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Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, March 13, 2008, Pages 1 & 11
Jazz band qualifies for state
Mount Ayr Community's Jazz Retro-Funk jazz band, shown here at the recent contest at Coe College where the band
took first place, will play in the state jazz championships in Des Moines April 15.
The Retro-Funk Jazz Band (Mount Ayr Jazz I) will compete at the Iowa Jazz Championships at the Des Moines Convention Center on Tuesday,
April 15, at 9 a.m.The Iowa Jazz Championships are a unique event that brings together 60 of Iowa's finest high school jazz ensembles (15 bands from
each of the four IHSMA classes) to Des Moines for a great day of jazz each April. The last time a Mount Ayr Community high school jazz band made it to
the championships was in 2005 when the current seniors were freshman. "This is really great news. All the late starts, rescheduled events and snow-days
have made this a very difficult season," said director Gregg Stofhoff. "There were some weeks when we didn't practice at all. But it all came together
at the Coe College Jazz Summit where the Mount Ayr Community jazz bands placed first and second, ahead of several bands who annually compete at
championships." There were only two schools in the state of Iowa that had two bands that either qualified or were eligible for the Iowa Jazz Championships --
Class 1A Mount Ayr Community and Class 4A Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. Mount Ayr II (Jumpin') made the wild card list, but didn't make the final cut.
Other bands competing at Championships in Class 1A include Lynnville-Sully, Lamoni (directed by MACSH alum Aaron Comer), Manning, Rockwell City-Lytton,
Norther University high school, Winfield-Mount Union, Lisbon, Sidney, Remen St. Mary's. Southern [Page 11] Cal, East Greene, Aurelia, North Mahaska and
Kingsley-Pierson. Members of the Mount Ayr Community Retro-Funk Band include Neely Malcom, Wesley Klejch, Kelsey Geis, Garrett Stofhoff, Adam Sickels,
Tara Adams, Alex Wallace, Jesse Penick, Brandon Werner, James Walkup, Wesley Campbell, Jordan Klejch, Caleb Flowers, Tom Hosfield, Kirk Ford, Matt Jones,
Wendell Ray, Sharon Kinney, Cass Hosfield and Cacey Wilson. Members of the Mount Ayr Community's Jumpin' Band include Katie Kinney, Karl Kerns, Shannon Fox,
Korey Beaman, Jake Glendenning, Megan Roberts, Emily Campbell, Sharon Kinney, Annie Uhlenkamp, Jamie Novak, Melissa Haveman, Ian Abarr, Cass Hosfield, Charmaine
Johnson, Tyler Hinz, Ashley Phelps, Jen Angus and Ariel Dickerson.
Photograph courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2015
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