Jason & Elle

It is one thing to meet week after week with a teacher/coach and learn all about a particular instrument. It is an entirely different thing to put all of that knowledge into practice...in front of an audience. Let's set aside all the mental preparation, nerves, putting together just the right set of music, etc. and think about  just getting a gig to begin with. Even if you are playing for tips, it is not as easy as you might think. We try to walk our students through as much of what "the real world" feels like for musicians "out there" as much as we can, understanding that even that, is something they won't always have once they leave our teaching space. It is up to them to absorb as much as they can and hopefully put it to use in whatever aspect of their lives it becomes advantageous knowledge to have. That's the beauty about music and the process of learning an instrument - you are developing good working habits that are good to have for arts sake and for life's sake.

This Friday, our JAM U Bands, Heatstroke and Lunes, are heading downtown to perform for the Heritage Festivals BBQ & Brews Festival. You can find out all about it on our school's website: JAM University. On Saturday, one of our youngest, Avery Watley, will be doing a solo set around 11:30 A.M. We are so proud of all our students! They put in the work, invest and sacrifice both in time and money, and represent us amazingly every time they perform in and out of our  community. If you make it to Historic Downtown Yuma this weekend, and we hope you do, please stop by and have a listen! Also, let us know which BBQ stands are your favorites so we can visit after we are done. :)

Our JAM U Bands have a couple of performances coming up. First up, they're headed to the iconic Lutes Casino in Downtown Yuma - "Where the Elite Meet!" Saturday, September 21st, from 7-9 P.M. Family friendly environment so bring the whole gang! 221 S Main Street, Yuma.

We've also been invited to perform at the Play It Forward event by the Arizona's Children Association on October 27th, 2019 at the Yuma Country Club. This is a family-friendly concert and we are excited to be included in the lineup which will also include  The Twits, Wildflowers (Fatih & Grace), and more! For more information and to purchase your tickets, please visit: Play It Forward.

Maddie here working on shell voicings on Raelee Nikole's "All Along."  Think of these types of chords as the bare necessities version of a jazz chord. 

These are our band students after their show! We'll share some video soon. For now, let us just say we had a great time with them and their family and friends. Good job, everyone! Congrats to those being promoted from one school to another, high school and college graduates. Wishing you a great summer!

PS Next concert in the Fall to include all of our students.

Our students will be back at the Civic Center (East Wing) on Thursday, May 16th, 7:00 P.M. This time featuring all of our bands! 

GWYNN (Mia, Kylie & Lila) has been working hard preparing for a trip to Nashville where they will be recording their first couple of singles. We get to see them a couple of times a week, but they keep themselves busy everyday gigging and songwriting along side their awesome mom-manager (or momager). On Thursday they will be performing some covers with Hunter Nelson (bass) and Wyatt Mellon (not pictured - drums) completing the band.

Bloom is a brand new group made up of some fun, talented, young musicians in the making. They've been together for just a couple of months and some of the instrumentalists have been in lessons for less than a year! When you listen to them you won't believe it but it's true! These young women rock! *Leilani, Serena, Julia, Isa, Angeliah and Zaily.

Our Monday Night group has been around for a while but recently had some changes in personnel. It consists of students ranging from 7th graders up to high school seniors. They will perform a fun set of popular tunes from now and then. One of the most fun things about these bunch, is the way their personalities come through from singer to singer, song to song. They have so much fun together and we know you will really enjoy them. *Hunter, Leilani, Avery, Isa, Alyssa and (not pictured) Alexandra.

Last but certainly not least, we will get a little loud with The Element, or our Tuesday night rock group, These guys perform some cool classic rock tunes and feature lots of fun guitar riffs! New to the group, Hunter will be joining Tyler, Jax, Zane and Tab on stage. 

Hope you can join us! This is a free event, but as always, your donations are much appreciated.

Our first ever Senior Night Concert was so much fun! Our seniors made us very proud. You can check out video from the night here: JAM U Senior Night 2019. From that lineup, Alexandra Olin and Leilani Lopez will be joining us for one more Village Jazz Series performance on May 2nd. We love sharing the stage with these awesome young singers! Join us! 6:00 P.M. FREE

Throughout that week we will be recording our JAM U Bands at La Casita Studio and will compile them to share via a web stream on May 3rd. You can catch that on our JAM University Facebook page from the comfort of your own home, also at 6:00 P.M.

GWYNN has been gigging' around town. Have you seen them?! They are working hard earning their way to Nashville for a recording session this summer. We believe they'll be at the Garden Cafe this coming Sunday (11:00-1:00). If you happen to catch them, please do drop a tip in their bucket. They also have super cute t-shirts they may sell to you if you ask nicely. :)

Last but not least, we are working on our summer concert and the tentative date is set for July 25th & 26th. Definitely more info to come. That's all for now!

I know, we're a little late wishing you all a Happy New Year! But there it is, haha! We ended 2018 with some great performances by our students at the Yuma Landing Restaurant and Bar. We'd love to return for another season. The staff there was great and our families enjoyed the food/atmosphere. We'll see! If you own or know of someone who owns a restaurant/business that would like to host live music once a month, we'd love the connection! There's nothing like consistent performances to build our young musician's confidence in their craft.

For 2019, we started out in January with Jazz Nights at Julieanna's with guests Nina Hook & Maddie Waters. They did a fabulous job and the Patio was full and receptive all night long. We will return to do one more show there on February 22nd. Also in February, we are back performing for the Village Jazz Series on the 14th. It's become our Valentine's Day date in the past few years and we really enjoy it! This year, we will have high school seniors and our students Alexandra Olin and Leilani Lopez join us for a couple of songs each. They've performed at the series before and have been very well received. If you haven't heard them yet, we know you will love them.

At the end of February, Alexandra and Leilani will be joined by Mallory Lemmon and Taylor Quinn, fellow high school seniors for our very first ever JAM U Senior Night Concert! These girls have been our students for 6+ years each and will be leaving us for college soon. With this concert we will celebrate our journey together with some of their favorite songs. The band for the night will be: Jason Arviso (guitars), Eloisa Arviso (keys/sax), Tab Wilcox (drums), Isabella Olin (bass). Free and open to the public! February 28th @7:00 P.M. at the Yuma Civic Center. Check out our Shows page for a link/map.

We do sincerely hope you all have a wonderful 2019! We continue to be grateful for every year our little music business continues to keep on keeping on. When we started, we hoped to make it past the one year mark, and then the three year mark. Now we are at the ten year mark! Wow! Minds blown. 

Hi there! We are super excited for Gwynn, band made up of talented sisters (and JAM U students) Mia, Kylie and Lila, who will be performing at the first ever Yuma's motorcycle "Show 'N' Shine" this coming weekend, October 26th. Gates open at Desert Sun Stadium at 10:00 A.M. Gwynn will hit the stage around 6:30 P.M. with Tab Wilcox Sr. on bass guitar, Tab Wilcox Jr. on drums and Jason Arviso on guitar. 

We are so excited to have found a home at the Yuma Landing Restaurant & Bar to perform at. The staff and management are so great and all of our kid's fans/family/friends are enjoying the food and the fun atmosphere as they come listen to these young musicians in the making. We'll be there about once a month. Join us! For dates, click on Shows here or at the top of the page. Our next gig will feature most of the usual suspects. We will post the lineup as we get closer to the date, but we can already tell you we are looking forward to featuring one of our seniors graduating these year, Leilani Lopez. You won't wanna miss her set. She is sounding fantastic! September 21st, 7:00 P.M.

See you at the Yuma Landing!

It is important to us to bring our students along to some of our gigs. There is nothing like "real world" experience to help a young artist evolve into who they are going to become. With the Gwynn Sisters, the possibilities are endless. Not only are they talented, sweet, hard working, beautiful girls, they are their own band! They performed with us a Julieanna's a couple of weeks ago. Today, we are streaming their mini concert from our La Casita Studio. They are working on building a strong country music set and we think you'll discover this is a pretty darn good start. You can tune in on Facebook's JAM U Live. The band is completed by fellow JAM U students Tab Wilcox on electric guitar and Isa Patchen on the kit. Being summer, their bass player is out of town. Jason Arviso, director, is filling in.

If you miss the live stream, don't forget you can go check out the video at any time! And, you can catch the Gwynn Sisters in person at the Yuma Landing on August 24th at 7:00 P.M.