The eighteenth annual Great Bend Jazz Festival will feature jazz vocalist Kevin Mahogany, along with the Fort Hays State University Jazz 1 an the Larned High School Sun Riz Jazz Band, organizers said.

The evening of jazz will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Crest Theater. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

According to event organizer Joe Boley, Kansas City native Mahogany is known for his personalized entertainment quality with a special gift for bebop, jazz ballads, scat singing, the blues and swinging jazz. Newsweek described him as "the standout jazz vocalist of his generation."

Trumpet instructor Brad Dawson is assistant professor of music at FHSU and in charge of jazz studies. The Jazz 1 band has been invited to numerous conventions and festivals as well as several off-campus performances, Boley said.

Marc Webster, director of the Larned High School Sun Riz Jazz Band, is in his 34th year of teaching and his fourth year in the Fort Larned school system. Webster also plays in various musical organizations in the central Kansas area. The Sun Riz Jazz Band will be attending the Friends University Jazz Festival on Feb. 18 in Wichita.

Major sponsors of the jazz festival are the Kiwanis Club and CPI of Great Bend. Funds are used to provide scholarships for band musicians participating in college instrumental organizations.