Local man's band still in hunt to be 'Next Great American Band'

Back in 2000, students at Buffalo Grove High School knew that senior Jeff Pardo of Arlington Heights was going places with his music.

Turns out, they were right.

Pardo returns at 7 p.m. tonight on Fox in the hit reality show, "The Next Great American Band." He plays in the rhythm section of the 12-piece band, Denver and the Mile High Orchestra, which has emerged as one of the top five bands.

Just to start out as one of the original 12 bands that debuted on the show in mid-October, the group had to survive a cut that was whittled down from 14,000 demos submitted primarily through MySpace.

In this modern-styled big band, Pardo plays piano and keyboards, much like he did in his high school garage band, only now, the stakes are higher.

The show is produced by the same team that developed "American Idol" for Fox, and it follows the same format of having the fate of the bands in the hands of the show's viewers, who vote on their favorite ones.

Denver and the Mile High Orchestra is led by lead singer Denver Bierman. He and most of the rest of the members -- including Pardo -- attended Belmont University in Nashville, where they met in the music department.

They retain much of the Christian-based focus they absorbed at Belmont, while driving the band with a seven-piece horn section, and influences that range from bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, and Chicago, that seems to resonate with viewers.

"The show seems to really feature our horn section," Pardo says, "but I like to think our rhythm section provides the foundation for what they do."

He and his fellow band members have been living in Los Angeles since October when they began to film the show. While Pardo admits the 70-degree temperatures have been nice, he misses his wife back in Nashville, and his home there.

Still, he and the band members are enjoying their national gig, and the chance to hear from fans all over the country who are watching.

"It's wild and sort of crazy, but we really think we bring something unique to the show," Pardo says. "It's a modern, big band sound that you don't hear very often any more."