In a city enamored with 'cool cats' and hot jazz, there's a new entry in the mix. Metropolitan State College and the Denver School of the Arts (DSA) present the First Annual Auraria Jazz Celebration on April 5-6 at the Kenneth King Academic and Performing Arts Center on the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver.

"It's more than just performances. That's why we call it a Celebration. It's clinicians offering their interpretations of jazz and jazz history for public consumption in a very intimate setting in a world-class facility," says Metro State College Professor of Music Walter Barr, who with DSA Instrumental Music Director Dave Hammond serves as co-director of the event.

Sponsors of the Celebration, including the Mayor's Office of Arts, Culture and Film, and the Musicians Performance Trust Fund, have expressed high hopes for the unique concert/music education format. It's the only jazz festival in the City and County of Denver.

Concerts featuring internationally acclaimed trumpeter Terence Blanchard and the United States Air Force Band of the Rockies, the Falconaires, will anchor the all-day performances.

Tickets to the Terence Blanchard Quintet concert at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6, are $20 for the general public, $10 for seniors, and free to Metro State students with ID. All other events, including the Falconaires concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, are free and open to the public. Performances will be held in the King Center's Concert and Recital Halls.

The centerpiece of the Celebration is the music education experience. Some 40 visiting high school and middle school big bands, combos and vocal groups will participate in the two-day festival.

"We see the Jazz Celebration as an excellent educational opportunity for student jazz musicians and aficionados. For two action-packed days, they get to learn style, history and showmanship from the pros," said DSA's Hammond. DSA is a Denver Public Schools magnet school for students in 6th through 12th grades and home to an award-winning jazz band and ensembles. On Friday, the DSA Jazz Workshop Orchestra will be the opening act for the Falconaires. On Saturday, Metro State's Monday Night Jazz will perform prior to the Blanchard concert.

Metro State's Professor of Music Ron Miles, a trumpeter, will lead clinicians through individual and group clinics, workshops and master classes, and will perform daily jazz history concerts at noon in St. Cajetan's Center on the Auraria Campus.

Featured Celebration guest artist, New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard, emerged in the 1980s in New York as part of an exciting jazz renaissance. A Center of Creative Arts graduate, Blanchard's extraordinary discography includes 25 albums as performer, as well as 30 film scores.

The 18-member Falconaires, one of the Air Force's two premier jazz ensembles, has brought the great sounds of traditional and contemporary Big Band Jazz to national audiences for 30 years.

To order tickets to the Terence Blanchard Quintet concert, call (303) 556-2296. For more information about the Celebration call (303) 556-3251, or visit the event Web site, www.aurariajazzcelebration.com.