Today, Jazz at Lincoln Center announced their top 30 high school jazz bands in the nation, which includes Plano West Senior High School.
Plano West jazz band students will celebrate the honor by competing in the 30th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in New York City in May.
This year’s program will quite literally be bigger than ever. This year, for the first time, 30 bands are being accepted instead of 15. Additionally, competition will go for five days instead of three and bands representing many states and several countries will compete.
“I’ve watched this program expand and evolve over the years and am deeply proud of how Essentially Ellington has changed the landscape of jazz education,” said Todd Stoll, Jazz at Lincoln Center vice president of education. “In a culture always looking ahead to the next best thing, we celebrate the music of Duke Ellington and how it speaks across generations and barriers to bring us together in a way that is both profound and relevant. Congratulations to the directors, parents, and communities that support these students in their efforts to master this music.”
The only other Texas school accepted to the competition is Carroll Senior High School in Southlake.
“In the first years of Essentially Ellington, we at Jazz at Lincoln Center were insisting on the integrity of the playing,” said Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center managing and artistic director. “Since then, so many great musicians have come through the program, and many of them have had a profound impact on the scene. I’ve also been impacted by the students and the interactions I’ve had with them over these 30 years.” He continued, “The fact that hundreds of thousands—perhaps even millions—of young people around the world have played Duke Ellington’s music, and his music has been distributed so widely through this program, is a tremendous source of joy for me. I truly feel that Jazz at Lincoln Center has contributed something of real value to the world. The music of Duke Ellington is certainly the highest level of what has come out of the United States of America.”
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The competition will take place in Lincoln Center from May 7-11. This is the seventh time Plano West has been selected to perform at Essentially Ellington.