Aspiring Jazz Musicians to Learn From Area's Seasoned Players

The Northwest Arkansas Jazz All-Stars Youth Orchestra is a traditional jazz big band...with one exception...the musicians are all from area high schools. The band is chosen through audition and the young performers dedicate a dozen Sunday afternoons to rehearsal and receive valuable instruction, often one-on-one work, with some of the best musicians in the region. We get a sampling of the 2017 youth orchestra with student Liam O’Dell, a junior at Bentonville High School, and instructor Ben Harris, a guitarist extraordinaire. They recently came to the Firmin-Garner Performance Studio to play a couple of tunes and talk to us about jazz, the all-star youth orchestra and more