Photo: New World School of the Arts, Miami Fl.

Last weekend, the B-side team headed uptown to Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) where the 14th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band festival & competition was in full swing. From a whopping 1,500 high school jazz bands from around the country 15 of the finest were selected to compete. On Friday, students and band directors participated in a variety of programs including a Q&A session with Wynton Marsalis, sectional workshops, and rehearsals with professional musician mentors before they performed in an intense two days of competition. Prior to the announcement of the three top-placing bands, the film festival favorite CHOPS screened.

CHOPS (directed by Bruce Broder and the reason we were at JALC) is a film that follows a school from Florida in a previous competition year and played to an anxious but exuberant crowd in the lobby outside the Frederick P. Rose Theater. From the 15 bands that participated the judges, Wynton Marsalis, David Berger, Reggie Thomas and Gerald Wilson selected the three finalists that went on to play at Avery Fisher Hall with Wynton Marsalis as guest soloist. The three finalists were Garfield High School, Seattle, WA, Roosevelt High School, Seattle WA, and Eau Claire Memorial High School. At the awards, Wynton Marsalis presented prizes and cash awards to each of the 15 finalists – taking 1st place was the exceptional Garfield High School Jazz Band.