Seattle Times
Essentially Ellington, the nation’s premier high-school jazz band competition, begins in New York City today, and once again, Seattle-area schools are there. The 2009 field includes Seattle’s Garfield and Roosevelt high schools, plus Bellevue’s Newport High School. Every year since 2000, either Garfield or Roosevelt has won EE or placed among the top three. Garfield finished on top in 2003 and 2004; Roosevelt won in 2002, 2007 and 2008, the only three-time winner in Ellington history. They are the only two schools to win in consecutive years. No one has won it three years in a row, something Roosevelt has a fighting chance to do this weekend.