SDSU Brookings Optimist Jazz Festival
Instrumental and vocal jazz ensembles of all levels are cordially invited to participate in the 19th annual SDSU/Brookings Optimist Jazz Festival! The festival will be held on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center.
Tickets are not require to attended performances.
Performances will not be livestreamed.
Schedule is subject to change.
Founders Recital Hall - Vocal Jazz
| Time | School |
|---|---|
| 8 a.m. | Brookings High School Nothin’ But Treble |
| 8:30 a.m. | Madison High School Mad Voices |
| 9 a.m. | Brookings High School Swing Republic |
| 9:30 a.m. | Miller High Schol Vocal Jazz |
| 10 a.m. | Brookings High School Smooth Spectrum |
| 10:30 a.m. | Mount Vernon High School Vocal Jazz |
| 11 a.m. | Tea Area High School Vocal Jazz |
| noon | Nebraska Vocal Jazz Project Concert |
| 1:30 p.m. | Sioux Valley High School Vocal Jazz |
| 2 p.m. | Aberdeen Central High School Vox 25 |
| 2:30 p.m. | Elk Point Jefferson High School Momentum |
| 3:15 p.m. | Aberdeen Central High School Vocal Nation |
Band Room 110 - Class B and Middle Schools
| Time | School |
|---|---|
| 9:30 a.m. | Flandreau High School Jazz Band |
| 10 a.m. | Mickelson Middle School Jazz Band |
| 10:40 a.m. | Miller High School Jazz Band |
| 11:10 a.m. | Bridgewater Emery High School Jazz Band |
| 11:40 a.m. | Mt. Vernon High School Jazz Band |
| 1:30 p.m. | Tea Area Middle School Jazz Band |
| 2 p.m. | Lennox Middle School Jazz Band |
| 2:30 p.m. | Mitchell Middle School Jazz Band |
| 3 p.m. | Elk Point Jefferson Middle School Jazz Band |
| 3:35 p.m. | Elk Point Jefferson High School Jazz Band |
Larson Memorial Concert Hall - Class AA
| Time | School |
|---|---|
| 9 a.m. | Worthington High School Trojan Jazz! |
| 9:30 a.m. | Tea Area High School Jazz Band |
| 10 a.m. | Roosevelt High School Jazz I |
| 10:30 a.m. | O’Gorman High School Jazz I |
| 11 a.m. | Washington High School Jazz I |
| noon | SDSU Jazz I with Guest Artists |
| 1:30 p.m. | Mitchell High School Jazz I |
| 2 p.m. | Brookings High School Jazz I |
| 2:30 p.m. | The Urbandale Jazz Experience |
| 3 p.m. | Rapid City Stevens - Silver Jazz |
| 3:30 p.m. | Lincoln Jazz Ensemble |
| 4 p.m. | Lincoln Jazz Collective |
Fishback Studio Theatre - Class A, AAII, AAIII
| Time | School |
|---|---|
| 9 a.m. | Roosevelt High School Jazz II |
| 9:30 a.m. | Washington High School Jazz II |
| 10 a.m. | Madison High School 9th Street Jazz |
| 10:30 a.m. | Lennox High School |
| 11 a.m. | Pipestone Area High School Jazz Band |
| 11:30 a.m. | Mitchell High School Jazz II |
| 1:30 p.m. | O’Gorman High School Jazz II |
| 2 p.m. | Lincoln Jazz the Third |
| 2:30 p.m. | ֱ Valley High School Jazz Band |
| 3 p.m. | Pierre T.F. Riggs Emerald Jazz |
| 3:30 p.m. | Rapid City Stevens Blue Jazz |
| 4 p.m. | Brookings High School Jazz III |
| 4:30 p.m. | Rapid City Stevens Cadet Jazz |
| 5 p.m. | Brookings High School Jazz II |
Guest Artists
Louisville, Kentucky, native saxophonist and educator Jarrard Harris has been performing and teaching in Chicago since 1998. In addition to his own group, he was also a member of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble and has performed nationally and internationally with Joe Lovano, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis, Louis Bellson, Randy Weston, Nicholas Payton, Victor Goines, Nancy Wilson, Antonio Hart, Claudia Acuna, Bill Holman, Etienne, Charles, Gerald Wilson, Bobby Watson, Muhal Richard Abrahms, The Temptations, Donald Harrison, Steve Wilson, Eric Reed, The Chicago Sinfonietta and many others. He has performed in the pit bands of Black Ensemble Theater of Chicago, Goodman Theater, Court Theater and Auditorium Theater.
He has served on the faculties of Northwestern University, Columbia College and the City Colleges of Chicago, where he taught applied saxophone and improvisation and directed small and large jazz ensembles. He also served as director of jazz studies program at the Chicago Public Schools Advanced Arts Education Program in conjunction with The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. Harris is currently the clinical assistant professor of jazz bands at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is a founding board member of the Jazz Education Network and member of the board of directors for the Jazz Institute of Chicago. He serves as the host of the Jazz Links Jam Session, been a faculty member of the Yamaha Bands of America Jazz Camp and Straight-Ahead Jazz Camp in addition to serving as the director of the Shell Lake Arts Center Saxophone camp. He has also appeared as an adjudicator, clinician and performer at the University of Louisville, Coe College, Loyola University New Orleans, University of Chicago, Simpson College, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, University of Cincinnati, Purdue University, Iowa Jazz Championships, Illinois Music Educators Conference, Indiana Music Educators Conference, Iowa Music Educators Conference and Jazz Education Network National Conference, to name a few.
Harris is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Music in jazz studies, and DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, where he earned a master's in jazz studies.
Four-time Grammy-nominated and globally acclaimed trumpeter and composer Mike Rocha first started playing the trumpet at age 9. While in junior high and high school, Rocha performed with both the California All-State Honor Band and All-State Jazz Band, won concerto competitions, lead “The Barkin' Dawgs” dixieland band, toured Brazil with the Sacramento Youth Symphony as its principal trumpeter, and toured Japan with the Monterey Next-Gen Band as its lead trumpeter.
Rocha graduated magna cum laude with a degree in trumpet performance from the Berklee College of Music in 2007 and subsequently landed the jazz trumpet seat on the Glenn Miller Orchestra international tour. The tour lasted all of 2008 across 48 states, Canada and Japan. After touring, Rocha enjoyed a brief teaching stint at Delta College alongside director Brian Kendrick and pianist Aaron Garner.
One year later, Rocha relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his master's in trumpet performance and composition from the California Institute of the Arts, graduating in 2012. Notable mentors with whom Rocha studied are Larry Koonse, Darek Oles, John Fumo, Ed Carrol, Joe LaBarbara and Paul Novros.
After completing his master's degree, Rocha went on to enjoy a robust recording and performance career in Los Angeles. Rocha has performed on the movie and TV soundtracks of "The Color Purple" (2024), "Family Guy" (2021), "The Simpsons" (2021), "Legends of Tomorrow" (2020), "Ford v. Ferrari" (2019) and more. Among the notable that Rocha has played with are Christina Aguilera, Bob Dylan, Gwen Stefani, Meghan Trainor, Panic at the Disco, Lorde, Gordon Goodwin's Big (and little!) Phat Band, where he still holds the jazz soloist seat; Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Nai Palm, Jeff Bernat, Postmodern Jukebox, the John Daversa Big Band, the Alan Chan Big Band and the Vardan Ovsepian Chamber Ensemble. Rocha has also performed at Coachella and the Governors Ball in New York.
While doing all of that, Rocha taught trumpet and gave lectures at Occidental College, Mt. San Jacinto Community College, El Camino Community College and MiraCosta Community College, as well as serving as acting brass coach at Harvard-Westlake High School. In addition, Rocha co-led the Lappit-Rocha septet, performing his original jazz compositions all over Los Angeles and culminating with the recording of their debut album, “First Take.”
