By Reina Factor

Grammy-nominated artist Kenny Garrett will be the guest musician at the Second Annual Multi-School Jazz Festival and Benefit Concert Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Upper School. In addition to Harvard-Westlake students, musicians from Crossroads, Brentwood, New Roads and Wildwood Schools are participating.

Garrett, a jazz saxophonist and flotist whose 2006 recording Beyond the Wall received a 2007 Grammy nomination for the Best Jazz Album, will run a combo critique session before the actual concert with the participating student bands.

In these sessions, he will give input on students’ individual playing as well as group concepts. After these sessions, Garrett will perform for the entire audience.

Jay Dockendorf ’07, Ian Sprague ’08, Ian Stanton ’08 and Constantine Savides, a senior at Crossroads, planned the event as a venue for students from various schools to interact with one another, to learn from and hear an accomplished musician perform and to raise money for a charitable cause.

 “Just as football teams compete in games, and Mock Trial or Model UN have conventions, the Harvard-Westlake Jazz program will greatly benefit from an annual convention of our own,” Dockendorf said.

The money raised from ticket sales will be donated to the Inner City Arts Foundation, a program for underprivileged elementary school students that educates them in various arts forms ranging from music to arts and crafts. The students hope that by bringing in a well-known artist they will sell out and raise more money to donate to the Inner City Arts Foundation.

Although it costs more money to host a more renowned artist, they hope the ticket sales will make up for the costs. Tickets cost $20 for students and $30 for adults.

“Our final goal is to make the Harvard-Westlake Jazz Festival an annual event that will be carried on by students from the jazz program for many years to come,” Dockendorf said. “We strongly feel that this would greatly benefit both the students and the school.”