The 59th Annual Mundelein Jazz Invitational will take place on Saturday, March 14, at Mundelein High School. The event is recognized as the longest-running instrumental jazz festival in the Chicago area and will feature performances by 80 ensembles from 46 high schools and middle schools. The first performance begins at 8 a.m., with events continuing across five venues until 6:30 p.m.
Participating student ensembles will each receive a clinic session with a jazz educator after their performance. These workshops are considered an important aspect of the festival experience.
“Receiving a 20-45 minutes session with inspiring jazz professionals is the focus of the Mundelein Invitation,” said Mundelein High School Band Director Andy Sturgeon. “Hopefully all students are able to leave the festival inspired to continue to dig in deeper on their own musicianship.”
This year’s guest artist is the Marcus Carroll Quintet. Marcus Carroll, a trumpet player based in Chicago, will perform with his group at 12:40 p.m. in the MHS Auditorium. The quintet has recently started a project recording live sessions in four notable Chicago jazz clubs and will bring this experience to Mundelein High School alongside young jazz musicians.
A full schedule of performances is available at www.mundeleinband.org. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10 for adults or $5 for seniors and students, with pre-orders available through GoFan.
Mundelein Consolidated High School District 120, which represents Lake County and includes Mundelein High School, serves grades nine through twelve and had an enrollment of 2,069 students during the 2019-2020 school year (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). According to state data, District 120 spent $29,799 per student in 2020, totaling $61,653,428 (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). The district’s teacher workforce consists of 130 educators earning an average salary of $91,610; just over half are women (52.6 percent) and nearly half are men (47.4 percent), with no teachers recording more than ten absences in a school year (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
The student population is made up of approximately 41 percent White students, 45 percent Hispanic students, nearly six percent Asian students, and about two percent Black students (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). In the same period, there were 91 chronically truant students in District 120—representing a rate of 4.4 percent—which is below the statewide average of chronic truancy (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).
