115 jazz bands at 30th Jazz in the Meadows festival

The 30th annual Jazz in the Meadows, the Midwest's largest high school jazz festival, was held Saturday at Rolling Meadows High School. About 115 jazz bands and combos from 68 schools across the Midwest performed on multiple stages throughout the day.

The festival, designed to bring young jazz students together with professionals and college educators to heighten their level of performance, has been run by Christopher Buti, director of bands at Rolling Meadows High School, for the last 15 years.

"It is a great opportunity for theses directors and students, who have worked so very hard on their music, to share their passion for jazz with others outside of their school," Buti says.

The daylong festival mobilizes all the music booster parents at Rolling Meadows, who staff the event, but it also drives the nearly 1,000 students who participate.

Winners in each of four classes advanced to the grand finale concert to reprise their selections. That was followed by a special performance from Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band, whose album "Life in the Bubble" won the 2015 Grammy for best large ensemble album.