The Mid-Prairie Jazz Band will be heading to the University of Northern Iowa this weekend to participate in the Tallcorn Jazz Festival. The festival will run Friday and Saturday, and the Mid-Prairie Jazz Band will be performing at 11:20 a.m. Saturday. Jazz Director David Kunz says Tallcorn is the oldest collegiate jazz festival in the state, and he enjoys taking his bands there. He explains, “That’s always a great event, because there are high schools from all over the state. And we get a clinic with a really highly respected jazz educator up there after we get done performing. So that’s always a valuable tool up there. We learn a lot at Tallcorn.”

He added, they usually have to play in a room with questionable acoustics, so they learn a lot about how to fill non-traditional spaces with their music. After Tallcorn, the Mid-Prairie Jazz Band will participate in the Coe College Jazz Summit on February 24th, and the District Jazz Contest at Iowa City West High School on March 4th. If they place in the top two at the district competition, they will automatically qualify for the Iowa Jazz Championships on April 4th at Iowa State University.