Thousands of students from across the Pacific Northwest came to the University of Idaho to perform and compete during the 2018 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.
Students from middle school, high school and college put on solo performances, played in bands or sang in choirs in the hope of winning their respective competitions. The victors would receive the honor of performing Friday or Saturday night in the Kibbie Dome.
Alex Lardie earned first place in the college instrumental solo category on the tenor saxophone and Rachel Lewis won in the college vocal solo category.
Treasure Valley natives, both students said they knew they wanted to pursue jazz since high school.
“It was really cool. I knew there was one kid coming up from
last year, he’s a BYU student and I knew, I’d heard him play before and I knew he’s pretty killing. It’s really good, and then I got to go up and play with my professor,” said Lardie, a fourth-year UI student studying music education and performance.
Lardie said he started playing in the sixth grade and attended the Great Basin Jazz Camp where he got to work with a variety of performers. He said the camp greatly contributed to his music career.
Lardie said he will become a student-teacher next semester in Boise and then will return for one last Jazz Festival before he graduates.
Rachel Lewis won the award for college vocal solo and is a senior studying music performance with a vocal emphasis.
Lewis said this was her first year participating in the Jazz Festival. She said she performed for fun and to get some feedback on her singing. Lewis said she did not expect to win and was on her way to dinner when she got a text with the news.
Lewis said choir has been part of her life since the seventh grade, when she took it for the first time. When her grandfather died during her time studying abroad, Lewis said she became even more dedicated to her craft.
“Before he had passed away he had told me, ‘Don’t ever give up on it.’ I come from a family of athletes and business people and he basically told me there’s something there,” Lewis said.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6