Every year the University of Northern Colorado invites over 150 college, high school and middle school jazz bands and vocal groups for the UNC Jazz Festival. This festival allows students to receive clinics from professional musicians that help them improve. It was held April 18-20 this year, and 14 students from the WHS jazz choir performed during the event; they and other students attended for workshops, clinics, masterclasses, performances and concerts led by the nation’s best vocal jazz artists.

Hunter Crow (12) — who has been in jazz choir for two years and jazz band for six — has attended the festival three years in a row. “It was a lot more exciting than in past years …. it was very fun,” Crow said.

The festival has students pick the pieces that they’ll perform ahead of time. Band director Everett Shyrock (staff) explained, “Jazz Fest consisted of us picking out pieces to prepare for the festival, pieces that we think the judges would like and pieces that the kids enjoy playing, then just getting it as prepared as possible.”

Students then showed up to the festival, warmed up, performed their pieces for the judges “and then got a little clinic from judges to give us some ideas on what we could have done better,” Shyrock said.

These judges can greatly help students improve their musical skills. “The clinics were super amazing, specifically our jazz choir …. It’s always good to get advice from people who really know what they’re doing,” Crow said.

Reese Navarro (12) has been singing for three years and has been a part of Windsor’s jazz choir for two. “It was nice to hear the feedback right away so we could know at the very start what we can do next to be better and what we can work on,” Navarro said.

Not only do students get to present their skills and gain feedback, but they also get to view professional jazz musicians perform. Crow said, “My favorite part was the concert Thursday night, the mainline concert. It was a tribute to Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and the three performers were very good, and they brought out members of the UNC lab bands and the vocal groups and it was just really cool.”

The UNC Jazz Festival is known for being an event that broadens students’ experiences and exposes them to professional musicians.

Navarro said, “I always love going to the concerts at night because I think the people there are so incredibly talented and it’s really cool because we get to see them talk in clinics a couple hours before the concert so it’s really interesting to hear what they have to say and to get to know them and then see what they can really do at the concerts.”