Six years ago, Costa Mesa High School music teacher Sandy Gilboe was looking for a new pianist for the jazz band. “A few high school students came to the audition, along with seventh-grader Casey Campbell,” said Gilboe. “It only took a few minutes to realize that jazz was totally in Casey’s wheelhouse, even as a seventh grader. The high-schoolers realized that as well and they fizzled out quickly, and Casey has been my jazz piano player ever since.”
Now a senior, Campbell will play Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at the school’s annual spring concert. Gilboe tasked him with learning the piece a few years ago, hoping he’d be ready to play it at the end of his senior year.