Bobby Shew & Sun Prairie High School Jazz I ~ 3.11.11 ~ PART 1 of 2

Members of Sun Prairie High School's Jazz Bands were fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with Grammy Award Winning Jazz Artist, Bobby Shew - one of the most in-demand clinical and concert soloists, best known for his fiery bebop trumpet featured with elite jazz and big bands such as Tommy Dorsey, Della Reese, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, and Benny Goodman. His vast career spans decades of music, from his days as a studio musician in Hollywood playing for hit TV shows such as Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Hawaii 5-O, and his work on soundtracks including Grease I & II, Rocky I & II, The Muppet Movie and Taxi. He won the Jazz Album of the year for his arrangement and work with Barbara Streisand on Evergreen, the love song from 'A Star Is Born'. Bobby continues to tour internationally and to produce and record excellent music. He never stops using his remarkable insight, sensitivity and creativity to inspire the next generation of jazz players and teachers ~ AS HE DID HERE!!! ***SUN PRAIRIE HIGH SCHOOL ~ JAZZ I Ensemble*** has been selected as one of the finalists in this year's "Essentially Ellington" HS Jazz competition at Lincoln Center!!! In May 2011, these kids will be heading for New York City to jam with Wynton Marsalis & the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra! There were over 100 entries by high school bands all over the United States and Canada, and Sun Prairie Jazz I was selected as one of the top 15 finalists invited to participate. This is an extraordinary honor for this very talented group of young musicians! We are in the process of organizing several fund-raising events to meet the challenge of sending these kids to New York City ~ such as our upcoming raffle on May 8th, special concerts, and the sale of our newly released CD 'Old School Swing', as well as by accepting donations from generous supporters like you! Sun Prairie Band Boosters and the dedicated members of Jazz I greatly appreciate your contributions to make this exciting, extremely rare opportunity happen. Go to http://www.spbb.org/jazz to learn how you can help support these kids ~ and keep JAZZ alive!