Community News

'Joy of Jazz Festival' presents free concert on Saturday

Hendersonville High School and West Henderson High School musicians will work under professional jazz players before performing a free concert Saturday afternoon.

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 22, 2026

The halls of Hendersonville High School will once again ring out with the vibes of jazz when the eighth annual “Joy of Jazz Festival” opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 28, and culminates with a concert, free and open to the public, at 4 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

Robin Tolleson, a jazz musician, music journalist and band leader, led the Hendersonville Community Music Center before his sudden passing in June 2019.The “Joy of Jazz Festival” was established in 2017 by then-Hendersonville Community Music Center Director Robin Tolleson. After Robin’s sudden passing in June 2019, the music center board and the Tolleson family decided to use monies donated in Rob’s memory to continue the “Joy of Jazz Festival” in his honor. Trinity Presbyterian Church and the Kealy Family Foundation have since donated money to continue the festival.

The festival is a one-day clinic in which local high school jazz bands work with professional musicians — fine-tuning their pieces and working on improvisation.

This year students from Hendersonville High School and West Henderson High School will work with respected teaching artists, including Shannon Hoover (M.A.-Anderson University and Greenville Jazz Collective), Jason DeCristofaro (doctorate-Boston University and director of Creative Arts & Events at Warren Wilson College), Will Boyd (MA-University of Tennessee), Iliana Rose (University of Miami) and Justin Ray (Berklee College of Music, Boston).

For more information, contact lead festival coordinator, Shannon Hoover at profmus1@yahoo.com or 864-353-7529 or Jocelyn Tolleson at jocelynctolleson@gmail.com.