The Greene County High School jazz choir, “Jazzatonics,” has a very ambitious schedule coming up.

Choir Director David Heupel says there are about five competitions and clinics that the vocal jazz group will participate in this year, including a festival this week at West Des Moines Valley.

“One of the things I feel like jazz choir is so terrific at is that they get these clinicians and groups to come to these that are just world class. ‘The New York Voices’ which I think is one of the best vocal jazz groups worldwide is coming to this festival at Valley. We finish the season in April at Southwest Community College and ‘The Real Group’ comes from Sweden and probably, I think, are the best two groups in the world.”

The songs that Heupel has selected this year are “One in a Million,” “Nature Boy,” and “I Could Only Whisper Your Name.” Heupel says he is entering his eighth year with vocal jazz and they have qualified for the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships every year except last year, which he adds is the group’s goal this year, to qualify for the championships.