By — Taylor Byrne

The All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble is a group of the finest high school jazz musicians in all of Virginia. Out of 129 members of this prestigious ensemble, Jackson Tallamy was the only student selected from Tuscarora High School, along with a handful of other students from Loudoun County.

Jackson Tallamy plays the baritone saxophone, and has been in band for six years. In total there are ten baritone saxophone players in the ensemble, and Jackson is ranked third. Auditions were held in late march to early april. According to Jackson, there was a virtual video audition which was later judged. 

“We met on zoom twice a week for two weeks for rehearsals, outside of rehearsal we had to make recordings of the songs we were working on for a digital concert.”, explained Jackson. Members of the All-Virginia Jazz Ensemble also got to participate in a master class with Jeff Coffin and the Wooten brothers, which Jackson enjoyed the most. 

When asked how it felt to be the only person from Tuscarora selected for the ensemble, Jackson stated that he never really thought about it, but thinks that “it is pretty cool”.