Miller Middle School Jazz Band receives first-place award at Texas A&M-Kingsville Jazz Festival

Miller Middle School’s Jazz Band came home with a first-place trophy from the 54th annual Texas A&M-Kingsville Jazz Festival. 

Miller Middle School’s jazz band performed pieces like “You’re Still a Young Man” by Tower of Power and “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago on Saturday, which earned it first-place among competing middle schools. 

“They started the awards ceremony and they’re announcing everybody in order of who got what place and they get to the middle schools and they haven’t said our name yet,” Ramirez said. “They just announced second place, so the kids are like, ‘Oh my gosh, does that mean we got first place? Sure enough, [Dr. Paul Hageman] said, ‘And first place, Miller Middle School.’ And, you know, the kids went nuts. We had our trophy out at the front of [Miller Middle School] the other day so that everybody can see it and we’ve got it up at the front of the band hall now.”

Ramirez said he and fellow band director Daniel Maldonado began the middle school’s jazz band during the 2020-21 school year. This year’s program includes 19 students: Isabelle Hiracheta - Piccolo; Kalen Shanks - Alto Saxophone; Keira Hinton - Alto Saxophone; Steven Urrutia - Alto Saxophone; Vicente Esquivel - Tenor Saxophone; Aidan Porter - Tenor Saxophone; Jonathan Ellis - Bari Sax; Charles Prince - Trombone; Madilyn Dusek - Trombone; Jordynn Grimes - Trombone; Riley Sivilay - Trumpet; Taliesin LeDoux - Trumpet; Haze Close - Clarinet; Lynette Holdbrook - Clarinet; Daniel Putegnat - Tuba; Miguel Alvarado - Tuba; Tomas Dorsey - Vibes and auxiliary percussion; Gideon McFarland - Vibes; and Maebry Kraatz - Drum set. 

Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Jazz Festival, which took place Friday and Saturday, included 28 high and middle school jazz band performances, concerts and a jazz clinic featuring world-renowned jazz saxophonist Bob Reynolds.

Ramirez described receiving an invite to the jazz festival as a spur of the moment turn of events. He said he had been searching for a jazz festival for the band to attend but many had all their spots filled up months in advance. So, Ramirez reached out to his alma mater — A&M Kingsville — in hopes of attending the university’s jazz festival. 

“I got my bachelor’s degree from A&M-Kingsville and I reached out to Dr. Hageman, who is the chair of the department and he actually got back to me,” Ramirez said. “This was the week before spring break. He got back to me and he said, ‘Hey, we actually just had a middle school pull out of the jazz festival so we have a slot open.’ It was kind of serendipity that it just opened. So, I met with the parents and got everybody on board. We got the green light from everybody to go to the jazz festival, got the paperwork in before spring break and it was really hectic three days before spring break.”

Alongside receiving first place, eight Miller Middle School performers received All Star Big Band Awards from the festival: Shanks, Esquivel, Ellis, Prince, Dusek, Grimes, Alvarado and Sivilay. Ramirez called attending the jazz festival as a great experience for his students. 

“One of the biggest reasons why I wanted kids to go out there so they could see not only other band programs ... but to just expose them to music and all of these possibilities as well as the university,” Ramirez said. “So, we went there and the kids did awesome. There’s things that happen with every live performance, nobody’s perfect and they were super nervous but they handled it like professionals.”

Following Saturday’s successful performance, Ramirez said the jazz band will perform at Art Squared on Saturday, May 14 on the Hays County Courthouse Lawn where attendees can help raise funds for the program. 

“If you’d like to donate right now some of the things we’re looking to add to the program, we’re  just trying to get some funds so that we can replace some of our old instruments,” Ramirez said. “We want to expand and currently we only have two tenor saxophones. It would be great to have another two. Just replacing some of the equipment that’s kind of getting a little bit more out of date that’s been well used. So, if people can make it out to Art Squared … come on out, you’ll get to hear the band. I believe it’s going to be a two-hour set.” 

Ramirez said he hopes to take the jazz band back to the Texas A&M-Kingsville Jazz Festival next year but also has bigger hopes for the program. 

“My dreams and aspirations are that we continue to go to these festivals, expand to some larger scale things and hopefully do some national competitions at some point,” Ramirez said. “Do some competitions in different states. Grow the program, not just in the jazz sense, but also as we continue to rebuild after Covid, rebuild our wind ensemble, our symphonic band getting all of that back on track. And hopefully, when people think of San Marcos, I want them to think of Miller Middle School’s band, [and say,] ‘Man they’ve got a great band program.’ And, you know, San Marcos High School has a great band program. Ultimately, making this a powerhouse in the music world.”