West’s top jazz band, Jazz Ensemble, headed to Iowa State University to compete in the annual Iowa Jazz Championships on April 8. The last time West qualified for IJC was in 2023. This year, they qualified for IJC with a wild card invitation from the IJC board after the SEIBA Jazz Festival on March 28.

The band was excused from all classes for the day. They left West at 6:55 a.m. and got back at 3:15 p.m. 

IJC is a state-level competition between 60 of Iowa’s top high school jazz bands — 15 from each of the four Iowa high school classifications, from 1A to 4A.

The invited bands were determined in previous independent competitions. Each classification’s top two bands, named at each of the six district-wide competitions, received an automatic invitation, while 12 bands qualified with a wild card invitation.

West performed at 10:30 a.m. in the Stephens Auditorium. Their set was the same from previous competitions: “The Song is You” by Jerome Kern and arranged by Mark Taylor, “Young and Foolish” by Albert Hague and arranged by Frank Mantooth and “Chick on the Grill” by Victor Lopez.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Lea Abou Alaiwa

Jazz Ensemble's saxophone section performs their soli during "The Song is You" at IJC.

After a performance from ISU’s Jazz One at 6:15 p.m., they announced awards at 6:45 p.m. They only announced the top eight bands. Since West wasn’t one of them, Jazz Ensemble placed somewhere between ninth and sixteenth.

The judges named three Outstanding Performers in each band. They noted Jazz Ensemble’s pianist Sean Kearney ’26, drummer Oliver Miller ’25 and bassist Solomon Shaffer ’26.

“Performing at Iowa Jazz was an incredible experience and I’m glad I was recognized. It means a lot since bass often goes unnoticed. The band gave a good performance and grabbing pizza afterward was the perfect way to end the day,” Shaffer said.

Jazz Ensemble’s next performance is opening a concert for the Jazz Ambassadors, the top jazz ensemble in the United States Army, on April 18. The concert will be at 7:00 p.m. in the Arganbright Auditorium, and admission will be free. Tickets are available until the end of the week.

On May 23, all three West jazz bands will perform downtown in the Friday Night Concert Series on May 23 from 7:55 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.