Trio & One is Pella’s hottest new band, coming right out of Pella High and featuring seniors Grayson Parisee on keyboard and trumpet, Jack Stratton on bass,  Jake Schulte on vocals, and junior Issac Piersma on drums. 

The band was first dreamed up by Piersma and Stratton after they had the opportunity to play in a combo at jazz camp. 

“We had a great time participating in combos at jazz camp, and that inspired us to create our own combo group back at Pella High,” said Stratton. 

Piersma and Stratton then contacted fellow jazz band member Parisee, who was in. With that, the “trio” was formed.

As for the “and one,” the boys reached out to Schulte after discovering his Instagram account (@jakecschulte), where he posts a variety of memes as well as singing videos. 

“I knew he enjoyed doing covers  of artists like Frank Sinatra and Micheal Buble on his social media, so Issaac talked to him, and he agreed to show up practice one day. After that, he became a part of the band,” said Stratton.

The band began practicing after school on Wednesdays. During a typical practice, they rehearse their current library and add new tunes. So far, they’ve been working off of jazz standards, which they add to and change to make new tunes. 

“The Wednesday practices are a great time to chill and get creative with our music. We’re all big jazz nerds, and it’s great to get to hang out with other people who care about music,” said Stratton.  “It’s not super structured; we just like to be creative.” 

Trio & One had their first public performance at the Brew on December 7th at 7:00 PM.