About Garfield Jazz

Garfield High School Jazz is one of the truly outstanding high school jazz programs anywhere in the world.

– Earshot Jazz

Garfield High School is a public high school in Seattle and attracts students from a variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Garfield’s jazz culture has been built over 40 years and remains strong to this day. Garfield Jazz has over 80 students enrolled in the program in three levels of ensembles. Students learn the great jazz traditions including Duke Ellington Count Basie, as well as a variety of other jazz styles.

  • Photo of Jared Sessink

    Jared Sessink

    DIRECTOR OF JAZZ ENSEMBLE 1

    Jared Sessink has been the Director of Bands and Jazz at Garfield High School since 2019. He teaches concert/athletic bands, drumline, and jazz.

    Mr. Sessink studied music at Central Michigan University and graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Music Education, with a focus in trumpet performance.

    In 2015, as the Band Director in Granite Falls, WA, he was selected to represent Washington in the ’50 Directors Who Make a Difference’ yearly report published by School Band and Orchestra magazine.

    Mr. Sessink taught at Washington Middle School in Seattle from 2016-2019, where his ensembles received national recognition, including 2nd place at the 2019 Reno Jazz Festival.

    An active musician in the Seattle area, he performs regularly as a trumpet soloist with the Eastside Modern Jazz Orchestra. He is a member of Washington Music Educators’ Association and the National Association for Music Education.

  • Photo of Mike Sundt

    Mike Sundt

    DIRECTOR OF JAZZ ENSEMBLE 2

    Mike Sundt joins Garfield this year as the Interim Director of Orchestras. He has been teaching in Seattle public schools since 2019.

    Mr. Sundt studied music at Central Michigan University and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Music Education, with a focus in double bass performance. He also has two Masters degrees in Learning & Technology and Curriculum & Instruction.

    In Mr. Sundt's time teaching at Washington Middle School, his jazz ensembles received many local and national awards, including a 2023 award from Downbeat Magazine for "Outstanding Middle School Jazz Ensemble" among bands across the nation. In 2018, he was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Museum’s “Educator of the Year” award. In 2023, he was the first recipient of the Andy Robertson Memorial Director's Award at the Bellevue High School Jazz Festival.

    As a bassist, Mr. Sundt has performed around the region with a variety of ensembles, including the Pacific Cascade Big Band and the Eastside Modern Jazz Orchestra. He is a member of Washington Music Educators’ Association and the National Association for Music Education.