The concert started like every other: Some kid with a saxophone honked a barely recognizable version of Mary Had a Little Lamb. A girl tried to blow Old MacDonald on her trumpet. The kids booed each other. The band director shook his head. Then he sprung up, arms raised. Bugle Call Rag filled the ballroom.- Just like it always does.

For more than two decades, Sonny LaRosa has been starting every show of America's Youngest Jazz Band that way. He has conducted more than 500 child musicians, none of them older than 12. That night, at the 2002 March of Jazz at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater, Sonny did everything the same way.

Only everything was different. - Click here for the full story

Sonny LaRosa leads members of America’s Youngest Jazz Band during a rehearsal in Clearwater. [Times photo (2000): Scott Keeler] See Sonny and the band on Fox 13 News More about Sonny's band... Demo (Video) Upcoming concerts Eric Darius Past Performances Email Sonny Texas Jazz Festival Tour Interview with Nat Hentoff

Nat Hentoff's review of the Band in Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Jazz Times Nat Hentoff devotes a whole chapter of his book "American Music Is" to Sonny and the Band