Six of the top ten outstanding soloist acknowledgments at the Essentially Ellington national high school jazz competition in New York City this past weekend are Jazz Port Townsend alumni. Alto saxophonists John Cheadle (Garfield High School) and Logan Strosahl (Roosevelt High School), tenor saxophonist Joel Gombiner (Garfield), pianists Benjamin Hamaji (Garfield) and Scotty Bemis (Roosevelt), and banjo player Reed Ferris (Roosevelt), all won outstanding soloist awards. Congratulations to all our Centrum alumni! (Read Seattle Times jazz critic Paul de Barros’s complete article on the Essentially Ellington competition here.)