YOU CAN ARGUE with me if you wish, but I will state without equivocation that, throughout history, the most oxymoronic nickname in professional sports has been that of the Utah Jazz.

Until now, that is.

All of a sudden, the notion of linking improvisational, polyrhythmic, free-flowing jazz with a buttoned-down, tragically un-hip state like Utah -- I am not making this up; the official state snack food is Jell-O -- is not as incongruous as it used to be.

For that, we can thank Caleb Chapman.

Caleb is a 34-year-old Pinkerton Academy alumnus. Eight years ago -- even as he was completing his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University -- he took out a loan for $6,000 and set about pursuing his dream.

That dream is called "The Music School."

Since it opened its doors in 1999, enrollment at The Music School (located in American Fork, Utah) has grown to more than 1,200 students, but 21 students in particular caught my ear.

Those 21 students comprise the musical troupe known as the Crescent Super Band, which was just named the best high school-aged jazz band in the world. That honor came from no less an authority than "Down Beat" magazine, which modestly bills itself as "the monthly 'bible' of jazz, blues, and roots music."

Utah Jazz, indeed.

"And the 'Down Beat' competition was the first they ever entered," said Caleb, whose folks -- Paul and Arvilla Chapman -- still make their home in Derry.

"We're an after-school program, so the kids only get to rehearse together once a week for two hours, and because of that, it's unbelievable what they've accomplished. They're 16, 17 and 18-year-old kids and they're the darlings of the industry right now."

So much so that they have been invited to perform at the 2008 Montreux Jazz Festival, which is generally acknowledged as the most prestigious jazz fest in the world.

That's heady stuff for Caleb and his kids.

And much like a metronome, Caleb knows what makes them tick.

"When I was at Pinkerton," he said, "I was involved in every aspect of the music and band programs. My main instrument was the saxophone, but I also played the clarinet and the flute and I know this may sound strange -- I mean, with teachers like John Harrington and Tom Quigley, I really got the equivalent of a college-level education in music -- but I actually took up the euphonium because I got so bored with the other stuff.

"If I could have, I would have done music all day long," he added. "These kids feel exactly the same way, and I'm still so juvenile, I was able to design a kind of musical playground that I would have wanted as a kid. Now they get to do what I dreamed of doing as a kid, and I do, too."

They do jazz, and then some.

The Music School encompasses every aspect of the art form. In addition to offering instruction on virtually every instrument -- including guitar, strings, woodwinds, brass, drums, percussion and voice -- there is a division devoted to classical ensembles, there is the Crescent Jazz Institute (that spawned the aforementioned Crescent Super Band) and then there is the Rock Academy.

"We probably have 20 different rock bands operating out of the school," Caleb explained, "everything from bluegrass, speed metal and Caribbean steel drums, from funk to reggae to punk. We have a recording studio and a performance venue and there are jam sessions every week, and what the kids get a kick out of is who they get to jam with."

Guest instructors are a vital part of life at The Music School.

"We have 70 faculty members of our own," he said, "but this year, we'll have more than 70 visiting artists -- Grammy winners from just about every style -- and they don't just lecture. The kids get to perform and record with them.

"Rashawn Ross from the Dave Matthews Band was here, and he recorded with the kids. We had Amber Pacific. MXPX is coming in a few weeks. We had John Beasley -- he's Queen Latifah's musical director -- and last summer we had Chris Slade, who's the drummer from AC/DC. He played AC/DC tunes with the kids. How cool is that?"

It's too cool for school, if I may borrow a phrase, and it's precisely what Caleb had in mind when he was trying to bring his dream into focus.

"Originally, I thought I was going to be a public school music teacher," he said, "but after a year or two in school, I decided it was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. All through college, I was playing with a Ska band called "My Man Friday" -- you probably didn't know it, but Provo, Utah is like the Ska capital of the world -- so I got the touring rock-star thing out of my system and then, in my last semester at BYU, I was about to enroll in the MBA program."

Then he went for a drive with his wife, Alison.

"I was doing some teaching at American Forks High School and I had about 50 kids I was tutoring on my own and Alison said, 'It's too bad you couldn't do that and make a living at it.' That's when she said, 'You need to start your own music school.'

"My wife suggested it," he laughed. "Think about that. The two worst words in business are 'music' and 'education' and my wife is telling me to do this. There could not have been a worse idea, so of course, I jumped at it.

"The next day, I found a building," he said. "We were both in college with no money, no house, no savings and no real jobs and we got a signature loan for $6,000. That covered the first and last months rent for the building and when we opened in 1999, we had 100 students."

In two years, they maxed out the building with 400 students, so Caleb secured $3 million in venture capital and two years ago, The Music School had a brand new home and 1,200 kids.

And, as with the Crescent Super Band, they're kids of the highest caliber.

"All of these kids are being heavily recruited by the top music schools in the country -- in fact, we're the only community music school that's an affiliate of the Juilliard -- but when you ask how many are planning to major in music, it's only about half of them.

"Almost all of them have 4.0 grade averages. They range from the captain of the football team to student body president -- well-rounded kids -- and while they may not look at music as a viable career, they see it as a vital part of their lives, and will for the rest of their lives.

"Even if they never perform again, they can become advocates for the benefits of music education and they can become patrons and supporters of the arts and passionate consumers of music, and if we had more of that going on in the world, that wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?"

John Clayton is a columnist and author of several books about New Hampshire. His e-mail address is jclayton@unionleader.com