If there is any concern among jazz enthusiasts that big band swing is in danger of dying out among the younger generations of musicians, the sights and sounds of this year’s 30th Essentially Ellington competition in New York should put that concern to rest. Created in the 1995-1996 season by Wynton Marsalis, director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) big band, Essentially Ellington selects the top high school jazz bands from across the country (from their submitted videos and recordings) to compete and present their musical chops on songs from a list of compositions written or arranged by the festival’s legendary namesake, Duke Ellington.
The annual event takes place at the JALC’s “House of Swing” home on Columbus Circle, which opened in 2004. Housed above The Shops at Columbus Circle mall in the Deutsche Bank Center, the House of Swing is a beautiful, contemporary layout of auditoriums, the elegant jazz club Dizzy’s, a spacious atrium, and photo-op areas complete with large screens for closed-circuit live feeds of the events in progress, and more.
This year, for the big 30th anniversary, Essentially Ellington invited thirty bands to participate, twice as many as usual. Three of the bands were international guests
