For about an hour every Tuesday and Thursday since the Valentine’s Dance on Feb. 15, Western’s jazz band has rehearsed for this performance.

Saturday at the Capitol Arts Center the WKU Jazz Band and Combo played a free show with special guests: John Blount, trumpet; Patricia Johnson, vocals; and the Greenwood High School Jazz Band.

On the Thursday before the show, Blount lost his sheet music in his luggage. During the dress rehearsal, he was playing everything from memory, said Murf Adams, a trumpet player and Greenville senior.

Blount, a professional trumpet player, recently retired from the Commodores, the United States Navy’s jazz ensemble.

Alto-sax player and Franklin senior Steven Lopez said the band had a final rehearsal and sound check for the show at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The final rehearsal was shaky, but there was no doubt Blount would come through, Adams said.

“He was definitely a pro player,” he said.

At 6:15 p.m., Greenwood took stage for a final rehearsal. Western’s band got food. Most ate with their parents.

“With a belly full, I was ready to play,” Adams said.

The show began at 7:30 p.m. The auditorium was full.

Greenwood’s 20-member band played three songs. This was their second year at the Capitol.

The combo took the stage and played four songs.

The whole band walked out with a minute left in the combo’s final number.

“No butterflies,” Lopez said. “I was pumped to see what the band would sound like.”

The band played two songs with Johnson and four songs with Blount.

Adams said when Blount played, Adams grinned from ear to ear and his eyes got big.

“I couldn’t believe someone could play trumpet like that,” he said.

Afterward, Lopez said friends and family came on stage.

A lot of people were blown away, he said.

“Everything fell together,” Lopez said.

Blont was impressed with the bands’ performance.

“As the concert went on I felt we were really in a groove,” he said. “The band really did well on some really hard music.”

Bennie Beach, retired music professor and band director, and his wife attended the show.

“He and his wife said they had never been wowed by a college band before,” he said.

Adams said after the show, he ate Mexican food with band director Marshall Scott and Blount. He listened to Blount’s stories from the road.

Scott said it was one of his best shows yet, and the band provided a free concert at a professional level.

“The guest artist added that much more,” he said.

Scott said the band will graduate six seniors.

“It was a wonderful way to finish,” said Scott. “We’ll see what happens next year.”

Reach Ryan W. Hunton at news@chherald.com.