Bobby Shew can blow!!!

You couldn't find an open seat at last night's All City High School Jazz Ensemble/Augustana Northlander's Jazz/Augie Jazz Lab concert at Kresge Recital Hall.

Trumpet player-extraordinaire Bobby Shew may have to blame for it. Man, that cat can blow!!! Shew sat in on the entire Northlander's and All City sets, often playing notes in the upper stratosphere of normal trumpet range of that made me think: "what note WAS that?" On top of playing with unbeatable musicality, Mr. Shew imparted great advice to the All City group and Northlander's the evening before during a dress rehearsal clinic.

Each band played great. It's always a pleasure to see the All City group, comprised of students from three of the schools in Sioux Falls, get together to hone their jazz chops.

This is the seventh year of the Society's All City Jazz Ensemble program, based on the concept of bringing students from all Sioux Falls middle schools and high schools together to work on the art of playing jazz with an emphasis on improvisation. Each school year, the high school group has a concert in the fall and the middle school ensemble plays in the spring.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society awarded its Scholarship for Higher Learning to All City Jazz Ensemble member and Roosevelt senior Derek Thoreson, who plans to attend SDSU as a Music Education major next year. Congratulations to Derek!

Thanks to Dr. Paul Schilf, Augustana College, band directors at Roosevelt, Lincoln and Washington High Schools, K&M Music, and Yamaha Corporation for their support of the All City Jazz Ensemble program.