But a dozen musicians are gathered at that hour on this morning, ready to blow a Miles Davis tune. We're not in some smoky nightclub; it's the Phoebus High School band room, a square, high-ceiling room covered with a jumble of echo-dampening panels. Band leader Jim Stanley is leading the school's jazz ensemble through a rendition of Davis' lively, bouncy "Four.
" Jazz isn't a big segment of the music business today. But through school music programs, a new generation still gets exposed to this distinctly American art form. There are jazz groups in the majority of public high schools on the Peninsula, and in many middle schools as well.
Here's a sampling of what a couple of them are up to: At Phoebus High, the jazz program has made its mark; two of Stanley's students at the Hampton school got into the all-star band at last spring's Chantilly Jazz Invitational, a statewide competition for student jazz bands. "The marching band is good" at Phoebus, says Stanley, "but a lot of people think that's all we do." Not all the ensemble members are here for this practice; some have conflicts with other school requirements, which bothers Stanley a bit.
"People say you have to stress academics," he says. "Well, band is academics. It's part of the No Child Left Behind Act.
" They're student musicians, and Stanley stops them frequently to offer coaching. "Bring it down," he says to some horns that are playing too loud. "You guys come up a bit," to others.
He corrects a mis-emphasized beat: "It's ba-da-BOP, not TAH-da-bop." Next the ensemble practices a sweet, mellow rendition of "My Funny Valentine," with a trumpet taking the solo lead. "When someone's playing the melody," Stanley cautions the other players, "you can't drown them out.
You have to get out of the way. You are the support." While their generation might be more attuned to rock or hip-hop, the Phoebus musicians respond to jazz's appeal.
"It flows differently," says Adam Milhollen. "It takes a lot more skill; the tempo changes." In contrast, says Ian Dansey.
"All the popular music today is so musically simple." Some are more familiar with the genre than others. "I grew up around jazz with my father and other relatives," says Emily Morgan, whose bass playing made her one of those two Chantilly all-stars.
"Jazz really clicks with me. It's not really limited, like a lot of concert music. You get a chart with chords, and you go on from there.
You put yourself into the music." Improvisation is a big part of the jazz art, and Stanley works to develop it with his young musicians. "We have everyone do the background chords, and then do solos.
We have them listen to recorded solos to show them how solos develop." There's more jazz around than people realize, Stanley says, since it's used in a lot of movie and television background music. But jazz is about more than instrumentals.
"Look at your accents and dynamics. You've got to swing harder," Gordon Parr admonishes his jazz vocal group at Tabb High School in York County. There are 22 singers, evenly divided between boys and girls, at this recent rehearsal, and Parr is pushing them toward precision.
"It's hard literature," he says. "It's not watered down.
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