Middle school singers, jazz band get together

Singers and jazz musicians from Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School are coming together for the first combined Spring Concert in the Artists Theatre.

The joint program includes spirituals, show tunes, film songs, and contemporary hits and spans groundbreaking compositions from Mingus, Kern and Brubeck to Wonder, Hancock and Adele.

The combination of vocal and instrumental groups is the work of choral director Roxanna Ward and Jazz Band director Roger Shew.

“Roger and I have been talking about doing this for a long time,” Ward said in a news release. “Because we traditionally focus on American music in our Spring Choral Concert and jazz is such a quintessential American form, joining forces makes great aesthetic and educational sense.”

“We also share this fantasy of putting together a music festival that pulls all of our performers from both schools together and this combined concert feels like a step in that direction,” she said.

Each group will have a portion of the program but the concert will culminate in a closing number — Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing...” — in which all four ensembles, totaling more than 100 students, will perform together.

The show is 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Artists Theatre, 625 Park Ave. Requested donation for tickets is $5 for students and seniors; $10 adults and $25 maximum per family. All proceeds are used for the purchase of music.

—Alicia Lopez

Twitter: @AlopezCityEd