Welcome to the Mile High Jazz Band Website

 

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Features

 

Home

 

Past Performance Schedule

 

Rehearsal Schedule

 

About the Players

 

About the Alumni Players

 

"Jazz & Beyond: Carson City
Music Festival" (2016 to 2024)

 

Audio Samples

 

The Millennium Bugs

Press Releases

 

Membership form

 

Funding Priorities

 

How to contact us

 

  MileHighJazz.com QR code

 

Mile High Jazz Band


External Links

 

Carson City Symphony

David Bugli website

Carson City Arts & Culture Coalition (FB page)

Sacramento Traditional Jazz
Society (STJS)

 

 

The Mile High Jazz Band Association formed in 2001 as a nonprofit corporation to support the MHJB and its subgroup, the Millennium Bugs (jazz combo), promote live jazz performance in northern Nevada, educate the public about jazz, and enrich the cultural life of the community. Member benefits include mailings, discounts on admissions, and invitations to special events, plus the satisfaction of helping big-band jazz to thrive!

To book the Mile High Jazz Band (big band) or Millennium Bugs (jazz combo), call 775-883-4154.


Mile High Jazz Band Association Updated Mission Statement - Adopted March 4, 2012, by the Board of Trustees:
Our mission is to enrich the cultural life of our community by promoting live jazz performance in and around Carson City; enhancing arts education in collaboration with other organizations and school programs; and supporting our resident big band, the Mile High Jazz Band, and its affiliated combos.


MHJB Assoc. Board and Officers
The MHJBA board, July 2024:

  • Trustees class of 2025: David Bugli, Rita Geil, Ted Xie
  • Trustees class of 2026: Ellie Bugli, Steve Hayes, Adam Cohen
  • Trustees class of 2027: Kelly Dodge, Alex Cassimus, Doug Conner
    (Class of 2027 elected at 6/20/2024 Annual Meeting)

Officers elected at 9/8/2024 Board Meeting:
  • President: David Bugli
  • Vice President: Kelly Dodge
  • Treasurer: Ellie Bugli
  • Secretary: Ellie Bugli

The Mile High Jazz Band Assoc. is a member of the Carson City Downtown Business Assoc.

Logo for CCDBA



Mile High Jazz Band Association Announces
Membership Party and Annual Meeting
Sunday, June 29, 2025

  Watercolor painting of the Foreman-Roberts House Museum by Cyndy Brenneman

The Mile High Jazz Band Association's annual membership meeting and end-of-the-fiscal-year party will be on Sunday, June 29, at 6:00 p.m., at the Carson City Historical Society's Carriage House, behind the Foreman-Roberts House Museum, 1207 N. Carson Street, Carson City.

All interested individuals - including Association members, band musicians, volunteers, and friends - are invited. The meeting will include a brief review the past year, a preview of the coming season, and election of members to the nine-member Board of Trustees. A brief board meeting will follow.

The event includes a pot-luck dinner. Main dish and beverages are provided. Attendees may bring an appetizer, side dish, salad, or dessert to share. Music will be provided by members of the Mile High Jazz Band and some friends.

For reservations and information, call 775-883-4154 or email ehbugli@aol.com.

Illustration: Watercolor painting of the Foreman-Roberts House Museum by Cyndy Brenneman. Mile High Jazz Band Association's membership meeting and potluck will be in the Carriage House adjacent to the Foreman-Roberts House on June 29.



Mile High Jazz Band Presents "July Jazz"
Big Band Jazz on Tuesday, July 8
at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge in Carson City
Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Picture of Jakki Ford in Red

"July Jazz" is an evening of big-band music by the Mile High Jazz Band with singer Jakki Ford on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge, 507 N. Carson Street inside the Carson Nugget. Admission is free, requested donation is $10.

The 17-member band will play old favorites and new swinging, big-band selections, including "A Night in Tunisia," "Swing, Swing, Swing," and "Rock This Town." Jakki Ford will sing "All or Nothing at All," "Hallelujah I Love Him So," and other great tunes with the band.

Mile High Jazz Band performances and educational activities are supported in part by grants from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Carson City, and by memberships and donations. For information about the band performances and activities, including the 2025 Jazz & Beyond Festival, see milehighjazz.com or call 775-883-4154.

Photo: Jakki Ford will sing with Mile High Jazz Band at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge on Tuesday, July 8.



Jazz & Beyond Planners Announce Entertainment for 2025
Updated: June 21, 2025

Photograph of xxx

The planners of the Jazz & Beyond Festival have filled out their list of performers for this year's festival. Besides some of the finest jazz talent the area has to offer, we feature other styles of music and entertainment including country & western, folk, latin music, ragtime, and even cowboy poetry.

Here are the performers for 2025 (in alphabetical order): Alice Jones Jazz, Bella and the Gentleman, Carolyn Dolan Band, Carson Street Ragtime Band, Cherie and John Shipley's "Take This" band, cowboy poets (Larry Martinel & Johanna Foster, Nancy Harris McLelland), Dallas Smith & Susan Mazer, Darrell and the Darrell-Licks, Dom & Friends, Doug Sandall and Dale Poune (the Double D's), The Gardnervillains, Jazz Catz, The Jazzettes USA, Kantu Inka Machu Picchu, Lucky Diamond and the Incontinentals, Mile High Jazz Band's Basie Birthday event, Monique & the BeBop Revival, Niall McGuinness' New World Jazz Project, No Comprende, Reno Jazz Orchestra, Reno Jazz Project, Retro Radio Dolls, RoseBud's Dance Band, Sagebrush Rebels, and Tom Stryker's Impromtu.



Jazz & Beyond Schedule Available as a PDF
Updated June 21, 2025

Thumbnail of J&B Schedule

The Jazz & Beyond Festival Schedule is available for download as a PDF. Click HERE to download it. This version was last updated June 17, 2025.



A Way To Make a Donation to Mile High Jazz Band
Posted: Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Updated: Sept. 27, 2024

QR code for making a donation to Mile High Jazz Band

We have a helpful way for people to make a donation to Mile High Jazz Band Assoc. They can scan a QR code with their smart phone, which will bring them to a webpage that will make it possible for them to donate $10, $20, or any multiple of $10 via Square. We are not charging admission for our events at Gina's, but we are encouraging people to make a donation to the band and the Association.

Tell your friends to try it out. We will have a sign with a QR code at performances.

If you like, click HERE to go directly to the Square webpage for donations.

The Mile High Jazz Band Association formed in 2001 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation to support the MHJB and its subgroups, promote live jazz performance in northern Nevada, educate the public about jazz, and enrich the cultural life of the community. Member benefits include mailings, discounts on admissions, and invitations to special events, plus the satisfaction of helping big-band jazz to thrive!



The monthly-gig tradition which started in 2001 continues! Starting in January 2023, following the pandemic, monthly Mile High Jazz Band gigs on the second Tuesday of each month resumed. Most performances are from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and will be at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge, in the Carson Nugget, at 507 N. Carson St., Carson City, NV. Check this website from time to time for details.

 


General Information

The Mile High Jazz Band, an 18-member "big band" composed of 17 instrumentalists and a vocalist, began performing in 1997. The group features music in the Count Basie-Duke Ellington-Woody Herman tradition, as well as more contemporary styles, selected from a repertoire of over 200 tunes. They play ballads, high-powered jazz tunes, and dance music arranged by Nestico, Niehaus, Taylor, and other great arrangers.

Mile High Jazz Band performs for community events, fundraisers, dances, receptions, private parties, and in concert. They have played benefits for New York Firefighters, Red Cross Disaster Relief, Carson-Tahoe Hospital Foundation, Douglas County Library Foundation, and the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. They have been featured in concerts at the Brewery Arts Center and on the Carson City Symphony's "Holiday Treat" and "Pops Party" concerts. They play monthly at Comma Coffee and collaborate with local poets in quarterly "Jazz and Poetry" events, alternating poetry readings with related musical selections. Mile High Jazz Band has performed in Carson City, Reno, Minden, Fallon, Yerington, Stateline, Incline Village, Virginia City, and Crystal Bay.

In 2002, Mile High Jazz Band won "Best Band" award in Carson City's "Taste of Downtown." In 2003, American Composers Forum selected Mile High Jazz Band and Bella Voce women's choir for a national Continental Harmony project. In 2007, leader David Bugli received the Nevada Governor's Arts Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, and the band played for the awards ceremony. Mile High Jazz Band plays annual benefits with the Carson High Jazz Band to help the high school band attend the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Also, the Mile High Jazz Band Association founded and produces or co-produces the annual, multi-day Jazz & Beyond Music Festival in Carson City each August since 2004.

The Mile High Jazz Band performs around the Carson City area. You can catch us on most second Tuesdays of each month at from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Gina's Good Life Music & Lounge, 507 N. Carson Street inside the Carson Nugget.

Millennium Bugs

The Millennium Bugs, a jazz combo associated with the Mile High Jazz Band, play a great variety of jazz styles. They performed for the Carson City Preservation Coalition/Historical Society, Olympic Torch Relay Ceremony in Carson City, Carson City Music Club, Westview block party, Camel Race Day in Virginia City, Carson Nugget showroom, Carson-Tahoe Hospital Foundation, Carson High Prom, BAC Beer Tasting, weddings, receptions, and parties.

 


 

Mile High Jazz Band Association board meetings are held quarterly. Call 775-883-4154 for details.

 

 

 


Last updated 6/27/2025