Kentridge Bringing Home Jazz Prizes

KENT - Kentridge High School has reason to be jazzed.

The school's jazz ensemble, under the direction of Paul Harshman, took first in two recent high-school jazz-band competitions: on Saturday in the AAAA Division of the Northwest Invitational Jazz Festival at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore., and the weekend before in the Reno Jazz Festival.

"And in March, we won the Pierce College Jazz Festival in Tacoma," Harshman said. "Our motto is, `Preparation makes for good luck.' "

Tobi Stone, on the tenor saxophone, was named Outstanding Soloist at the Reno festival, beating out soloists with 120 bands.

Stone also was named an Outstanding Soloist at the Gresham festival, as was Kentridge trombonist Jamie Paulson.

The Kentridge jazz band has been dominant among the biggest and best high-school bands in the state for a number of years, along with Roosevelt and Garfield high schools in Seattle. Garfield came in second to Kentridge at the Gresham festival.

Kent-Meridian High School also won in its division at the Reno festival, under director Chuck Stowell.