Douglas Anderson’s jazz program continues to achieve success, earn national recognition

Posted on July 3, 2022 By Editor Junior Residents

Don Zentz, director of jazz studies, accepts his induction into the Jacksonville Jazz Hall of Fame with DA jazz students’ support

Spring 2022 is proving to be a very successful one for the jazz program at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts with success and recognition on the national stage. In May, the school’s SOTA Jazz Ensemble I earned an overall score of 97% and won the National Jazz Festival for high school jazz bands. Its Jazz Combo won the small group category of the festival and trumpeter Giovanni Martinez was named the “Superior Musician” with tenor saxist Ethan King recognized as an “Outstanding Musician”.

In April, DownBeat magazine once again recognized the DA flagship jazz ensemble as one of the top high school jazz bands in the country in its 45th Annual Student Music Awards. This was the sixth consecutive year that DA Jazz Ensemble I either won the category or placed runner-up, uncommon historic consistency, according to DownBeat.

The National Jazz Festival recently presented Don Zentz, the director of jazz studies at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, with its Jazz Educator Award, and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival named him to its Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame began in 1999 with three inductees: Mayor Godbold, Mike Tolbert and Dan Kossoff, who all three had a pivotal role to play in the creation and production of the event.

Don Zentz, director of jazz studies, performs with Douglas Anderson jazz students during this year’s Jacksonville Jazz Festival

“I want to offer my sincere congratulations to Don Zentz, who has the benefit of being both a shaper of the festival and a very talented musician,” Mayor Lenny Curry said. “Don first performed at the festival way back in 1981 when it was in Mayport and was called ‘Mayport and All That Jazz Festival.’ He’s been directing jazz ensembles at the festival for years now and has mentored thousands of kids in Jacksonville in the artform. He has a history that is tied to the festival itself that is also reflective of the jazz history that surrounds the City Of Jacksonville.”

Now in his thirty-eighth year of teaching, Zentz has received a Jazz Education Achievement Award from DownBeat, an Outstanding Teaching Award from UNF and a TIP Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Florida Board of Regents and has been a Keilwerth Saxophones artist performer and clinician since 1995.

Don Zentz has led DA’s jazz program since 2016, when he took over from retiring founding director Ace Martin. Prior to that, Zentz had been the director of fine and performing arts at The Bolles School.