Mitchell High School Jazz Bands

2026 Audition Material

Blue Bossa · uploads due Friday, October 2 at 11:59 PM · first rehearsal to be announced

1 · Etude

Play your etude with the Blue Bossa recording on the audition page.

2 · Scale or your part

Horns record a scale. Rhythm section records comping, a bass line, or time feels.

3 · Improv optional

24 bars of F concert blues, only if you want to be considered for solos.

Say your name and instrument at the start of each recording. You will not have every note of this material perfect by the deadline. Do your best and record it anyway. The F blues rhythm track for the improv portion is on the audition page with the other recordings.

Alto & Bari Sax

E♭ instruments

1 · Etude

Play it like the melody, along with the Blue Bossa recording.

2 · Scale / mode exercise · swing ♩=160

Unaccompanied.

3 · Improvisation — optional

Two choruses of F concert blues over the rhythm track.

Tenor Sax & Trumpet

B♭ treble clef

1 · Etude

Play it along with the Blue Bossa recording. Take the repeat at the end — play the head twice, then stop. No coda.

2 · Scale — tenor sax · swing ♩=160

2 · Scale — trumpet · ♩=116–120

All trumpets. Don't worry if you can't hit all the high notes — play as high as you can, then come back down.

3 · Improvisation — optional

Trombone

1 · Etude

Play it along with the Blue Bossa recording. Take the repeat at the end — play the head twice, then stop. No coda.

2 · B♭ Major & F Blues · swing ♩=132

Don't worry about hitting every note. Do the best you can.

3 · Improvisation — optional

Bass

1 · Etude

Play it like a solo or the melody, along with the Blue Bossa recording.

2 · Bass line

A second recording of you walking the changes over the walking bassline track on the audition page. No written part — use the lead sheet above. Listen to a few recordings of the tune online to get ideas.

3 · Improvisation — optional

Guitar, Piano & Vibes

Concert lead sheet

1 · Etude

Play the melody along with the Blue Bossa recording.

2 · Comping

A second recording of you comping through the same tune with the comping track on the audition page. No written part — use the lead sheet above and your own voicings. Listen to a few examples online for ideas. Vibes: light voicings, stay out of the piano's way.

3 · Improvisation — optional

Drum Set

1 · Etude · shuffle ♩=144

Record the etude from this lead sheet, unaccompanied.

2 · Time feels

About one minute of jazz swing time with only a few fills, ♩=200. Then about one minute of bossa nova time with only a few fills, ♩=120. Announce which one you are playing first.

3 · Trading — optional

24 bars of trading over the F blues rhythm track on the audition page.