Since the March 12-13 Festival was cancelled because of the snow, another concert has been scheduled for May 21st.

The concert will feature “Measure x Measure”, (a group of six young singers from the Lawrence and Kansas City area performing A Cappella Jazz) and Frank Mantooth with the Lisa Henry Quintet.

Lisa Henry

Major sponsors for the jazz festival are the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowments tor Arts, the Great Bend Kiwanis Club and Quality Music. Several businesses and individuals have also contributed to the sponsorship of this worthwhile youth and community activity.

The annual jazz festival was once part of the Great Bend Community Theatre, but it is now incorporated with the name, Great Bend Jazz Festival, Inc. The officers are Kurtis Koch, president; Joe Boley, vice-president; and Bob Feldt, secretary/treasurer. Board members are; Warren Deckert, Ron Mink, J.B. Webster, Lois Jerke, Lori Underwood, David Weller, Mike Compton, Ralph Raffelock, Mike Walts and Philip G. Hardesty.

Previous jazz festivals have featured, the "Crosswinds" with members from Topeka and Lawrence; the “New Vintage Jazz Band” from Wichita; Tom Fowler, and the Wichita State University Jazz Arts 1; Bryce Luty and Friends from Hutchinson Community College; Kurtis Koch, and All That Jazz from Great Bend and Hays; Karrin Allyson Quintet a local personality now living in Kansas City; the University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble and Singers, the Washburn University Jazz Ensemble 1, the internationally known pianist, composer and arranger, Frank Mantooth; the 312 Army Jazz Band; and James Van Buren and The Group from Denver, Colorado. Other performers at the jazz festival have included; the local Jay Bennett big Band, the Great Bend High School Panther Jazz, the Barton County Community College Jazz Band and the Great Bend Middle School Jazz Band.