Montezuma-Cortez High School jazz and concert bands will play their spring concert on Tuesday, March 28.

The free event starts at 7 p.m. at the M-CHS Auditorium.

“We’re inviting everyone in the community,” band director Rodney Ritthaler said.

The jazz band’s set will include funk tune “Last Tangle of Lord Boogie,” swing standard “Fly Me to the Moon” and solo piano ballad “In Her Family,” Ritthaler said.

The symphonic winds and concert band also will play selections including a four-movement piece titled “Elements” and the “Nathan Hale Trilogy.”

The groups are preparing for a festival schedule starting at the end of this month, Ritthaler said. Many of the tunes featured at the March 28 concert will appear on the program for festival appearances.

On March 31, the jazz band will travel to Farmington, the San Juan Jazz festival. On April 20, the symphonic winds and concert band will travel to Bayfield for the Colorado High School Athletics Association large group festival.

On April 21, the bands travel to Grand Junction for the Colorado West Music Festival.

M-CHS hosts the All-District Band Night on May 2 at 7 p.m.

The jazz band will wrap up the festival season at the Skyline Jazz Festival in Longmont on May 5.

May 11 will be the senior appreciation concert, at M-CHS at 7 p.m.

This is Ritthaler’s last year as M-CHS band director. He will retire this spring after 28 years on the job. He said his final season with the band has been one to remember so far.

“We’ve been doing really great,” he said. “The marching season was great.”