(At Brookdale WS last Tuesday – photo courtesy West Seattle Big Band)
This Tuesday (July 14), you can help the West Seattle Big Band celebrate its 30th anniversary by enjoying the band’s free annual Concert in the Park, this year at Grace Church West Seattle. To set the stage, the WSBB provided this look back at how the band – which supports local student music programs – came to be:
The West Seattle Big Band got started in 1996 for a benefit concert at West Seattle High School.
Band founder Jim Edwards, who is also a longtime coordinator of the West Seattle Grand Parade, had spoken aloud to the WS High School Alumni Association about forming an alumni group to march in the parade, similar to the 2nd Time Around marching band in Portland. A couple years later, without consulting Jim, the Alumni Association offered up his alumni band to perform in a Graduates Concert that was being produced by the Admiral Neighborhood Association to kick-start a planned Foundation for the Performing Arts at West Seattle High School.
The only problem was, the band had never formed. “The editor of the Alumni Edition of the school paper chose not to run my article, and instead provided a sign-up sheet at the All-School reunion,” Jim recalled. “Instead of reaching 20,000 people in the area with the article, a handful of people noticed the sign-up sheet at the reunion, and one person signed his name to it.”
So the idea was scrapped. Two years later, much to Jim’s surprise, he found out his “band” was scheduled for a concert 10 weeks away.
Jim had played in big bands since high school, and in 1996 was playing with the Jay Thomas Big Band. So it was natural for him to choose a big band format, given the short notice of the performance: “It took 3 weeks of phone calls to scrounge up the personnel.” The band then had a short 7 weeks to put a program together. “For the icing on the cake, I called my 1978 band director from WSHS, Donn Weaver, and asked him if he wanted to come direct the band.”
So started a partnership of musicians that continues to this day. “That original concert raised $5,000. But a few weeks later, the principal at WSHS laid off the band director and killed the band program for 2 years.” The foundation plans collapsed, and soon afterward, the school went to a four-period day, which greatly hampered two-semester elective programs like band and orchestra.
But the West Seattle Alumni Jazz Band, as it was known, continued on. They started doing business as the West Seattle Big Band. And who knew that in the early stages of the Internet search engine, a band with a name like that would fill the first 10 pages of your inquiry for “Seattle” and “Big Band”?
Donn Weaver stayed on with the program through 2014 as musical director. Jim managed the personnel and bookings. “Donn retired from the band a few years before our COVID break, and sadly succumbed to the virus early on in the andemic,” Jim said. “Our 25th anniversary was a somber event over a Zoom Call.”
Back in June of 1996, after three successful performances, the original members asked if there was any reason they couldn’t keep on playing, Jim asked the question, “What if we make money?” The decision was made to not pay themselves and to set aside the money to support public-school music programs in West Seattle.
He continued, “My first visit to schools was to offer up to $500 if they needed to make a purchase of anything, but I suggested perhaps a joint concert and we can raise even more. I think our first intentional fundraising concert at Chief Sealth raised almost $2,000.”
The annual big band concerts that they do with West Seattle HS and Madison MS now annually raise $20,000 to $30,000 for each school.
The group is a working band, performing corporate events all over the greater Seattle area. But they never forget their West Seattle roots. They are a staple every year at the Fauntleroy Fall Festival, having played the early years of that festival without compensation.
Their annual Concert in the Park started as a Hi-Yu Festival Event. “They had a 10-day festival at the time, but had an open night in the middle of the week without an event. So I suggested a Concert In The Park at Hiawatha,” Jim recounted. In a full-circle moment, the Admiral Neighborhood Association approached Jim about his concert and wanted to expand upon the idea. The ANA Music Series has been going on ever since.
(WSB photo, 2022)
When Hiawatha closed at the start of COVID, no one could see they would still be doing construction in 2026. The big band moved their concert to the High Point Commons Park for a few years. For 2026, they are trying something new.
Grace Church West Seattle has been a huge supporter, providing the band rehearsal space now for over 15 years. Last year they moved their Christmas Concert into their newly renovated sanctuary, which made for a spectacular setting. “We were looking at moving our Concert in The Park to a new location this year too, and while we were brainstorming a location, and looking out the window at what in North Shorewood is colloquially known as Grace Field, we said, ‘why not here’?”
The field has plenty of parking, has been undergoing its own restoration, has lots of space, and has easy access for retirement-home buses. “We hope people will make the trek just a little further out here to North Shorewood to enjoy our concert in a space that will allow us to grow the event into the future,” Jim said.
Jim’s daughter Michelle plays piano in the band. She is also the coordinator of the West Seattle Grand Parade, having taken over the position from Jim a few years ago. Jim continues to serve as coordinator emeritus and is in charge of Safety and Communication on the parade route.
The band also has a couple of parade judges among the ranks, as the parade Judge Coordinator is Jim’s wife Barbara. So the concert has always been tied to the parade schedule. And as happens every few years, this year’s concert also falls on Jim and Barbara’s wedding anniversary.
“I feel like this band has made a difference in the music programs here in West Seattle. When the West Seattle Community Orchestras were still getting started, they found themselves in between a rock and a hard spot with the school district for rehearsal space. The solution was that the West Seattle Big Band paid the tuition for all the student members of the Orchestra that year, satisfying school district requirements on the building use permits.” The West Seattle Big Band has probably paid out $50,000 in cash over the years. And has easily participated in at least a million dollars in fundraising with schools throughout the city. “One program raised over $180,000 for an elementary school in one night,” Jim said. “My conditions for us to perform at their event was that they increase the music teacher they pay from a .5 position to a 1.0 position. Which they agreed to.”
Their most recent performance was for Rosa Facciuto’s 108th Birthday Celebration over at Brookdale on 35th last Tuesday.
The West Seattle Big Band’s 2026 Concert in The Park is 7:00 – 8:30 pm Tuesday, July 14th, at Grace Church West Seattle, located at 10323 28th Ave SW, just south of Roxbury Lanes and the Roxbury Safeway.
