Aspiring young musicians to perform and study with esteemed clinicians including Associate Artistic Director Marcus Roberts, Wycliffe Gordon, John Clayton, James Ketch and Terell Stafford

Savannah, Georgia – Savannah Music Festival (SMF) has selected twelve outstanding high school jazz bands from eight states across the nation to participate in the fourth annual SWING CENTRAL High School Jazz Band Competition & Workshop between March 25 and 27, 2009. This year, the nationally recognized three-day workshop features some of the country’s finest high school jazz bands going head-to-head for $13,000 in cash awards. Mike Philly, Band Director of Tate High School (FL), says, “Our students are looking forward to the awesome line-up of clinicians and the chance to hear some of the other great high school jazz bands.”

“The team of instructors is a ‘Who’s Who’ of jazz greats,” says Battle Ground (WA) High School Band Director Greg McKelvey. Pianist Marcus Roberts, who recently accepted the official role of SMF’s Associate Artistic Director of Jazz Education, leads the SWING CENTRAL faculty. Many of the clinicians are also performing as part of original programs during the festival’s Savannah Jazz Party and Jazz Now & Forever concert series, giving the students opportunities to hear them in action on stage. Each competing band receives a preparatory visit by a SWING CENTRAL clinician in February. The complete faculty is Marcus Roberts, John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Dave Stryker, Wycliffe Gordon, Jason Marsalis, Roland Guerin, Gerald Clayton, Obed Calvaire, Terell Stafford, James Ketch, Jack Wilkins, and Bunky Green.

Participating bands include:

Agoura High School Jazz A, Agoura Hills, CA

Agoura High School Studio A, Agoura Hills, CA

Battle Ground High School, Battle Ground, WA

Dillard Center for the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Edmonds-Woodway High School, Edmonds, WA

Hoover High School, Hoover, AL

Overton High School, Memphis, TN

Lakota East High School, Liberty Township, OH

The Lovett School, Atlanta, GA

Pacific Crest Community School, Portland, OR

Tarpon Springs High School, Tarpon Springs, FL

Tate High School, Cantonment, FL

Held in the ballroom at the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, competition rounds are free to the public. Each band plays three selections: Benny Carter’s “Wiggle Walk,” “To You” by Thad Jones, and the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer classic “Blues in the Night,” a test piece arranged especially for SWING CENTRAL by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra saxophonist Ted Nash. Judges include John Clayton, James Ketch, Wycliffe Gordon, Bunky Green and Jack Wilkins. The three top-scoring bands each receive an honorarium ($5000 for first, $2500 for second and $1000 for third place) and perform the opening set at the SMF production Battle Royale, March 27, 8:30 p.m. at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. Battle Royale recalls the long-standing tradition of jazz “cutting contests.” Two rhythm sections, the Marcus Roberts Trio and the Clayton Brothers, will face-off in spontaneous friendly competition. Various student soloists from the top bands perform, followed by special appearances by their clinicians. All SWING CENTRAL bands also perform for the public at Savannah’s Rousakis Plaza on River Street on March 26-27.

SWING CENTRAL is open to high school jazz bands from across the country. Committed to enhancing studies of the jazz tradition in the South, it fuses an established high quality mentorship program with a youth jazz band competition of national scope. The dates for SWING CENTRAL 2010 are March 31-April 2. SWING CENTRAL is sponsored by Robert & Jean Faircloth, Atlanta Gas Light and Rus & Jan Boekenheide.