by Paul de Barros, The Seattle Times

NEW YORK CITY — Roosevelt High School placed first and Garfield got second place at this weekend’s Essentially Ellington high-school competition, widely regarded as the Cadillac of jazz competitions.

Shorewood (from Shoreline) won an honorable mention.

Some had wondered if the Puget Sound area would sweep the contest this year; out of 15 finalists chosen nationally, five were local. No region has ever sent five bands to Ellington before.

Roosevelt won the competition for an unprecedented third time; by winning the competition twice in a row, it matched Garfield’s first-place repeat in 2003-04.

The rivalry between the two schools has played out on this national stage for the past decade — Roosevelt and Garfield also finished 1-2 in 2002 — and this year’s judges said the contest was extremely close.

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