Essentially Ellington culminating in an evening concert on Monday, May 15, at which each of the three top-placing bands performed two Ellington compositions, one alone and one with Mr. Marsalis as guest trumpet soloist. At the awards ceremony, Mr. Marsalis presented prizes to each of the 15 finalist bands.
All monetary awards go towards improving each school's jazz program.
One of the most important criteria in the judging was 'soulfulness' and swinging, which we always stress because they are fundamental. This whole festival is about the spirit of the music and your development as musicians, which never stops, no matter who wins tonight. Essentially Ellington is the largest of the 450 events that Jazz at Lincoln Center produces each year. This unique music education program has provided original arrangements of Duke Ellington's music to over 50,000 high school musicians nationwide this year alone. Now in its fifth year, the goals of this unique program are to disseminate Duke Ellington compositions to high school jazz bands, encourage the study and performance of Ellington's music, and foster mentoring relationships between students and professional musicians.