High School students bring the Jazz to NMU

MARQUETTE — High school and middle school students were all that Jazz today. The 19th annual NMU Jazz Festival featured twenty–one big bands, eight combos with a grand total of twenty–nine ensembles.

After performing, the students and band directors were offered advice from musicians from the area. Since the old Jamrich building was torn down, the event moved to a new location on campus.

“We’re in the University Center this year, which thus far has worked out great,” said Professor of music Dr. Mark Flaherty, “the people with Simply Superior have done a great job helping us out. In a lot of ways there are aspects of this place that I think I like even better. I like that it’s all sort of self–contained, we have all the venues in this building and the jam sessions up in the Wildcat Den, so it’s a lot of fun.”

The hard work that the students have put in all year long paid off, and they got to show off their skills in front of a large crowd.

“It really is great to have this day arrive, you see so many young people play this music and you see so many people from the community come out come out and supporting this event,” continued Flaherty.

Tonight’s NMU Jazz band concert featured the top band of the day, aw well as one of the most widely acclaimed violinists in modern music, Regina Carter.