Students attend TallCorn Festival

BHS’s Jazz I and II traveled to the University of Northern Iowa on Friday, Feb. 15, for the UNI Tallcorn Jazz Festival.

UNI Tallcorn Jazz Festival has been around since 1955 and is the longest running jazz gathering west of the Mississippi. The festival also gives a learning experience to students and gives each group the opportunity to meet with a clinician for 25 minutes as well as receive audio comments and ballots from each of the judges. There was also a concert the night of Feb. 15, featuring a guest artist with UNI’s Jazz One.

Jazz I and II both attended the festival. Jazz I received a Division I superior ranking, the highest ranking Jazz I has ever received at this specific jazz festival; while Jazz II opted to only receive comments rather than being scored. Jazz I’s set included “Topsy Turvy” by Lennie Niehaus, “Angel Eyes” arranged Horney and “Carnival” by Steve Speigl. Jazz II played “Six by Six,” a swing song by Doug Beach, featuring Tyler Moore on valve trombone, Eric Newton on tenor sax, and Aidan Hamner on trumpet.The group also played “‘Coffee and Castanets’, a Latin song by Les Hooper, and “Slingshot,” a funk / rock song by Jeff Jarvis, with a solo by Cooper Dittmer on alto saxophone.

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