(AMES, Iowa) – On Thursday April 5, the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont High School Jazz Band competed at the Iowa Jazz Championships at Iowa State University in Ames. This is the 32nd year in a row that the EBFHS Jazz Band has qualified for this event.

Musco Lighting sponsors the event in cooperation with Iowa Jazz Championships, Inc., Jazz Educators of Iowa, and the Iowa Music Educators Association. The Iowa Jazz Championships are a unique event nationally due to the format and caliber of performances. The annual state championship event invites the top 15 jazz ensembles for each class 1A-4A (60 bands total), bringing together many of Iowa’s finest young jazz musicians to compete in one of the largest one-day festivals in the nation. Jazz Bands qualify for the Iowa Jazz Championships through district and independent qualifying festivals. Each jazz ensemble performs a twenty-minute set before a panel of three judges during the morning and afternoon competition.

Two EBF students were honored with Outstanding Soloist Awards for their solo performances: Delanee Van Zante, alto sax; and Cyrus Rogers, tenor sax.

The band also competed at the Simpson Jazz Festival and the State Jazz Contest in Pella earlier in the season. The band is directed by Joe Overton.

-News and photo submitted by Joe Overton.