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joHn white

Originally from Aurora, Colorado, John White is the band director at Columbine Middle School in Montrose, Colorado, in his 13th year in that position.  Prior to this he was the band director at Delta High School, where he won the 2A high school state marching band championship in 2002 and 2003.  He started his teaching career in Kansas City, Kansas where he taught at Wyandotte High School for three years. John has been a high school/middle school band director for 23 years.  Prior to public school teaching, John was a graduate teaching assistant in the jazz studies department at the University of Kansas. During his time there, the KU Jazz Ensemble won a Downbeat Magazine award for the best collegiate jazz band in the United States (1996).  While in the Kansas City area, John played saxophone in a funk/R&B band called ‘The Band That Saved the World’, which released three albums and enjoyed a great following in the area. After moving back to Colorado in 1999, John helped form a quartet called ‘Mike Gwinn and the North Fork Flyers’ in 2003.  John played flute, saxophone, bass and keyboard in that band for 15 years, until the band broke up in 2018. John has had the great honor of playing with many incredible musicians, including Eric Marienthal, Rick Margitza, Kevin Mahogany, and the Temptations. John lives in Montrose, Colorado with his wife Erica and two sons, Jack and Sam.