Only high school jazz band in Indiana invited to compete at national level
Returning to an in-person format for the first time since 2019, Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) announced that Noblesville High School is among 15 finalists who will compete in the 27th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival, the hallmark program for the largest jazz education network in the world.
Grounded in the nonprofit JALC’s 34-year history of educational excellence in jazz, Essentially Ellington has fostered the talent and appreciation for jazz music in over 1 million young musicians – with alumni including the likes of GRAMMY-nominated bassist Carlos Henriquez, rising star trumpeter Summer Camargo, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, and acclaimed jazz pianist Aaron Diehl – since the program’s founding in 1995.
Noblesville High School will join talented young music students from all walks of life in New York City to compete, network and attend workshops and jam sessions May 5-7.
Following virtual iterations of the festival in 2020 and 2021, a screening process conducted by prominent jazz educators and musicians including Steve Fidyk, Erica von Kleist, Tatum Greenblatt, and Joseph Jefferson has chosen Noblesville High School as one of the top 15 high school-age jazz bands in the country from a competitive pool of 89 schools, inviting them to New York City to learn, collaborate, perform, and compete for top honors alongside fellow musicians.
“I’m proud of the new students, all Essentially Ellington alumni, the band directors, and the level people are playing on. The level and quality of playing is higher every year,” said Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. “It has been an honor every single year to work with the judges and to hear kids play and to participate in their development. I look forward to welcoming this fantastic community back to the House of Swing.”
The three-day festival will immerse students in workshops, jam sessions, rehearsals, and performances at the “House of Swing,” Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center. It will also mark the culmination of the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Program, which has reached nearly 7,000 schools and independent bands in 55 countries. The program provides students with insight into American vernacular music and jazz, teaches about the communal history of jazz in a sociopolitical context, and builds awareness and appreciation of historical and contemporary jazz musicians.
In conjunction with the national festival each year, the Essentially Ellington program includes non-competitive Regional Festivals around the country and provides schools with free transcriptions of original recordings by Duke Ellington and other seminal big band composers and arrangers, teaching materials, and other free resources. It has also served as a major talent incubator, with many alums going on to form a new generation of professional musicians.
As part of the more than 1,000 digital programs made available by Jazz at Lincoln Center since 2020, the Essentially Ellington Festival was held virtually in 2020 and 2021, expanding its reach internationally and connecting high school students to jazz resources and experts online. In 2022, regional festivals will also return as in-person programs in 13 locations, and jazz charts and resources continue to be made available to schools worldwide.
“We are honored to welcome these exceptional schools to Jazz at Lincoln Center for workshops, performances, and competition in the creative and innovative spirit of Duke Ellington,” added Todd Stoll, Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center. “What’s more, this year’s in-person festival will be a testament to how much our Essentially Ellington community has grown, bringing jazz education to even more schools and students across the country through the expansion of our digital initiatives.”
Festival events, including the final concert featuring the top-placing bands and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will be webcast live. Tickets will be on sale to the public in April. For more information, including background, history, and audio recordings of the Essentially Ellington répertoire, visit jazz.org/ee.