After a long Saturday at Davenport Central High School, Iowa City West’s Jazz Collective and Jazz Ensemble won their respective categories at the Southeast Iowa Band Association Jazz Festival March 7. The festival is the last regional competition, and it determines which varsity bands receive a bid to the Iowa Jazz Championships.
Jazz Lab, West’s third jazz band, performed at 9:20 a.m. Their set included “Room 806” by Gregory Yasinitsky, “Tropical Update” by Bret Zvacek and “Just Havin’ a Good Time” by Mike Carubia. Third bands play for critique, not competition, so they did not receive any placement.
West’s second band, Jazz Collective, played “Uptown Blues” by Doug Beach, “Firsts” by Mike Conrad and “Sabor de Cuba” by Victor Lopez at 1:25 p.m. To round off an undefeated season, Jazz Collective placed first in the 4A Second Band category, followed by Davenport Central High School and City High School.
“I think that Jazz Collective really made a good effort to push ourselves to a place where we were all working well together and also working very well individually to get our parts correct. I think a lot of our success comes from supporting each other during rehearsals and during performances,” Jazz Collective trombonist Gwen Smith ’26 said.
Jazz Ensemble, West’s varsity jazz band, played at 3:55 p.m. Their performance of “Brand New Year” by Jeremy Levy, “Thanks Hank” by John La Barbera and “El Abrazo” by Alan Baylock won the 4A First Band category.
“That was probably the best we’ve ever played that set. The energy was very high. You know, there was definitely some nerves going in because we’re going up against all these really talented groups, but everyone handled it well and we all played really good,” Jazz Ensemble drummer Derick Doresca ’26 said.
“Our opening chart, “Brand New Year,” ended up being a really fitting piece to begin our set with, because of how representative it is of our band. This year, we have a lot of new players who brought a fresh energy, and it really helped reshape our program in a very positive way this season,” lead saxophone Colin Wehrle ’27 said.
Both the first and second-place bands in that category receive an automatic bid to IJC, so West and runner-up Davenport Central will compete in Iowa State University’s Stephens Auditorium April 7. This is the second year in a row that West has qualified.
“Feeling very happy about getting invited to Jazz Champs and just excited but also ready to grind and make sure that we can continue this improvement,” Doresca said.
Jazz Ensemble will compete at 10:30 a.m. against 14 other 4A bands, including City High, which was selected via a wild-card invitation. Tickets are available on the IJC Website.
“I thought last year was the best we would be … I think this year, as a whole, we’re a lot stronger. Our ensemble is better, our dynamics are better, our shaping, our soloists are better. We’re just building off the stuff we were doing last year,” Doresca said.
Aside from IJC, Jazz Ensemble also has a performance at 8:35 p.m. March 10 at the University of Iowa’s Voxman Building for the Corridor Jazz Project. CJP is a series of recording sessions and concerts that connect local high school jazz bands with professional artists.
West’s guest artist is Chris Navarette, the Kirkwood Community College director of instrumental music, who also played with the band during their recording session. Their recording of “Spectrum” will be released alongside other bands’ recordings after their concert and played intermittently throughout April on KCCK 88.3.
