Fa La La! ‘Tis the (Jazz) Season!
Like Jazz? Like kids? Like kids playing jazz? Well, then this is the time of year for you to pay close attention. That’s because the country’s youth jazz community is in the throes of of its annual jazz concert competition calendar.
Lionel Hampton Jazz Competition was last month. The Reno Jazz Competition was last weekend. The Essentially Ellington Competition — the granddaddy of them all! — is in two weeks in NYC.
And, once again, the country is watching…Seattle.
Sure, the jazz programs of Roosevelt High School and Garfield High School are national perennial favorites. But check out this list of last week’s winners at Reno and you’ll see there are lots lots of schools from the Seattle-area — middle schools, high schools, private schools. We are jazz happy here!
And, please don’t forget to cheer on Roosevelt, Garfield and Mount Si high schools May 7-9 at Ellington. And, win or lose (they both can’t win, afterall!) when they return to Seattle…they’ll be putting on some BIG shows for those of us who didn’t make the trek to NYC.
Here’s a nice write-up from KOMO News about our high schools produce the best jazz bands. Coincidence?
