7:30 p.m. March 30

The Rowan-Salisbury High School All-County Jazz Ensemble will perform in concert Saturday evening, March 30 at Salisbury High School Auditorium. The program, beginning at 7:30 p.m., will be shared with the Rowan Big Band All-Stars. Admission is free.

Students performing with the All County Jazz Ensemble include North Rowan High School students Rhiannon Standard, Spencer Gettys, Uriel Guzman, Raymundo Montez, and Jared Hensley; East Rowan High School students Amber Norris, James Reddington, Ethan Collum, and Samuel Otten; West Rowan High School students Dylan Lord, Johne Goodnight, Brandon Richmond, Kurt Aldridge, and Jude Smeltzer; and Carson High School students Toni Quellhorst and Ryan Crow.

Special guests performing with the Rowan Big Band include vocalists Bill Bucher, Nikki Jones Bailey, and Alexis Cowan.

The high school ensemble is the first of its kind for Rowan-Salisbury band students. For many years local band students have participated in all-county concert band clinics and concerts but a clinic devoted to jazz music is a new idea. The event was planned by RSS high school band directors working with Dr. Ron Turbyfill who wrote a grant to supply the funding.

Jazz educator Wally West of Greensboro is the clinician for the two-day rehearsal and will lead the high school students in concert. West is an adjunct instructor of Jazz Studies at Gardner Webb University and performs with the Wally West Little Big Band and the Piedmont Triad Jazz Orchestra.