All three of the contestants were required to play Line for Lyons (Gerry Mulligan), Shaw 'Nuff (Dizzy Gillespie/Charlie Parker), and Come Sunday (Duke Ellington).

Wolkins opened the competition with a very bluesy and aggressive approach, displaying depth in his sound and blazing character. While many players tend to really come out of their shell on up-tempo tunes, Wolkins seemed refreshed after the first two selections and turned his creativity loose on the Ellington ballad.

Aguilar stepped forward with a very polished and clean sound, employing interesting harmonic devices. His variety of articulation, phrasing, melodic development, and passionate ballad style were very reminiscent of Blue Mitchell.

Phil Lassiter closed out the set with a somewhat distant approach in relation to his sound. His light and understated delivery soon developed into a soulful and funky approach. He was extremely physically animated, sometimes breaking from a phrase to dance out the rest of the rhythmic idea he had begun. In a beautiful rendition of Come Sunday, he utilized the flugelhorn and played with maturity and poise. His creative interplay with the pianist during the first half of the tune was one of the highlights of the competition.