Mount Pleasant Middle and High School jazz bands and show choirs won their share of awards Saturday. At the District Jazz Festival hosted by Clear Creek-Amana, the high school’s Jazz 2 directed by Laura Westfall placed third in their category and Jazz 1 directed by Jim DePriest placed second, with guitarist Drake Landau named best soloist in 3A. That second place finish by Jazz 1 automatically qualifies them to participate in the Iowa Jazz Championships April 5 in Ames.
The Middle School show choir Chain Reaction, directed by Colin DePriest, placed second in the middle school division at the Fort Madison Invitational. Southeast Polk Middle School placed first, followed by Mount Pleasant, Central Lee, Keokuk and Evans Junior High of Ottumwa.
Mount Pleasant High School’s InMotion, directed by Marlene DePriest, placed first in 3A and received a caption award for Best Costumes during the daytime round. They then qualified for the finals, placing as Third Runner Up. Southeast Polk took the top spot, followed by Hannibal, Southeast Polk prep group, Mount Pleasant, Davenport West and West Branch.
In class 2A Central Lee placed second and in 1A Danville placed first.
Winfield-Mount Union High School’s jazz band did well at the District Jazz Festival, placing third in 1A. The Winfield-Mount Union High School jazz band found out Sunday evening that they have been invited as a wild card entry to the Iowa Jazz Championships April 5 in Ames, competing in class 1A. They will join Mount Pleasant High School’s Jazz 1, in class 3A, as the only two bands from our area that qualified for the state contest. Mount Pleasant automatically qualified Saturday by placing second in 3A at the District Jazz Festival at Clear Creek-Amana High School.