determine the personnel for both bands. The Jazz Bands perform several concerts locally and at important festivals and conventions during the spring semester. The UGA Jazz Band I, under the direction of Steve Dancz, has performed by invitation at the 1999 Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland and the Vienne Jazz Festival in Vienne, France. Most recently Dancz and his quartet performed at the the request of His Holiness, the XIVth Dalai Lama at the World Festival of Sacred Music in Bangalore, India. Jazz Band I has welcomed many guest artists and clinicians to UGA including Jamey Aebersold, Chris Vidala, Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Willie Thomas, Marcus Roberts, and Eric Reed.