Jazz at Lincoln Center
The Carroll jazz band will compete against 17 other high school jazz programs for top honors during the 25th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival in May. It is the largest group in the competition’s history.
Carroll Director of Jazz Bands David Lown says his band submitted recordings to the festival last month after selecting and rehearsing three jazz tunes from Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington library. According to a media release, 106 bands submitted recordings to be considered for the national competition. Carroll was one of 18 selected out of the nation and one of two selected in Texas, with the other being Plano West Senior High School.
"Normally the competition divides the United States into five large regions, and three bands are picked from each region to be one of 15 Essentially Ellington finalists,” David explains. “As part of some unique changes put in place for the 25th anniversary of the competition, bands this year were selected without any regions, so the 18 bands were truly the top 18 groups from around the country.”
The Carroll jazz band will travel to New York in May and will participate in workshops and rehearsals before competing for top honors at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. After the competition, the finalists will perform a concert before the top three bands will be awarded with the night’s highest accolades.
“It definitely gave us even more of a drive to make it into the finals,” David says. “The students are all extremely excited to get to represent the city of Southlake and the state of Texas in May.”
The 25th annual Essentially Ellington Jazz Competition and Festival will take place May 7-9 at the Lincoln Center in New York. To learn more information about the upcoming festival, visit Jazz.org.