The saxophone may not be any part of Jake Gunter’s major in college, or even his minor for that matter.

It may not even be a regular part of his day-to-day existence.

But every once in a while, it may just be the release valve he presses when he needs a night away from his studies and an open-mic night somewhere in Denver presents the opportunity to once again produce the sweet sounds of swing and funk.

Gunter has been a strong voice for Fruita Monument High School’s speech team and drama department, its school newspaper and its Knowledge Bowl competition.

The sound of his saxophone reveals his creative voice, given an outlet these past few years by the school’s jazz band.

“My favorite part of playing is doing improvisation,” says Gunter, 17, who is a fan of music by Charlie Parker, Lou Donaldson and Louis Armstrong.

“Doing solos, once you get it down you kind of let go and get really creative with it. It makes it so you can show your mood and express it in really a different way.

“If I was sad or something, I could pick it up and play the blues, and if I’m happy, I can do a quick swing song. I don’t get to do it as much as I like to. Some friends and I might get a little jazz group together this summer.”

Gunter last week won Fruita Monument’s Louis Armstrong award, given by high-school bands across the country to their most outstanding jazz musicians.

As he leaves high school, he’ll leave his band days as well, though he doesn’t plan to put the instrument down for good.

“Hopefully I can find some club and not be too serious about it, but just keep doing it,” he said.

What he is serious about is international business, which he’ll study at the University of Denver.

It’s an arena that should afford him the opportunity to be outspoken — something for which he’s already shown an aptitude as part of the school’s debate team.

“It teaches you to think really quickly on your feet and to be able to respond to things in a positive and confident way,” he said.

“Being in acting and theater helps a lot in getting up in front of people and being able to do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. Being a commentary editor at the paper has taught me a lot in making sure I can get my point across and not be offensive and also helped me with leadership and working with people.”

Gunter has been the eyes and ears of Fruita Monument’s Knowledge Bowl team and was often the first to know when the scores came out in a computer competition and were announced online.

“It’s a really diverse group,” he said.

“Knowledge Bowl isn’t just a bunch of nerds like everyone would expect. We have lots of different people with lots of different ideas and it’s just fun to compete with all my really good friends on all the different teams.”

Gunter, who has already traveled to France and Italy, plans to learn Mandarin Chinese in college and hopes one day to work in U.S.-China trade.

“There’s a lot of good opportunity there,” he said. “It would be a really rewarding experience — getting paid to travel and being able to enjoy a lot of culture.”

For now, Gunter joins the rest of District 51’s seniors, who this week will walk across the stage in commencement ceremonies.

“I know some of us are taking time off to relax before we start school again,” he said. “Some of us are working. The last day of school had a somber feeling, but it was mixed with being a really happy time.

“I’m ready to move on to something else. I’m saying goodbye to a lot of people I probably won’t see again.”

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E-mail Anna Maria Basquez at abasquez@gjds.com.