Bryce Luty Jazz Festival starts Friday

Lynn Spahr / Staff Writer

The Bryce Luty Jazz Festival happening Friday at Stringer Fine Arts should be a good show. Pulling guest artists from multiple states and taking months of work to put together, the performance could be one to remember.

According to Greg Weis, jazz band director at Hutchinson Community College, the festival “is one of the biggest events that the music department hosts each year.”

The festival is a chance for young musicians from across the state to come together and work with a guest artist.

This year, the guest artist is Greg Gisbert, who Weis called “an amazing trumpet player.”

Weis has also put together something called the Bryce Luty Jazz Fest All-Star Big Band. Two other guest artists, Zach Rich, and Derek Watson will be performing. Some of the music the big band will be playing has been composed or arranged by Weis and Rich.

An event this large takes months to prepare for. Jacob Waters, a Salina sophomore and a trumpet player in the jazz band, said preparations have been going on for months.

“We started rehearsing … back in November and have been working non-stop since then,” Waters said.

These months of practice have allowed the jazz band to put together some difficult pieces. According to Weis, he intentionally chose difficult pieces because he wanted to challenge students.

Weis is proud of his students’ preparation.

“They’ve done an excellent job rising to the occasion and I hope that shows in their performance on Friday night,” Weis said.

The performance is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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