HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A reunion of HCC Jazz Alumni will highlight the annual Hutchinson Community College Winter Jazz Festival.
For the 40th Anniversary of the Jazz Festival, the event has been renamed the Bryce Luty Jazz Festival, and will honor the achievements and legacy of former HCC Jazz Director Bryce Luty, who taught at HCC from 1975-1998.
“After 39 years under the title HCC Winter Jazz Clinic, we are giving this jazz festival that features area high school and middle school jazz bands the title that seemed inevitable, “The Bryce Luty Jazz Festival,” Nick Schroeder, Director of Jazz Studies at HCC, said. “We honor the founder of jazz activities at HCC, Bryce Luty. Bryce has had a tremendous impact at HCC and throughout the area, mentoring, recruiting and performing with local high school programs to establish jazz as a force in Kansas.” Luty passed away back on Dec. 29.
The Instrumental Jazz Music program at Hutchinson Community College will host its annual High School Jazz Festival on Jan. 29-30. The Festival will be held at the Stringer Fine Arts Center on the HCC Campus, starting at 8 a.m.
The event will bring together students from middle and high school jazz band programs on the campus for two days of workshops, practice and clinics. More than 500 students representing area schools are expected to attend the event from around the state of Kansas.
This year, in honor of Luty, former HCC musicians are returning to campus to perform as part of The Bryce Luty All-Star Alumni Big Band. In addition, Glennda Hill, a noted vocalist and jazz performer, will return to her hometown to honor Luty and perform with the jazz groups.
“This is a concert event not to be missed,” Schroeder continued. “The All-Star Band will play some of Bryce’s favorite big band charts and will feature numerous world-class musicians that are all a product of HCC and Bryce’s masterful guidance as a jazz educator. With Glennda coming in to perform with them, this is a concert that jazz aficionados must attend.”
Hill will be the featured performer at the Bryce Luty Jazz Festival Featured Concert on Thursday, Jan. 29. The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Stringer Fine Arts Center on the HCC campus. In addition to Hill and the All-Star band, the HCC Jazz Lab Band and Concert Jazz Band will also perform.
Tickets are just $8 and can be reserved by calling 620-665-3503. Reservations for area bands to attend the clinic are still being accepted. For information on how to enroll a school band in the clinic, contact Nick Schroeder at schroedern@hutchcc.edu or by phone at 620-665-3442 or 665-3503.