from The Seattle Times:
Two Seattle-area high-school jazz bands have made it to finals of the Essentially Ellington competition.
Roosevelt High School, in Seattle, and Mountlake Terrace High School will both compete against 13 other bands May 12-14 at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, which sponsors the competition. Garfield High School, which has won the national contest four times (more than any other group), did not make the finals. It is the only time other than 2001 when Garfield didn’t make the cut.
Roosevelt High School has won the competition three times and, except for 2003, has made the finals every year since the 16-year-old event began accepting contestants west of the Mississippi in 1999. Mountlake Terrace has made the finals five times and it came in third in 2005.
Seattle-area bands have dominated the competition over the years, winning first place seven times.