EPYJE is a year-round teenage jazz orchestra that rehearses on a weekly basis and performs at a variety of events and venues throughout the city. Our students are challenged to strive for musical excellence and experience the pride of achieving that goal through teamwork, dedication, and diligent individual practice. EPYJE students learn music theory, aural skills, improvisation, teamwork, technique and a repertoire from the many eras and sub-genres of Jazz. Professional musicians are hired as clinicians throughout the year to help each instrument section.

Students are selected from throughout the El Paso area, and our organization does not discriminate based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnicity. Each year we perform in a variety of venues such as churches, school auditoriums, parks and outdoor events, restaurants, or private events. Rehearsing and preparing the students for these performances requires diligent work and countless hours of rehearsals. Students in our organization have many performance opportunities outside of their typical school environment. They get real-life performance experience in venues across the city, interact with the community, and build meaningful relationships with their colleagues.

Every year we have students that come from financial situations that prohibit their ability to pay the annual tuition. We never turn these students away and encourage them to continue their education with us regardless of their inability to pay. We have also served students with physical disabilities and mental illnesses. We strive to make every student’s experience at EPYJE a meaningful and important aspect of their development as teenagers. We work hard to make everybody feel welcome and treat them with kindness and respect. In turn, our students have a positive and enriching experience learning and performing with EPYJE.

Our yearly performance schedule consists of various concerts including a Holiday Concert. We attempt to make the Ensemble available to a variety of events, and we are always willing to perform in situations where Jazz is generally not prevalent. We hold and end-of-semesterconcert, as well as a “Farewell Performance” for senior students who are graduating from high school. We also expose the full ensemble to a recording studio session to capture their music in high-quality audio. Last year we recorded at Star City Studios, and we are planning to upload our first single onto all the music streaming platforms. The next step for our organization is to establish a middle school version of our high school jazz band. These middle school students would start at an earlier age and feed into the older, more experienced ensemble.