Students show jazz is their forte

o What: The 48th annual Clark College Jazz Festival, featuring high school jazz bands from throughout Washington and Oregon.

o When: Continues 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 29-30, followed by finals competitions and special guest performances starting at 7 p.m. each night.

o Where: Clark College’s Gaiser Hall, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver.

o Admission: $5, free to those 12 and younger and Clark College students.

o Information: 360-992-2188, 360-992-2662 or http://www.clark.edu/special/jazz_festival.

The stakes are high at every performance at the Clark College Jazz Festival. That’s because 60 ensembles composed of talented high school musicians from throughout Washington and Oregon all are vying to be crowned the lone Sweepstakes winner, with just one guaranteed chance to impress.

But the atmosphere at the annual event gets even more intense on the last afternoon, when the biggest schools bring out their best bands to try to earn a shot at the finals.

“I find all three days of the festival extremely exciting,” organizer Richard Inouye said. “But on Saturday afternoon, with the 4A schools, the competition just gets out of hand. It just gets unreal.”

The festival, which started Thursday and continues through Jan. 30 at the college’s Gaiser Hall, typically attracts a standing-room only crowd for the closing of the competition and the finals performances, starting at 7 p.m. both Jan. 29 and Jan. 30.

The Sweepstakes Band and the Super Band, composed of the top 18 individual players of the festival, are announced about 9:30 p.m. Jan. 30, followed by an encore performance by the Sweepstakes winner.

Roosevelt High School’s second squad won the 2008 award, with the first team coming back and claiming it again for the Seattle-area school in 2009. Those ensembles will be back and favored to do well, continuing under the direction of Scott Brown.

The winner of the festival receives the legacy trophy, a big cup with a trumpet on top that’s passed around from school to school. It also gets invited back the following year for a showcase performance, just before the announcement of the new champion.

In addition, the Clark College Jazz Ensemble will perform at various times during the event, including offering the premiere of “Baked in the Cake,” a contemporary swing piece written specifically for this group by Washington State University Pullman’s coordinator of jazz studies, Greg Yasinitsky. The college’s band also will play a Count Basie-style swing number, “52 Pickup,” as well as a contemporary rock song dubbed “Michelangelo.”

Jazz ensembles typically have a Count Basie-like collection of horns, usually 15, and a rhythm section that includes a piano, bass and drums. The event attracts about 1,200 high school musicians each year and about 3,000 supporters, including family, friends and classmates.

A chance to learn

Despite the inherent competitiveness, organizer Inouye said he continues to stress the educational aspects of the festival over the rivalries. That shift in approach refreshed the event in 2009, when it filled all of its performance slots for the first time in several years. This year, Inouye said, he not only stuffed the festival slate but even had to turn away another five schools that wanted to participate.

Inouye meanwhile continued expanding his educational and outreach missions by inviting three local middle school bands — Pleasant Valley, Chief Umtuch and Alki — to participate in a Jan. 28 clinic. He hopes to offer brief, maybe 15-minute, clinics next year in which judges will give direct feedback and individual instruction to each of the high school bands, too, after they perform. Besides technical refinement, there also is a more ethereal element to analyze and adjust.

“Maybe it’s the chemistry among the kids they have in that certain year. Maybe it’s the collection of students that just really play well together,” Inouye said. “What makes this such an exciting competition every year is that so many of the ensembles are so close in abilities. It’s very tight.”

Clark College Jazz Festival 2010 schedule

Jan. 29

A schools

8 a.m. Ridgefield High School.

8:20 p.m. Heritage High School II.

8:40 a.m. Trout Lake High School.

9 a.m. Ridgefield High School.

9:20 a.m. Vancouver School of Arts & Academics.

9:40 a.m. Scappoose High School.

10 a.m. Break.

10:20 a.m. Douglas High School.

10:40 a.m. Columbia High School.

11 a.m. Overlake School.

11:20 a.m. University Prep.

11:40 a.m. Woodland High School

Noon Clark College Jazz Ensemble; announcement of A finalists.

AA schools

1 p.m. Battle Ground High School II.

1:20 p.m. Hockinson High School.

1:40 p.m. Columbia River High School.

2 p.m. Nathan Hale High School.

2:20 p.m. Northwinds Homeschool.

2:40 p.m. Break.

3 p.m. Mountain View High School.

3:20 p.m. Washougal High School.

3:40 p.m. Fife High School.

4 p.m. Mt. Spokane High School.

4:20 p.m. Mead High School.

4:40 p.m. Milwaukie High School.

5 p.m. Announcements of AA finalists.

7 p.m. Finals competition.

9 p.m. Clark College Jazz Ensemble; A and AA awards presentation; Outstanding Musician awards.

Jan. 30

AAA schools

8 a.m. Hudson’s Bay High School.

8:20 a.m. Prairie High School.

8:40 a.m. Aloha High School.

9 a.m. Sheldon High School.

9:20 a.m. Cleveland High School.

9:40 a.m. Mt. Spokane High School.

10 a.m. Break.

10:20 a.m. Hillsboro High School.

10:40 a.m. Mountlake Terrace High School.

11 a.m. Mountain View High School.

11:20 a.m. Roosevelt High School.

11:40 a.m. Mead High School.

Noon Meadowdale High School.

12:20 p.m. Clark College Jazz Ensemble — Richard Inouye; announcement of AAA finalists.

AAAA schools

1 p.m. Evergreen High School.

1:20 p.m. Union High School.

1:40 p.m. Rogers High School.

2 p.m. Clackamas High School.

2:20 p.m. Kelso High School.

2:40 p.m. Puyallup High School.

3 p.m. Break.

3:20 p.m. Skyview High School.

3:40 p.m. Bothell High School.

4 p.m. Lake Stevens High School.

4:20 p.m. Mountlake Terrace High School.

4:40 p.m. Battle Ground High School.

5 p.m. Garfield High School.

5:20 p.m. Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra.

5:40 p.m. Announcement of AAAA finalists.

7 p.m. Finals competition.

9 p.m. Roosevelt High School Jazz Band, 2009 Sweepstakes Band.

9:30 p.m. AAA and AAAA awards presentation; 2010 Sweepstakes Award.