Mission Bay High School’s award-winning Preservationists Jazz Band will hold a fundraising concert at the historic Soledad Club, 5050 Soledad Road, from 7-9 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28.

Tickets cost $30 per person. Event proceeds will support the band on its trip to the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, where the band has been selected to perform and represent San Diego in April.

To help MBHS students meet their $20,000 fundraising goal for the trip, the Mission Bay Band Boosters and young musicians have planned an exciting evening of jazz, food, a silent auction, and more at the Soledad Club. Tickets will be available at the door and for purchase from band members. Sponsorship opportunities and cash donations are also welcome.

In New Orleans, the Mission Bay Preservationists will partner with the Preservation Hall Foundation and the Trombone Shorty Foundation to attend workshops with local professionals. Additionally, the Mission Bay Preservationists will perform at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, as well as at street performances around town. The upcoming trip will be the MBHS jazz band’s sixth adventure to “The Big Easy,” referring to New Orleans’ laid-back lifestyle.

“The renowned MBHS music program is proud to have another amazing opportunity to represent our city in the birthplace of jazz,” said MBHS music director Jean-Paul Balmat. “Our talented young musicians will experience so much professional growth and personal development from the New Orleans trip. We appreciate the community’s generous support. Your attendance at our event and donations and sponsorship will resonate far, helping us reach New Orleans and beyond.”

Balmat is a self-described “hometown boy” who went through the Mission Bay Cluster of San Diego Unified School District including graduating from MBHS and its music program. He talked about how the high school’s jazz program has evolved and grown over time.

“It started from the creation of the high school’s jazz program in the late ’60s by Rey Vinole, Jr. who retired in 2000,” Balmat said. “It was the crown jewel in the music program, even as far back as the ’80s. Then Prop. 13 (tax-cutting measure) was passed and funding for the arts was cut.”

Added Balmat: “After that, we were losing students in the music program, and they couldn’t support their large jazz ensemble anymore, which, when I was in the program, was called the Dixie Jazz Band. I resurrected it because it was such a special thing for our community and city.”

Reactivating, revamping, and revitalizing the high school’s jazz band and its format became “one of my main goals,” noted Balmat, who added the new name for the school jazz band was derived from Preservation Hall, a historic music venue in the French Quarter working to protect, preserve and perpetuate the spirit of traditional New Orleans jazz.

The Preservationists continue a tradition of more than 30 years of music at MBHS, a Pacific Beach magnet high school. The Preservationists are known as one of the nation’s finest traditional youth jazz bands.

The music program is a major draw to MBHS, which uses International Baccalaureate academic standards. The high school draws many of its students from communities outside of the beach areas. The Mission Bay Band Boosters, a nonprofit, supports MBHS music programs.