Iowa State University’s Stephens Auditorium was filled with divas in more ways than one April 7, and the West High Jazz Ensemble accounted for 24 of them. West took the stage along with 14 other competing bands for the 2026 Iowa Jazz Championships, but the performances reached their finale with the event’s literal leading ladies: the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.
Jazz Ensemble finished their competition season with a win at the regional SEIBA Jazz Festival March 7. This placement earned them an automatic invitation to the Iowa Jazz Championships.
The ensemble was excused from classes to drive to ISU at 7 a.m. and perform at 11 a.m. Afterward, the band headed to Great Plains Sauce & Dough Co. for a quick lunch and watched other bands before the award ceremony. The day’s judges and headlining act was the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, an all-female group of professional jazz musicians based in New York City.
“The DIVA Jazz Orchestra was not only amazing, but also was representation I didn’t know I needed. I don’t feel it all the time, but being a woman in jazz can be rare,” vibraphone player Anna Greenlee ’26 said.
After the DIVA Jazz Orchestra performed, the results of the competition were announced at the award ceremony. Between bated breath and uncontrollable cheering, West was announced as sixth place, and drummer Derick Doresca ’26 and bassist Solomon Shaffer ’26 were awarded two of the four Outstanding Player awards.
“It was really cool. It brought me back to sophomore year, when I won Outstanding Soloist in the second band division. I was happy that it was at Champs to end my jazz career, and it was very cool,” Doresca said. “In January…I feel like I was playing it safe, but it’s grown a lot, gotten more dangerous.”
“I’d say that was pretty shocking when I once I got up there, and as I was coming back, I saw Derick going down, and I was like, ‘Really, Derick, too? That’s kind of crazy.’ But I’m really happy that both of us got one of the four Outstanding Soloist awards,” Shaffer said. “Once the drums were cut, it really gave the bass a chance to shine and be heard.”
After more than three months of the same songs, the ensemble will move on from their competition set to prepare new music for the Friday Night Concert Series May 22. Like the other weekly performances in the Summer of the Art’s concert series, West’s performance will be free to watch in the Ped Mall in downtown Iowa City.
