QUEEN Elizabeth's Community College's Jazz Band has successfully auditioned for the Montreux Jazz festival.

The festival will take place in Geneva in July and will be the most prestigious event that the band has taken part in to date.

The Jazz Band are warming up for the festival with several events during the next month, including the Thorverton Country Show on Saturday, June 12.

If you would like to see the band perform, the event is open to the general public.

Expect to hear a wide range of jazz influenced styles, from Dixieland to Motown to Soul, with a bit of Latin thrown in!

The QE Jazz Band is a group of around 60 students who rehearse together once a week. The band is open to students of all abilities and year groups.

Lucy Welsman, who teaches music at QE said: "The Jazz Band has been going from strength to strength, recently, with nearly 60 current members.

"The main purpose of the band is to give students of all abilities the chance to play their instruments alongside each other and improve their skills.

"Standards range from grade 1 to grade 8 plus but the focus of the rehearsals and performances is more about enjoying the music than anything else.

"Getting into the Montreux Jazz Festival is incredibly exciting for us but the students have worked really hard this year and thoroughly deserve their place in the line-up.

"Other artists booked for the festival include Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Katie Melua but I'm confident that 'QECC Jazz Band' will hold their own at this major event."

A total of 48 QECC student musicians will be travelling to the Festival.

Each student is paying for the transport and accommodation for the seven day tour and they need to raise £1,000 for a PA system and t-shirts, unless someone is kind enough to help by sponsoring.

The band gave two concerts at the college this month which raised £200 towards their trip. They will be at Thorverton Country Show in June.

Anyone interested in sponsoring the band or donating towards funds can contact Lucy at [email protected]">[email protected] .

Earlier this month Crediton Town Band gave a joint concert with the Jazz Band and, instead of sharing proceeds, decided to donate the whole £293 to the college Jazz Band.