I'd really love to join my school jazz band, but theres one problem... I play violin. Can violins fit into jazz band? I'd love to join but somehow I don't think it will work...

Look up recordings by Stéphane Grappelli : who was a fine jazz violinist. I hope you would be allowed to do some jazz violining, but the ball there is in the conductor of your jazz band's court.

It's funny you say that, as I went to a jazz violin workshop, and we were learning about his style. I really enjoyed it!

Or in a more contemporary style, Billy Bang or Michael Urbaniak. There was a thread about this recently.

Mind you, in a school jazz band you'll probably just end up doubling whatever the saxophones or trumpets play. But why not?

I play in a community jazz group who welcome anyone, regardless of instrument, playing standard etc and we have a violinist who regularly plays with us. One thing it's worth noting is that the violin needs to be miked up to be heard when she's soloing, and the sound is pretty much lost when the brass, saxes etc are playing as well.

I play in another group where we're more discriminating about who plays with us. Everyone is assessed on their own merits, but one of the things we think about is how well that particular instrument would complement those we already have and the style of music we tend to play. I suspect that unless the violinist was a really superb jazz player (in which case they probably wouldn't want to play with us!) the answer would be thanks, but no thanks.

Duke Ellington used a violinist for a time, but I can't remember his name!

Ray Nance.

Just about any instrument can play jazz, if the musician's good enough.

Mind you, in a school jazz band, the violin part might not be very interesting - it'll probably just be a photocopy of the 1st altos or something.

That's the one!

Better not be! Unless you like polytonic music ...

In the majority of Music played by school Jazz Bands, there is no Violin part. If you're lucky, you might get a part written for you. If you're not, you'll get a transposition of a Sax/Trumpet/possibly Guitar part. If you're really unlucky, you won't get a transposition!