Diego Loria-Eivins, a freshman at City High School in Iowa City, has been chosen as the winner of the 2021 Corridor Jazz Project CD Cover design. Diego will receive a $100 cash prize from KCCK-FM.
His design will serve as the cover of the “The Corridor Jazz Project XIV”, a compilation of recordings from the top jazz bands from Jefferson, Kennedy, Prairie, Xavier and Washington High Schools in Cedar Rapids, Linn-Mar and Marion in Marion, Liberty, Center Point Urbana, Solon, Mt. Vernon, and Lisbon.
The Corridor Jazz Project is a jazz education and mentoring program for jazz band students in Eastern Iowa. The program matches each high school’s top jazz band with a professional jazz player, who performs as a guest soloist with the band. The subsequent recordings have been collected and will be released on a compilation CD.
The program has been modified for 2021 because of COVID-19. Instead of the students traveling to a recording facility at Orchestra Iowa’s Opus Concert Café, KCCK will bring an audio and video production team to each school to make the recording, with masking and social distancing protocols in place.
“Unfortunately, the Iowa City School District’s COVID protocols will prevent City and West High Schools from participating this year,” says KCCK general manager Dennis Green. “But City will still be represented by Diego’s excellent cover design.”
Normally, a spring concert involving all participating schools happens each spring. This year, the album release party will move online for an event that will stream in early May, and feature video performances from each school produced by GMixEast.
Support for the Corridor Jazz Project comes from MidWestOne Bank, Latta Harris, Orchestra Iowa, and West Music.