Chops

Every year, Jazz at Lincoln Center and its artistic director, Wynton Marsalis, host the prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, a competition of the absolute best high school jazz bands from across the country. This documentary film follows Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, a public high school in Jacksonville, FL, as they compete with elite bands from all over the country at the Festival in New York City. Jam-packed with outstanding performances, CHOPS will make you admire the dedication of these teenagers as their hard work culminates in an electrifying festival performance where they realize that no matter how much one prepares, sometimes life, like jazz, calls for improvisation.