Jazz Band Selected For Iowa Jazz Championships

Coming on the heels of the boys basketball team winning the Class 3A State Championship, Mt. Pleasant High School received good news Sunday night when it was announced that the Jazz Band was selected to participate in the Iowa Jazz Championships.

Jazz I, directed by Jim DePriest, has been selected to compete with 14 other bands in Class 3A at the championships in Des Moines on Tuesday, April 10. They are scheduled to perform before the judges at 11:00 AM in the Veteran's Memorial Convention Center, which is part of the Iowa Events Center and across the street from Wells Fargo Arena.

The Iowa Jazz Championships showcases 60 of the state's finest high school jazz ensembles. It is held in Des Moines every April and and features 15 groups from each of the four Iowa High School Music Association classifications. All ensembles perform in the daytime competition, and the top two bands from each classification perform in the evening finals competition. The event was founded by Iowa jazz educators over thirty years ago and continues to be an important event on the Iowa high school music landscape each spring.