friday night swing dance
featuring
the edmonds-woodway high school big band
and
whitworth university jazz ensemble
Friday, May 10, 2024 | 6:00 PM - 7:00 Pre-dance instructions
7:00 to 10:00 PM - Dance
Leavenworth festhalle
SWING DANCING
Join us Friday Night at the Festhalle from 6 pm to 10 pm for a rousing evening of swing dancing. The dance will start with lessons and by demonstrations Elaine Buchignani and Stephan Huynh, award winning swing dancers and instructors. Music will be provided by the award winning Edmonds-Woodway High School and talented Whitworth University Jazz Ensemble. This is sure to become the must attend event of the Leavenworth calendar. Don’t miss it!
edmonds-woodway high school big band
The Edmonds-Woodway High School (EWHS) Jazz Program has enjoyed many successes. They are 5-time participants in the Essentially Ellington Contest 2017, 2013, 2010, 2007 and 2003. They have performed at Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Disneyworld and featured annually by Starbucks at the Hot Java Cool Jazz Concert Series.
Led by Mr. Jake Bergevin, EWHS Music Department has been acknowledged a Grammy Signature School for Outstanding Music Department. Mr. Bergevin has been recognized as a quarter finalist in the Grammy Music Educator of the year awards. He's also been acknowledged nationally two times by SBO Magazine as one of 50 Directors that Make a Difference.
Mr. Bergevin has recorded two albums as leader and has been a featured artist with diverse groups such as the Tacoma Symphony, the Spokane Jazz Orchestra, the Spokane Symphony, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, and many many more. He leads his own groups including the Jazz Punishments Big Band, the Javatown Swing Orchestra and the Jake Bergevin Quartet and can also be heard playing with many other notable northwest bands and musicians.
Whitworth univertisyJazz Ensemble
The Whitworth University Jazz Ensemble is an award-winning, nationally recognized collegiate jazz orchestra which is considered one of the most outstanding in the Northwest. It has been recognized for incredible performances at the Chicago-based Elmhurst Jazz Festival both in 2013 and 2017, as well as at several All-Northwest and All-State Conferences over the past three decades. Competing with much larger universities, The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble has placed 1st at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival numerous times, performed at The Leavenworth Jazz Festival 2023, and has recorded twelve studio albums.
Touring annually each year both around the U.S. and internationally, the music ensembles at Whitworth University value student’s cultural experiences and interactions with all people in our globalized world. The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble has experienced a dozen international performance tours to Italy, Brazil, Germany, Australia, Thailand, Cuba, with national tours to Hawaii, New York, New Orleans, and Chicago.
The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble features yearly guest artist performances with renown jazz musicians such as Pat Metheny, Joshua Redman, Arturo Sandoval, Kenny Garrett, Branford Marsalis, Maria Schneider, Ellis Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Steve Turre, Nicholas Payton, Steve Turre, Kenny Barron, Joe Lavano, Chris Potter, and many others. Masterclasses are held regularly with these phenomenal artists, as well as with touring world-class jazz musicians, to create a special occasion for our students to learn about and experience this artform.
The Whitworth music program offers numerous jazz scholarships of significant large amounts, which when combined with the university’s large academic scholarships, provide an opportunity to pay no more than they would at a state university.
In 2022, The Whitworth Jazz Ensemble has recently released its 12th album titled Moon Mist featuring the music of Maria Schneider. It is available from the Whitworth Music Department Office. In Fall 2022, Jared Hall, D.M.A., became the new Director of Jazz Studies and director of the Whitworth Jazz Ensemble. Since Hall’s arrival, the band has performed with vocalist Tierney Sutton, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and trumpeter Brian Lynch, and at the Leavenworth Jazz Festival, in addition to performances at numerous local high schools.