THE walnut creek Jazz band

The band got its start in 2000, when a “jazz ensemble” music class was offered by the Walnut Creek Civic Arts program under the direction of Mike Rose. The early Walnut Creek Civic Arts Jazz Band was a mix of beginning musicians from middle school, and more advanced musicians from high school and college, as well as experienced adult musicians.  The mix of different ages and experience levels is part of the DNA of the band, and continues to this day. 

During its first year, the Walnut Creek Civic Arts Jazz Band rehearsed in a small classroom in the Civic Park location and performed its first concerts in the gazebo in Civic Park. In 2001, the band’s rehearsals and performances were relocated to the Shadelands Arts Center location, where it remained for the next twenty years.   (Check out our historic photos)

Over that twenty-year period, the band went through many changes. The Walnut Creek Civic Arts program was rebranded as the Center for Community Arts (CCA), and the band became known as the Walnut Creek Community Arts Jazz Band. The band flourished under a series of excellent band directors, including Max Pricco, Matt Zebley, and Walter Barr, and performed concerts at many Walnut Creek venues and locations, including the Walnut Festival, the Walnut Creek Art and Wine Festival, Walnut Creek Art on the Main, and the Walnut Creek Library. 

Along with band members’ annual class fees, proceeds from the band’s City of Walnut Creek and Shadelands concerts went back to the Center for Community Arts. In addition, a separate band fund was established from the proceeds from the band’s performances at outside venues, such as V. Sattui Winery, in St. Helena.

In March 2020, the Center for Community Arts suspended all in-person music classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes resumed in September 2021, but about one year later, in August 2022, CCA made the decision to discontinue in-person adult music programs, including the jazz band class.

It was at this moment that lead alto sax player Jeffrey Mark Paull, one of two active founding members of the band, stepped up to save the jazz band. Jeff held meetings with key band members to assess their level of interest in reforming a new jazz band, and he found new band members to fill the vacant chairs. He met with the director of the City of Walnut Creek Arts and Recreation and enlisted his support to gain access to the CCA band chart library and received his commitment to transfer the band fund from the Community Arts Foundation back to the band.  He searched for an affordable rehearsal space and reached out to Walter Barr to return as the band director. 

The newly reformed Walnut Creek Jazz Band began rehearsing on September 15, 2022, at its new rehearsal and performance space in Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church, in Pleasant Hill. Thanks to Jeff’s efforts and those of his fellow bandmates, Peter Thompson, and Julia Schaletzky, the WCJB is now a 501c3 non-profit music education organization. Its first concert performance was a Holiday concert at St. Andrews Church on December 17, 2022.

The Walnut Creek Jazz Band looks forward to thriving in its new home and performing live big-band music for Walnut Creek and its surrounding communities for many years to come.