On Friday March 7, both Shawnee Mission West jazz bands will be headed to Pittsburg State University for an all day long jazz festival.

Schools from Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma all came to Pittsburg to participate. Both West jazz groups met at West in the morning and loaded a bus to drive to PSU. Overland Express, West’s top jazz band, received the highest rating to be given.

“It was fun to go down and play jazz with a lot of talented musicians. It was a great time.” Overland Express player Preston Thomas said.

The laid back day consisted of playing in front of judges and listening to other high schools play their prepared music. Later in the evening the Bob Mintzer Big Band performed a two hour long jazz R&B style concert.

“The concert was really cool. It was cool to see Bob Mintzer and the lead alto player was awesome.” said Overland Express player Hayley Maxwell.

West’s jazz bands will play next on Friday, April 11th at West’s annual Jazz on the Bridge event.