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The event was a homecoming for Casey Kavanagh, a 2000 PAHS graduate, who plays alto and soprano saxophone with the concert band. Kavanagh, now a senior at UM-Morris, is a saxophone performance major specializing in jazz.

Casey Kavanagh, a PAHS grad and now a senior at UM-Morris, played the jazz numer "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" with a saxophone quartet on Thursday night.

During the concert on Thursday night, Kavanagh and three friends played a saxophone quartet version of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" right after intermission and before the resumption of the concert band.

Kavanagh received the Keith Carlson Memorial Jazz Award at UM-Morris this year, annually given to the outstanding jazz player of the year. He plays in Jazz I, the top jazz ensemble at UM-Morris, in addition to the concert band. And he directs another jazz group, Cougar I.

He was also one of four jazz musicians at UM-Morris to be a recipient of the Brion Dalager Memorial Award this year.

This summer, Jazz I will tour Europe, including playing at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands and the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

The PAHS Band played with the UM-Morris Concert Band on Thursday night in the auditorium, combining to form a 100-person band.

After graduation Kavanagh, who also plays in three jazz groups professionally, is thinking about playing on a cruise ship for a year, but eventually he wants to head to New York City to play jazz, he said.

The spring tour for the University of Minnesota-Morris Concert Band included concerts in Litchfield, Paynesville, Wayzata, Stillwater, and at UM-Morris.