Colfax school wins at Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival

The Colfax High School jazz band competed at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival Feb. 29 for the first time since 1997 and took first place.

The Colfax jazz band was named the B Senior Instrumental Winner after a day of competition.

The students were invited to perform at the Young Artist's winners Concert the evening of Feb. 29. In this concert, the Colfax jazz band competed against four other ensembles to be named the festival's overall High School Instrumental Sweepstakes winner.

The overall winner went to Edmonds-Woodway High School in Edmonds, Wash., who was presented with a rotating trophy for the year and will receive free entry to the 2021 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

Going against 10 other schools in the “B” division, Colfax and its 24 kids in the limited format had not competed there recently because of conflicts with regional round basketball games.

This year, though, the festival made an accommodation so they could play at 8:40 a.m. Saturday, followed by the 20-minute critique, before taking the bus to University High School in Spokane to join the rest of the band for the girls and boys regional basketball games.

The jazz band – with two players filling in for basketball players – played “Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing,” “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Fire and Brimstone.”

The Jazz Fest has been running for 53 years, featuring two days of student competitions, workshops and clinics. More than 3,600 students from 123 elementary, middle and high schools as well as colleges and universities attended the event. Participating students came from all over the region including Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.

Washington State University Jazz Big Band, directed by Gregory Yasinitsky, was named the College Instrumental Ensemble winner. Also WSU students Brandt Fisher, tenor saxophone; Joel Roeber, guitar; Ian Sidley, piano, and Joe Ballestrasse, bass, were named individual solo winners in the college division.