Tag: jazz composers

2020 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards Announced

Posted on February 26, 2020 by - Headlines, NewMusicBox

The ASCAP Foundation has announced the 20 recipients and 3 honorable mentions of the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 17 to 28 and hail from five continents. They were selected through a juried national competition; the ASCAP member composer/judges for the 2020 competition were Keyon Harrold, Hilary Kole, and Oscar Perez.

“Jazz is one of our most vital art forms and the recipients of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards carry its innovative spirit into the future,” said ASCAP Foundation President, Paul Williams. “We are grateful to the Herb Alpert Foundation for helping us to recognize and encourage these young music creators and congratulate them on their success.”

Headshots of the 20 winners of the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards

The 20 winners of the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards (pictured left to right):
(Row 1) David Bernot, Eri Chichibu, Eddie Codrington, Grace Corsi, Angelo Di Loreto;
(Row 2) Eliana Fishbeyn, Shimon Gambourg, Giveton Gelin, Bryce Hayashi;
(Row 3) Jisu Jung, Takumi Kakimoto, Dave Meder, Zachary Rich, Rin Seo, Jueun Seok;
(Row 4) Matthew Thomson, Elliott Turner, Gary (Kaiji) Wang, Matthew Whitaker, and Drew Zaremba.
(All photos courtesy of the ASCAP Foundation.)

The 2020 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed with their age and the titles of their award winning compositions. Audio recordings of performances of the composers are linked from the titles.)

Composers and their works receiving Honorable Mention this year are:

Michael Echaniz, Chase Kuesel, and Martina Liviero

2020 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards Honorable Mentions (pictured left to right):
Michael Echaniz, Chase Kuesel, and Martina Liviero. (Photos courtesy ASCAP Foundation)

The Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards program was established in 2002 to encourage young gifted jazz composers up to the age of 30. It carries the name of the great trumpeter and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation’s multi-year financial commitment to support this program. Additional funding for this program is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund. Through a partnership with the Newport Festival Foundation, one of this year’s Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards recipients will be featured on stage at the 2020 Newport Jazz Festival, slated for August 7-9 in Newport, Rhode Island.

2015 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards Announced

Posted on February 6, 2015 by - Headlines, Ledes

ASCAP Logo which is a frame containing blue eighth-note in front of red and white stripes.

ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams has announced the recipients of the 2015 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. Established by The ASCAP Foundation in 2002 to encourage gifted jazz composers up to the age of 30, in 2012 the program was named in honor of composer, arranger and record producer Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation’s multi-year financial commitment to support this unique program. The 26 recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 16 to 30, and are selected through a juried national competition. An additional three recipients received an honorable mention. The Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award Winners will be honored during ASCAP’s Jazz Wall of Fame event at ASCAP at a date to be announced.

The 2015 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed with their age, current residence and place of origin:

Caio Afiune, 25 of Boston, MA (São Paulo. Brazil)
Quentin Angus, age 27 of New York, NY (Mount Pleasant, Australia)
Bryson Barnes, age 29 of New York, NY (Fairbanks, AK)
Bryn Bliska, age 22 of Cambridge, MA (Greenbrae, CA)
Lorenzo Carrano, age 27 of South Miami, FL (Naples, Italy)
Mike Conrad, age 26 of Waterloo, IA (Arlington Heights, IL)
Rafael Piccolotto de Lima, age 29 of Miami, FL (São Paulo. Brazil)
Nick Finzer, age 26 of New York, NY (Rochester, NY)
Jon Hatamiya, age 23 of Los Angeles, CA (Davis, CA)
Josh Johnson, age 25 of Los Angeles, CA (Takoma Park, MD)
Gene Knific, age 22 of Kalamazoo, MI
Pascal Le Boeuf, age 28 of New York, NY (Santa Cruz, CA)
Guy Mintus, age 23 of New York, NY (Hod Hasharon, Israel)
Adam Neely, age 26 of Brooklyn, NY (Silver Spring, MD)
Mark Ninmer, age 16 of Taylorville, IL
Scott Ninmer, age 26 of Alexandria, VA (Taylorville, IL)
Christopher Ott, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY (Kettering, OH)
Josh Plotner, age 22 of Boston, MA (Park Ridge, IL)
John Raymond, age 29 of Brooklyn, NY (Minneapolis, MN)
Michael Schreier, age 23 of Greeley, CO (Omaha, NE)
Erica Seguine, age 27 of Bloomfield, NJ (Albany, NY)
Jeremy Siskind, age 28 of Kalamazoo, MI (Santa Ana, CA)
David von Kampen, age 28 of Lincoln, NE (Farmington Hills, MI)
Marcus Wilcher, age 30 of Austin, TX (Los Angeles, CA)
Zac Zinger, age 26 of Woodside, NY (Pittsburgh, PA)
Christopher Zuar, age 27 of New York, NY

Composers receiving Honorable Mention this year are: Colleen Clark, age 26 of New York, NY (Norwich, CT); ArcoIris Sandoval, age 27 of New York, NY (Tucson, AZ); Drew Zaremba, age 23 of Denton, TX (Little Rock, AR). The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2015 competition were: Chuck Iwanusa, Ted Piltzecker, and Sachal Vasandani. Additional funding for this program is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund.

(—from the press release)

 

ASCAP Honors 5 Jazz Legends and 36 Emerging Talents

Posted on June 10, 2014 by - Headlines, Ledes

ASCAPJazzWallOfFame
Five jazz legends and 36 emerging talents were honored at the 2014 ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which was held at the New York Institute of Technology’s Auditorium on June 9. Paul Williams, ASCAP’s president and board chairman, presided over the ceremonies which included the presentation of over 40 awards and a total of seven musical performances. Miles Davis biographer Quincy Troupe presented the ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award to singer-songwriter Gregory Porter, whose album Liquid Spirit received the 2014 Grammy for best jazz vocal album; after receiving his award, Porter sang the album’s title track.

Gregory Porter and his group

Gregory Porter performing the title song from his 2014 Grammy-wining album Liquid Spirit with Albert Crawford (piano) Aaron James (double bass), Emanuel Harold (drums), and Yousuke Satoh (alto saxophone), after receiving the ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award.

Two of the five Wall of Fame honorees—vocalist Helen Merrill and pianist/composer/arranger Dick Hyman—were in attendance to accept their awards and gave heartfelt interpretations of music that was extremely important to them.


Merrill, who first came to fame for her 1954 debut recording which featured trumpet icon Clifford Brown and bassist Oscar Pettiford, sang the 1926 Ray Henderson-Mort Dixon standard “Bye, Bye Blackbird” which she originally recorded over a half century ago on her classic 1958 album The Nearness of You. The 87-year-old Hyman, who has made over 100 albums but is probably best known for his role as music director for 11 of Woody Allen’s films, performed a solo piano rendition of his 1969 composition “The Minotaur.” It was particularly fascinating to hear it this way since his original recording of it was the first ever top-40 hit performed on a Moog synthesizer.


Beverly Clarke, the granddaughter of blues icon Bessie Smith (1894-1937) accepted a plaque on her behalf, and Latin percussionist/composer Bobby Sanabria accepted on behalf of Puerto Rico-born trombonist/composer Juan Tizol (1900-1984), who is perhaps most remembered today for

“Caravan” and “Perdido” as well as his many years as a sideman in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. During his spirited acceptance speech, Sanabria offered a list of many important Puerto Ricans who contributed to the history of jazz. To additionally honor Smith and Tizol, Vaneese Thomas sang George Brooks’s “Send Me To The Electric Chair,” which was immortalized in Bessie Smith’s 1927 recording, and trombonist Steve Turre led a quintet in “Caravan.” Although guitarist Kenny Burrell (b. 1931) is still very much with us, he was not able to attend the event, but a recorded video message from him was screened for the audience, and his protégé Russell Malone gave a phenomenal performance of “Listen to the Dawn,” one of Burrell’s most famous compositions.


Before the five 2014 Wall of Fame inductees were honored in words and live music, Ken Hatfield and Sachal Vasandani announced the recipients of the 2014 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The composers (who range in age from 11 to 29) and their award-winning compositions are listed below.
Nii Akwei Adoteye: “The Oblivious Giants”
Michael Caudill: “Time to Go”
Esteban Castro: “I’m Dizzy!”
Michael Conrad: “West Point”
Rafael de Lima: “Fables of Mingus”
Addison Frei: “Delicate Fog”
Walter Gorra: “Jazongo”
Nicolas Hetko: “Lights Out”
Daniel Kaneyuki: “The Awakening”
Keith Karns: “The Square”
Martha Kato: “Frostwork”
John Kosch: “Only You”
Paul Krueger: “Phoenix Metamorphosis”
Sara McDonald: “Sandcastles”
Michael Orenstein: “There, Here”
Andrew Schiller: “Sirens”
Jeff Schneider: “When You Know She Loves You Back”
Erica Seguine: “Reel No. 1”
Josh Shpak: “Let Go”
Todd Simon: “Amalgam”
Martin Terens: “Lost”
Zan Tetickovic: “Ples”
Tissiana Vallecillo: “Dynamite Chihuahua”
Matt Wong: “Jerry y Andrea”
Zac Zinger: “Cerberus”
Christopher Zuar: “So Close, And Yet So Far Away”
Nicole Zuraitis: “To the Hive”

2014 Alpert Winners

The 2014 Alpert Winners

The following composers received honorable mention:
Juan Anderson: “Mala Suerte” / “La Alhambra De Noche”
Dominic Bierenga: “Don’t Wait for Tomorrow”
Jake Chapman: “Ecuador”
Jodie Landau: “Counting Sheep”
David Meder: “Elegy”
Caili O’Doherty: “The Promise of Old Panama City”
Jeremy Siskind: “Spin So Violent”
Benjamin Tiberio: “(e)motion”
Hatfield additionally presented the 2014 ASCAP Foundation Johnny Mandel Prize to Erica Seguine who, after receiving her award, performed her intriguing Celtic-infused award-winning composition “Reel No. 1,” whose main theme is punctuated by an insistent single note piano ostinato.


United States congressman John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan was scheduled to receive ASCAP’s first-ever Jazz Advocate Award, but he was unable to attend, so his award will be presented to him at a later date. The panelists for the 2014 ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame were Alan Bergman, Jay Leonart, and Rufus Reid. The judges for the 2014 Alpert Awards were Ken Hatfield, Rufus Reid, and Sachal Vasandani.

All in all, it was an extraordinary celebration of the past, present, and future of jazz and the audience seemed extremely appreciative. Among the luminaries in attendance were the legendary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan (who appears in the background of the Erica Seguine video above), pianist/arranger Roger Kellaway, jazz radio host Phil Schaap, and Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke Ellington and the president and founding artistic director of the Duke Ellington Center for the Arts.