Sequim Gazette staff

Good music through the ages knows no age limits.

And so it is with Sequim High School’s annual Jazz Dinner-Dance, combining the talent of local youth musicians with players from the Stardust Big Band.

The event is slated for Saturday, Oct. 9,  at the high school’s cafeteria; doors open at 6 p.m. and music starts at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 per person and $25 per couple. Tickets are available at the Sequim High School office, 601 N. Sequim Ave., and at the door.

Vern Fosket, Sequim High School band director, said it’s an event the band and community enjoy.

“Having Stardust and the dancers and the era of music, it’s a good draw for this community and it is fun — it’s a lot of fun to do,” Fosket said.

Sequim’s jazz band, about 25-members strong, opens up the evening with a trio of moderate to up-tempo songs before Stardust takes to the stage. The bands combine at the end of the evening for a Glenn Miller classic, “In the Mood.”

The Jazz Dinner Dance, sponsored by the Band Boosters, supports Sequim High School’s Band program. More than 100 students perform throughout the year in Sequim and at other venues such as well at the Macy’s Parade, Husky Band Day in Seattle and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, in addition to the Irrigation Festival Parade, plus every other year at Disneyland’s Heritage Festival in Anaheim, Calif.

This year, in lieu of Sequim’s every-other-year visit to Victoria, the Sequim High band is headed east to participate in Spokane’s Lilac Festival torchlight parade in early May. Last school year, Sequim got a performing visit from Colville High School, so Sequim is reciprocating with a visit that same weekend in May.

Sequim’s annual visit to Victoria — one that runs opposite the band’s Anaheim trip — was getting too complicated with passports and insurance issues, Fosket said.

“We may do it again but we’re going to try something new this year,” he said.

Call event chairman Colette Campbell at 797-7742 or for more information.

Husky tradition lives on

Despite fears among state high school band directors that it would simply go away, the University of Washington is continuing Husky Band Day. The event brings high school bands from across Washington to perform at halftime for the UW football crowd.

Sequim was one of dozens of bands to play at the Sept. 21 game versus Idaho State.

The renovation and reconfiguration of Husky Stadium eliminated much of the room between the field/track and the stands, so high school band members — about a thousand in all, half of the number as in previous years — had to sprint onto and off of the field, Fosket said.

“It was still fun; it worked fine with a smaller amount of kids,” he said.