Note: Each month, KPLU invites a teen guest DJ to play his or her favorite pieces on the air. The program is part of KPLU's School of Jazz . Rose Reed from Kent-Meridian High School is the Student DJ for the month of June. Rose's hour aired from 8 to 9 p.m. on June 2. To get to know her better, we asked Rose to answer a few questions about jazz: Which instrument do you play and why?

When this Central Washington University combo made the trip from Ellensburg to the 88.5 F-M performance studio, it was a first. For us, anyway. The group is the first Eastern Washington jazz band we’ve hosted, and we hope it’s the first of many to come. Of course, it didn’t hurt their cause when they enlisted their mentor, trumpeter Thomas Marriott, to join the festivities. Check it out—three delightful arrangements from a group of young musicians on their way up. https://youtu.be/Il5CZbkrWQQ

Note: Each month, KPLU invites a teen guest DJ to play his or her favorite pieces on the air. The program is part of KPLU's School of Jazz . Lane Wilkinson from Glacier Peak High School is the Student DJ for the month of May. Lane's hour aired from 8 to 9 p.m. on May 5. To get to know him better we asked Sam to answer a few questions about jazz: Which instrument do you play and why?

Tenor saxophonist Walter Blanding has been a member of the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra (directed by Wynton Marsalis) since 1998. One of the things that got him there was a great jazz education. Walter attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts, followed by more study at the New School of Social Research. And now Walter Blanding is ‘giving back,’ by providing mentorship to many young musicians, including the four members of The Future Jazz Head All-Stars, who are

The Pacific Northwest has played a big part in the evolution of vocal jazz. The first attempt to transcribe Big Band instrumental music for a vocal choir was done in 1967 by Portland’s Hal Malcomb. Malcomb’s group, Genesis, began hosting what is now the oldest vocal jazz festival in the country, The Northwest Vocal Jazz Festival. Carrying on that tradition is the Bellevue High School vocal ensemble, The Bellairs—8 fine young singers, accompanied by piano, bass and drums and mentored by Kirk

KNKX "School of Jazz" hit the road for our second studio session featuring a regional high school jazz band program (our first being the Point Grey Secondary School studio session in June at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival). This time, "Evening Jazz" host Abe Beeson was on stage at the Alberta Abbey in North Portland with the winner of this year’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Competition —the American Music Program’s Pacific Crest Jazz Orchestra , an all-star high school big