School jazz bands compete for honors at Mead festival

March 23, 2025 Updated Sun., March 23, 2025 at 10:45 p.m.

The Chief Joseph Middle School Jazz Band performs under the direction of Kevin Swisher, right, at the Mead Jazz Festival on Friday in the Mead High School auditorium. (Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)

By Nina Culver For The Spokesman-Review

Mead Jazz Festival results

High School Finals

First place: Chiawana High School

Second place: Ferris High School

Third place: Mt. Spokane High School

Middle School finals

First place: Carmichael Advance Jazz Band

Second place: Mountainside Middle School Jazz 1 (Mead)

Third place: Northwood Middle School Jazz 1 (Mead)

High School Preliminaries:

A/2A Division

First place: Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy

Second Place (tie): Liberty High School and Hanford High School Freshman

3A Division

First Place: Mt. Spokane High School Jazz 1

Second Place: Ridgeline High School Jazz Orchestra

Third place: Shadle Park High School Jazz Band

4A Division

First place: Chiawana High School Jazz 1

Second place: Ferris High School Jazz Orchestra

Third Place: Pasco High School Jazz.

Middle school Preliminaries

First Band Division

First place: Northwood Middle School Jazz 1

Second place: Carmichael Middle School Advanced Jazz Band

Third Place: Mountainside Middle School Jazz 1

Second Band Division

First Place: Carmichael Middle School Jazz Lab Band

Second Place: Northwood Middle School Jazz 2

Third Place: Mountainside Middle School Jazz 2

Hundreds of young musicians flowed into the Mead High School auditorium over the weekend as they competed for best school jazz band honors and picked up tips along the way.

Chiawana High School in Pasco, Washington, took the top spot in the high school category of the Mead Jazz Festival on Saturday, and the Carmichael Advanced Jazz Band from Richland, Washington, won first in the middle school finals on Friday.

The annual event, sponsored this year by Wendy’s, is attended by schools near and far and is run by a small army of volunteers. Many are parents of current or former band students, Lewis said.

“It takes a ton of volunteers,” he said. “It would not be possible without them.”

The Mead Jazz Festival was started at Cheney High School in 1997 by director Terry Lack as Jazz Northwest. It moved to Mead High School in 1998, where it was overseen by Lack until he retired in 2015. The annual festival was then taken over by Mead Band Director Rob Lewis, who renamed it the Mead Jazz Festival.

Planning the festival takes several months, ramping up in October, Lewis said.

“We have such a good template in place, once the registrations go out to the bands, things fill out and take shape,” he said.

Mark Rodewald is one of those volunteers. He began helping out 10 years ago when his oldest was in band during freshman year. Though all three of his children, all of whom were in band, have graduated now, Rodewald keeps coming back.

“I just like to see the kids have the opportunity,” he said. “We know bands are going away. They’re hard to fund. Band was so important for my kids, I just want to make sure it keeps going.”

Local bands look forward to the competition. Lewis and Clark High School junior Asa Miles performed Saturday in his second Mead Jazz Festival. This is his first year playing tenor sax, having previously played the alto sax since the seventh grade.

Miles is a fan of jazz music. “This music is just fun to play,” he said. “I like to learn new things.”

Competitions are a great way to get feedback and improve, Miles said, which he particularly appreciates this year after switching to the tenor sax. “We get to perform and get feedback, which is nice,” he said.

“We all get better from the experience.”