The Jazz Festival includes an Honor Jazz Choir comprised of approximately 25 students and an instrumental Honor Jazz Ensemble featuring approximately 20 students. The style of the music is big band with notable musical selections spanning several eras of jazz.

Students rehearse throughout the week before the culminating public performance on the last evening of the event.  Selection to this festival is highly competitive with well over 100 auditions submitted annually.

Far East Jazz Festival History

In 2008, an Honor Jazz Band was added to the Far East Honor Music Festival.  Over the next three years the Jazz program grew in popularity and quality.  In April of 2010, the Jazz Band gave a solo performance to a packed house at the Enlisted Club on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan.  It was recognized that the jazz program was growing too big to remain as a sub-group of the already full Honor Music Festival. With the addition of a 24 voice Jazz Choir, the first DoDEA Pacific Far East Honor Jazz festival was held in Guam in November of 2010.