PBHS Jazz Band earns top performance at festival

The Poplar Bluff High School Studio Jazz Band, under the direction of Stephen Winters, received the outstanding ensemble performance award out of about a dozen area schools during the Carol Moore Memorial Jazz Festival on Friday, March 1, at Mineral Area College in Park Hills.

Additionally, outstanding soloist awards were given out to four music students – a higher percentage than many of the competing schools, Winters reported. Recipients included Jackson McGraw, Isaiah Thomas and Michael Allen Ward Jr. of the Studio Jazz Band, as well as Dustin Ramsey of the PBHS Stage Jazz Band, under the instruction of Anthony Hasek.