QUINN
“Excellent!” our director called from behind us. As we improved through the year, the band director would start stepping aside to let the rhythm section drive us through our setlist. We were running through our dress rehearsal before our biggest performance of the year, Italian Night.
Every year, the Jazz Band would sell tickets to Italian Night. Band kids would serve a pasta dinner while the Jazz Band played live music for everyone, pausing for an auction in the middle of the evening. It was one of the largest fundraisers of the year. There was even a tradition for face-offs of improv solos. Luckily for me, the director had decided not to give me another improv solo after finding out I actually wrote and memorized an eight-bar melody the last time I was assigned one. Instead, he
