On March 29th, Solon’s Jazz Choir, 5th Street Jazz, won the state championship at the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships! The contest was held at Valley High School in West Des Moines. Solon was one of 8 groups selected by audition from around the state to compete. Each group sang for a professional panel of 3 judges who awarded scores for each group and chose 5th Street Jazz as the winners of class 3A.
5th Street Jazz sang “Take Me Away” featuring Maggie Hickman, Jaden Tabor and Kerrigan Lyons, “Where is Love” featuring Lauran Schwake and Jackson Messenger, and “Shining Star” featuring Maggie Hickman, Brady Evers, Kerrigan Lyons, Jaden Tabor, and Elly Holubar. Additional ensemble singers are Ben Duckett, Kayla Young, Connor Shepherd, Daniel Tearse and Milo Wolf. The group performs with a rhythm section featuring Isabella Miller, Shane McAtee and Lauren Roskopf, and a horn line featuring Isabelle Ferin, Hattie Droll, Kira Burkum, Jamison Grimm, and Jack Hosking. The sound engineer for 5th Street Jazz is Nora Fischer.
This marks the 6th consecutive state championship for 5th Street Jazz, and the 11th state championship in the last 15 years!