Millinocket will be Maine’s jazz epicenter this weekend as the state’s best student musicians – including five jazz bands from Cape Elizabeth and three from South Portland – show their chops at the statewide jazz festival.

The eight local bands qualified for the Maine Music Educators Association’s State High School Instrumental Jazz Festival after participating in the regional festival, held at South Portland High School at the end of February. Stearns High School will host the festival, which features some 90 jazz duos, ensembles and bands from schools throughout the state.

“It says a lot about the students and how hard they work,” said Tom Lizotte, Cape Elizabeth High School band director.

This is the season for high school jazz in New England. Last weekend, musicians from Cape Elizabeth and South Portland headed south to the University of New Hampshire jazz festival. Another festival that the schools always enjoy attending, at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, is being held this weekend, as well. Bands from Scarborough, who qualified for the state competition, opted instead to attend the Berklee festival.

South Portland band director Craig Skeffington said the difference in travel time – two hours to Boston as opposed to four to Millinocket – made the Berklee festival a tempting alternative, but he ultimately decided the bands should go to the state competition, where one of his bands finished second last year.

Skeffington, still coming down from the frenzy of the regional festival, will be happy to hand over hosting duties to Millinocket next weekend.

“It was a fire drill around here,” Skeffington said of the regional festival, but it proved a worthy fundraiser for the music boosters. Overall, Skeffington said the regional festival went very well and was “good fun” for all.

Lizotte said he and the musicians “were very, very pleased and proud” of their performances at the regional competition. Considering the size of the high school, the number of Cape Elizabeth bands that qualified for the states is even more impressive.

The students credit their director for their success.

“Mr. Lizotte’s a really good teacher,” said Chris Beringer, a senior trumpet player in the concert jazz ensemble.

Senior Jeff Witherall, who plays drums in the concert jazz ensemble, said he doesn’t like the competitive aspect of the festival, but enjoys the festival because “it’s good to hear other bands play.”

Though Witherall enjoys hearing performances by other schools in Maine, he said he would have been happier to attend the Berklee festival, because the higher quality of music from schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut makes for a humbling experience he enjoys.

Una Donegan, a sophomore, is more eager to be attending the festival – this will be her first. Donegan plays piano in two Cape Elizabeth bands and was particularly excited for the jazz combo that she performs with to make the competition, because it will be its first invitation in three years.

“We’ve come a really long way,” Donegan said. “I wouldn’t have thought we would have made it at the beginning of the year.”

Donegan said she expects the competition in the jazz combo category to be tough – especially because it includes another band from her school. Still, just the prospect of attending the festival is enough for her. “It’s really exciting,” Donegan said.

Beringer said his band has been working hard to perform its best at the festival, which will be its last performance of the year. Though he was proud of the band’s performance in the regional competition, “I think we’ll be able to exceed it,” he said. “I feel pretty confident.”

Lizotte said his bands’ performances will represent “many, many months of work in the trenches,” and is excited for them to have an audience.

“The reward is to perform,” he said.

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