Arts Student of the Week: Katie Liddell

This year Katie Liddell was selected as one of two alto saxophone players to join the Colorado All-State Jazz Band, which will perform on Feb. 1 at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

Niwot High School Band director Wade Hendricks, who selected Liddell as Arts Student of the Week, said, "This is a massive achievement showing Katie's supreme dedication to her instrument and the study of jazz. The fact that she earned first chair means that she is, essentially, the State Champion of Jazz Saxophone in Colorado this year."

The auditions for the Colorado All-State Jazz Band were held in November. Liddell was given two etudes and the song "Summertime," and had to improvise over two blues pieces. "You have to be a member of your high school jazz band," Liddell explained. "And they give you the audition material, and you video-record your audition and send it to them. I don't know how many kids in Colorado play saxophone, but everybody in Colorado competes. Everybody playing alto sax competes for two spots. And I was so surprised, but I got first spot, which is basically first place. I never thought I would have gotten in. I'm so shocked, because it's really hard."

Liddell feels it is very important to listen to other people's music. "A teacher once told me that jazz musicians are the biggest thieves," Liddell said. "Because we take when we solo, which is basically creating a melody spontaneously, except with more freedom over chords. We're allowed to take ideas from other people's solos, and that's what I do."

Liddell's father, Dave Liddell, started teaching her saxophone when she was in fourth grade, attending Eagle Crest Elementary School. "My father inspired me," she said. "I used to go to a lot of his jazz concerts. He would play with the group Harmony House and other jazz groups, and I kept hearing jazz saxophone. And I thought, 'Yes, I want to do this.'"

Later she attended Altona Middle School. Even though Altona had a jazz band, she played sax in the school's concert band instead. Now a junior at Niwot High School, Liddell has embraced jazz, and she is especially proud of a solo she performed last year in the NHS Jazz Band. The solo was during the song "Tank!," the opening theme song to the Japanese anime television series "Cowboy Bebop."

During her first semester, Liddell participated in the NHS band, but in her second semester she transitioned to the school's Jazz Band, comprised of Liddell on saxophone, a trumpet player, a tenor sax player, another alto player, her father on bass, a drummer, and pianist.

"Everybody's very supportive, including Mr. Hendricks," Liddell said. "He has an incredible amount of patience. And I appreciate that."

In July 2024, Liddell participated in the two-day UNC Greeley jazz camp. "You get to stay in the UNC dorms overnight, and you get to play jazz with other musicians," Liddell said. "On day one, when we arrived at the camp, they auditioned us. We didn't really know what to expect. We prepared a few things--we could choose our own song to play, but ultimately, they made us solo on the spot, of course, and then made us sight read music we haven't seen. There were three judges in one room. I was really scared. I played a transcription that I did, and then they made me sight read. Then I soloed, and I got placed in the highest band."

Liddell enjoys listening to many musicians, including Patrick Bartley, Baptiste Herbin, and Cannonball Adderley, and she also enjoys listening to J-Pop, especially the music of Kai Suzuki and the Japanese musical group Paris Match. "I'm just all over the place, because sometimes I want something different at the moment when it comes to listening to music," she said.

In addition to the Niwot High School Advanced Jazz Band, known as the "Niwot All-Stars," Liddell has played with Harmony Music House, the Center for Musical Arts (CMA) and Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts (CCJA).

It isn't just the way music sounds that inspires her. "It's how it makes you feel, and how it looks. Because I can see images when I listen to music," Liddell said. "It makes you feel a certain way. Rhythm is supposed to inherently make people move to the beat, and when there's syncopation, which is what jazz has, you just start vibing."

Liddell has a full course load at NHS, taking AP government, AP pre-calculus, IB English HL and IB chemistry. She has also taught herself college level Japanese. She has traveled to Japan and plans another trip this spring break with the Longmont International Friendship Exchange Band, formed by Longmont High School Band Director David Merrill. "Everybody in the St. Vrain Valley School District has to audition, and then we get selected," Liddell said. Only two alto sax players were selected.

Although Liddell wants to include music in her future, she is planning a career as a lawyer. Currently she is taking a law class taught by practicing lawyers, who model the classes after the first year of law school. "Their classes are very interesting, engaging and fun," Liddell said.