Getting to The Big Easy was about as improvisational and spontaneous for El Camino College students Alejandro “Alex” Gonzales, 20, and Aidan Jennings, 21, as jazz itself.
Along with several other El Camino students, commercial music major Gonzales applied to the Jazz Education Network’s Intercollegiate Community College Honors Jazz Ensemble — a highly competitive, new opportunity selecting top jazz students from all over the U.S. — during the fall 2025 semester.
Gonzales, who plays the tenor saxophone, was selected and announced as an alternate if another chosen student could not attend.
On Jan. 7 — the opening date of the four-day event — Gonzales got a phone call from his jazz professor, David Moyer, about a space on the ensemble opening up.
It was a miracle.
“It was just such a wonderful opportunity to be able to get called from your director,” Gonzales said. “I chose to go because I was, this is a very exciting moment for me.”
The only problem was Gonzales had to find a way to fly out to New Orleans at his own expense that same day.
Gonzales spoke to his parents, Benjamin and Maria Reed, about the opportunity. They were happy for him to be selected and supported him.
“I really felt like I was in some kind of movie,” Gonzales said. “When we landed as it was, I couldn’t believe like where am I, you know?”
The JEN Conference only rotates to The Crescent City as its location every four years, Moyer said.
“When it’s in New Orleans, it’s kind of a big thing for the jazz community,” he said.
Gonzales had to study the sheet music in a few hours during the plane ride.
“It was really challenging music. But I have to thank the program at El Camino for, building those skills for me and to be able to do that as quick as possible,” he said.
After landing, he caught a Lyft to the Hyatt House New Orleans to drop off belongings at his room, paid for by JEN, and then one of the JEN organizers picked him up from the hotel.
The JEN jazz ensemble was already practicing that evening when he arrived that . With only a few hours of sight-reading under his belt, Gonzales joined the band to practice for a performance Saturday.
“The band I was playing with were spectacular musicians,” Gonzales said. “It was great for you to hear them and be able to be, be able to be a part of that.”
Other El Camino students selected as alternates for the JEN ensemble were bassist Max Hughes and baritone saxophonist Jacob Iverson, according to a press release.
While Gonzales had just a few hours to prepare, music major and saxophonist Aidan Jennings, 21, had nearly a month to study the sheet music.
“I got all the charts, and I had a couple weeks to practice them. I really kind of dug into them,” Jennings said.
But he also had an unconventional journey to New Orleans.
When other ECC students were having winter break, Jennings was on tour between Christmas Day and Jan. 3. Then, he flew to The Big Easy shortly after.
Although Jennings had time to practice the JEN jazz ensemble’s selections, he had scheduled a tour along the West Coast from California to Oregon and Washington state with his screamo band, Me+You.
The band’s first show was in October 2022, and Jennings plays with two of his childhood best friends, ECC undeclared major Nicholas Zavala, 21, and David Lestiri, 21.
Jennings’ varied background started with an introduction to jazz by his late grandfather, who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His first music instructor was a private tutor who lived across the street from him, and he began playing jazz while at Redondo Union High School.
“Jazz is about putting yourself through the instrument. It’s not about playing what somebody else has written down,” Jennings said.
His former high school music teacher, Raymundo Viscarra, now works as a part-time music professor at ECC.
Gonzales had a different start.
He was raised on a mix of his mother’s and father’s music, with his father favoring Queen, Depeche Mode, Cindy Lauper, Madonna and Journey; and his mother, Maria, enjoying Michael Jackson, the Latin group Maná and Vicente Fernández —“the Michael Jackson of the Latin community,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales’ father, Benjamin, recommended Gonzales join the marching band at North High School because he was a tuba player in the marching band as a teen and made lifelong friends.
Gonzales entered music during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was in the marching band from 2020 to 2024, where he was introduced to jazz and found his passion for it.
“Alex got so excited about jazz, he was teaching us,” Maria said.
When the lockdowns happened, Gonzales said it was a very sad time for the band because they had to adapt to online learning.
Gonzales regularly practices in a jazz band with other students in a tiny room behind the Marsee Auditorium near Moyer’s office.
Gonzales aspires to further his musical education beyond ECC at the Manhattan School of Music. With his father, he visited music schools on the East Coast, including Julliard, the New School of Music and New York University in October 2025.
The Manhattan School of Music is where Gonzales decided he needs to be, citing its “pretty big history in jazz,” community and atmosphere.
“A lot of notable players have graduated from there,” Gonzales said. “Just everything about it was like this is where I need to be and this is where I need to go.”
Jennings aspires to further his musical education at either California State University, Northridge, or CSU Long Beach, and become a music teacher.
““First off, when you’re a music major, you’re telling yourself a lot. You know what I mean? I’m not an engineer,” Jennings said. “I don’t have a guaranteed paycheck when I graduate, but I do this because I like it.”
He currently tutors five students from his former Redondo Beach schools in connection with the Long Beach Woodwinds music store.
Rusty Higgins, who owns the shop, was the young Jennings’ second tutor and, in turn, recommended him to tutor students to meet demand and who can’t make the drive to Long Beach.
While the JEN Conference offered Gonzales an opportunity to travel to New Orleans for the first time, Jennings had traveled to New Orleans twice before during high school jazz band field trips with Viscarra.
Both Gonzales and Jennings appreciate a variety of musical genres but especially enjoy how improvisation makes jazz special. It is not as rigid or serious as other Western styles of music.
Jennings, who also enjoys learning history, said jazz is unique to the musician, as they will make the song sound different every time.
“And if you look back in human history, what is celebrated the most? The arts,” Jennings said. “The arts are a part of being human.”
