NORTH ANDOVER — Five music students bowed their heads over trumpets, saxophones and a keyboard, tapping their feet and focusing on the sounds of Miles Davis' "Freddi Freeloader" coming from a laptop.
Then it was their turn. They took up their instruments and began to play, first together then passing solos down the line.
With noise from basketballs bouncing on the gym floor below and the afternoon sun blazing through the skylights, this was no smoky jazz bar jam session. Rather, it was a group of North Andover High School students at the Youth Center.
Instructor Ryan Chasse nodded his head at the end of their first practice. Not bad, he said, especially since most of the students were used to orchestral music, not solo riffs and stop time.
"Usually I play in the orchestra," said trumpeter Joe Faris, 16. "This is a bit of a change."
As the students talked about soloing, Allie VanBuskirk admitted she got lost trying to follow the chords. The 16-year-old sophomore at North Andover High School has played the trumpet for nine years and is a fan of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, but this was her first attempt at soloing.
"It's more improvisation than actually learning notes," she said.
Saxophone player Phil Greene, 16, played with a jazz group at the high school last year, but it disbanded. Greene said he hopes this group will last because he likes playing jazz.
"You learn more; it's different," he said. "It's cooler music. It's more fun."
North Andover High School music director Lee Beatty has a background in jazz and said he hopes to add it back into the curriculum. As the only director for band and chorus, however, he hasn't had time to teach jazz and advanced music theory classes.
Chasse said the Youth Center group can help fill the gap for students who do want to learn jazz. Chasse, recreation coordinator at the Youth Center, minored in music at Brevard College in North Carolina, with focus on jazz performance. He plays trumpet and trombone.
His goal for the group is to teach jazz while allowing the students to play. If enough students stick with the group, he wants to have a performance.
He said any high-schooler who plays an instrument, even if it isn't a typical jazz instrument, is welcome to play with the group, which will meet every Monday afternoon.
"I'm not looking for anyone specific," he said. "I just want someone excited about putting effort into it."
The group provides a forum for students like saxophonist Scott Chamberlin, 15, who likes to play jazz but has nowhere else to play it.
Colin Colford, 15, was attracted to it because he realized that a lot of the classic rock music he listened to had roots in jazz. The North Andover High School freshman plays the keyboard and said he likes to play the blues.
"It's a cool feeling," he said.
