Only Joint High School Jazz Concert of the year celebrates CD release March 30 at I.C. West HS
The eight public high school jazz bands in the Cultural Corridor will join forces onstage Monday, March 30 at 6:30 p.m. at West High School in Iowa City, in celebration of the release of a compilation CD featuring the work of all eight bands.
Tickets for the “Corridor Jazz Project” Celebration Concert are available at the eight participating high schools, West Music in Coralville and in Marion and by phone at 319.398.5446. Cost is $10, $5 when purchased from a participating school. Proceeds benefit the jazz bands at the schools.
The Corridor Jazz Project is a jazz education and mentoring program for jazz band students, created by Jazz 88.3 KCCK, the public radio station operated by Kirkwood Community College.
Schools participating are Jefferson, Kennedy, Prairie and Washington High Schools in Cedar Rapids, Linn Mar and Marion High Schools in Marion, Iowa City High and Iowa City West High. Guest artists include Jim Dreier and Brent Sandy from the UI jazz department, Bob Dunn and Jon Schwabe from UNI, Mike Giles from ISU, Dave Camwell from Central College, Mike McMann from North Scott High School and Des Moines Hammond B-3 legend Sam Salamone.
The program matches each school’s top jazz band with a professional jazz player, who will perform as a guest soloist with the band during the concert. The song was professionally recorded earlier this year by Karrleton Recording. CDs will be made available to each school to sell and keep the proceeds. CDs will also be available for sale to the public at the concert, through KCCK, at Barnes & Noble in Cedar Rapids and at Real Records in Iowa City.
“The Corridor Jazz Project was a very successful collaboration with the high schools last year and all of the band directors were very excited about the opportunity to continue this year,” said KCCK General manager Dennis Green. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn from a pro and gives them the only chance they have all year to share the stage with all the other schools in the Corridor.”
The 2008 performance took place on the Hancher stage. With last summer’s flooding, plans for the location of concert changed quickly. Rich and Rob Medd of Iowa City West volunteered use of the West High space and Auditorium. “We are extremely grateful for the support of Chuck Swanson, Rob Cline and all of the Hancher staff and hope that we might be able to return to that venue in the future. In the meantime, we are excited about being able to join so many other organizations in utilizing West High School,” explained Green.
Along with the music, there was also a contest among the high school for a student to design the artwork for the cover of the CD. KCCK received over 100 submissions for the contest and the winning design was submitted by Jordan Condon of Marion High School. The top 12 entries will be on display during the concert.
Tickets for the March 30 concert are available at West Music in Coralville and Cedar Rapids and through KCCK for $10 each. They can also be purchased through the participating schools for $5 each. Proceeds benefit the schools.
Support for the Corridor Jazz Project comes from Rockwell Collins, The Momentum Fund of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, Hancher Auditorium, M.C. Ginsberg Jewelers, the Corridor Business Journal and West Music.
For more information, visit www.kcck.org or call 319-398-5446. Information is also posted on www.culturalcorridor.org.