Student Showcase! David Nguyen Octet

($10-$15 + DICE fees | 4:30pm Show) Come celebrate the next generation of jazz stars at our Student Showcase! Drawing inspiration from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the band will be performing original compositions and arrangements written for 5-horns and rhythm section by multi-instrumentalist David Nguyen. Multiple members of the band were awarded Soloist Awards at the 2025 Essentially Ellington Competition in NYC and all bandmembers are current students or recent alumni of the Tucson Jazz Institute, carrying the flame of the Hard Bop tradition into the 21st Century!

Ivanna Z (alto sax) David Nguyen (tenor sax & clarinet) Jaxon Hirsh (bari sax) Kaleb White (trumpet) Aidan Schofield (trombone) Aiden O (piano) Zeke Hirsh (bass) Eidan Schachter-Brooks (drums)