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Listen up! Poland jazz band inspires hoops fans
Musicians enhance basketball experience
By Charles grove
POLAND
For more than 20 years, basketball fans at Poland High School games have been serenaded with music across genres by the Poland Jazz Ensemble.
If you’ve never been, this isn’t your typical pep band with a couple trumpets, a trombone and a kid way too small to be playing a tuba.
The Poland Jazz Ensemble features guitars, a bass, drums and a keyboard player in addition to trumpets, saxophones and trombones. The musicians create a festive and unique atmosphere for Bulldog fans.
Nicholas Olesko, band director and a 1997 graduate of Poland, has been in charge of the group for 15 years and has been providing students and fans with hits from pop, rock and swing genres this season.
The current 16-song playlist includes hits from Bruno Mars to Counting Crows, Justin Timberlake, Bob Seger and George Gershwin.
“I’ll let the students vote of which songs are their favorites,” Olesko said. “I have these binders with over 100 songs in them and the first couple of weeks we’ll go through it and just play everything.
“And I’ll let the students pick what they like and I’ll throw in one or two of my favorites. It lets them have some ownership of the music and they get excited about playing it.”
Once voted on, the 16 songs take about three months to learn and the band tries to incorporate other riffs and quirks to keep the games fresh. Last year, the Bulldogs ran out for pregame warm-ups to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes before tip-off gets the students jumping in unison.
“I always hear people telling me, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to hear the jazz band! What’s the jazz band playing this year?’” Olesko said. “So they enjoy coming to the games and it does add something to the atmosphere. We try to do what we can to add some energy to that atmosphere and support the team.”
Once the songs have been mastered, that frees up Olesko to listen from other areas of the fieldhouse and alter amplifications on the sound equipment if needed.
Aside from helping cue a few solos, Olesko has a relatively easy night on game days, able to take in the fruits of his labors in practice.
“They’re a very self-sufficient group,” Olesko said. “Most of my job comes in rehearsal and teaching them how to play. Sometimes I have to help cue soloists since we normally have one or two per song.”
The “signature piece” the band plays according to Olesko is “The Star-Spangled Banner” which has been done in a style since Al Colella, the previous band director, was in charge. A single trumpet begins with others eventually joining in before everyone joins in by the finale.
“That’s been a tradition we’ve had as long as I can remember and we always get a lot of compliments about that,” Olesko said. “We rotate the student who starts the anthem and split it up typically between juniors and seniors and how many games we have.”
This year, vocals have been introduced after a few of the members who have a band of their own outside of school caught Olesko’s ear. He says it’s been a great addition this season.
Fans at the recent Boardman-Poland game were treated to “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
“The keyboard player and the two drummers have a band on their own so they can play guitars and sing,” Olesko said. “I heard them play for a talent show and I was like, ‘Hey, would you like to do that during games?’
“And they thought that’d be great. They’ve got some songs they can do and I think they sound great. We’re lucky to have those guys in jazz band.”
For a man who grew up and Poland and is now a staple in the music department, Olesko is grateful for the opportunities to help make Poland’s gameday experience one of the more unique in the Mahoning Valley.
“We have a very supportive administration which is a big reason we get to do what we do,” Olesko said. “I think they believe music is important and I think that’s reflected in what you hear on Friday nights in the fall and what you hear Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays during basketball season.”