More than 400 people attended the annual WSU Jazz Festival on Wednesday.

The event centered on a gala concert featuring student-based WSU Jazz Big Band, the faculty-based group Jazz Northwest and special guest pianist Brent Edstrom. The Jazz Big Band played a number of pieces composed and arranged by members of Jazz Northwest, including “Run, Ritty, Run” by David Jarvis, who plays drums in the faculty group, and “Park City Express” by Greg Yasinitsky, coordinator of the jazz program and member of Jazz Northwest. The Jazz Big Band also played three of Edstrom’s arrangements in which he was featured.

“The jazz band was great, and Edstrom rocked,” said Kathleen Hollingsworth, WSU vocal jazz director and pianist in Jazz Northwest.

A highlight for Hollingsworth was one of Edstrom’s arrangements, “Down by the Riverside,” she said.

Edstrom was an easy choice for this year’s festival, Yasinitsky said. “He had played with the (Jazz Big Band) before, and a few years ago, he was a guest artist at our spring concert,” he said. “We like to rotate different instruments for our guest artists, and I felt we were due for a pianist. Bringing someone like Brent in really raises the bar for the band.” Edstrom is a WSU alumnus who has worked with Yasinitsky for years, he said. Edstrom is a professor at Whitworth University, where he is the coordinator for the music theory program, he said. The Jazz Festival also has different student groups from the Northwest come and play in front of a panel of judges, who then give the students a clinic, Yasinitsky said. The event is meant to teach students who love jazz music to keep that inspiration going, he said. The festival is educational for students because they get to hear what other professionals think of their music and get a different opinion from their normal conductor, Hollingsworth said.

“The festival is not competitive,” Edstrom said. “There is a spirit of education for students who want to learn, grow and enjoy jazz music,” he said. For students who are interested in playing music in college, it can be a great way for them to hear and see a college jazz band, Yasinitsky said. The students are able to picture themselves playing in a band and get inspired, he said. The event is a great way to keep jazz alive, Hollingsworth said.

“It was really a joy coming back here,” he said. “I loved my time here, and Greg has been a mentor to me all of my adult life. It was great,” Edstrom said.