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Jazz At Lincoln Center Announces Winners of The 20th Anniversary Essentially Ellington 2015

Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly announces the top high school jazz bands in the nation that took the highest honors tonight at the prestigious 20th Anniversary Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The first place winner is American Music Program from Portland OR, second place winner is Tucson Jazz Institute from Tucson, AZ, and third place winner is Lexington High School from Lexington, MA. Dillard Center for the Arts from Fort Lauderdale, FL received Honorable Mention.

Beginning on May 7, the top 15 high school jazz bands in the country participated in the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival and were immersed in three days of mentoring, jam sessions, workshops, and 20th anniversary celebratory events. The competition culminated in tonight’s concert wherein each top-placing band performed with their choice Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member. The final concert also featured the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – whose members served as mentors for the finalist bands throughout the week – performing a repertoire of tunes made famous by Duke Ellington.

Each finalist band was chosen by a panel of judges comprised of distinguished jazz musicians and historians: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis; composer, arranger, Essentially Ellington alumnus, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra bassist Carlos Henriquez; Professor of Music at San Francisco State University and former Essentially Ellington finalist director Dr. Dee Spencer; acclaimed drummer, big band leader, and Grammy-nominated recording artist Jeff Hamilton; and composer, arranger and Ellington authority David Berger.

At the ceremony, Wynton Marsalis presented awards to each of the 15 finalist high school jazz bands. American Music Program (Portland, OR) accepted the first place trophy and an award of $5,000. Tucson Jazz Institute (Tucson, AZ) accepted the second place trophy and an award of $2,500. Lexington High School (Lexington, MA) accepted the third place trophy with an award of $1,000. Dillard Center for the Arts (Fort Lauderdale, FL) received honorable mention with an award of $750. The remaining eleven bands were each awarded cash awards of $500. All monetary awards are to be used for improving the jazz education programs of each respective high school.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 20th Anniversary
Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival Awards

First Place
American Music Program (Portland, OR)

Second Place
Tucson Jazz Institute (Tucson, AZ)

Third Place
Lexington High School (Lexington, MA)

Honorable Mention
Dillard Center for the Arts (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

OUTSTANDING RHYTHM SECTION
American Music Program
New World School of the Arts
Dillard Center for the Arts
Tucson Jazz Institute

BEST OVERALL RHYTHM SECTION
Lexington High School

OUTSTANDING CLARINET SECTION
Sun Prairie High School

OUTSTANDING SAXOPHONE SECTION
New World School of the Arts

OUTSTANDING REED SECTION
Sun Prairie High School
American Music Program

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE SECTION
Roosevelt High School
Agoura High School
Sun Prairie High School
Dillard Center for the Arts
New World School of the Arts
American Music Program
Garfield High School

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET SECTION
Roosevelt High School
Mount Si High School
American Music Program
Garfield High School

OUTSTANDING BRASS SECTION
Garfield High School
Lexington High School

HONORABLE MENTION PIANO
Roberto Acosta (New World School of the Arts)
Ulysses McClover (Dillard Center for the Arts)

OUTSTANDING PIANO
Elliot Clement (Roosevelt High School)
Erin Hussey (Foxboro High School)
Charlie Brown III (American Music Program)
Sean Kim (Lexington High School)
Angel Perez (Community Arts Program)
Miranda Agnew (Tucson Jazz Institute)
Conner Drake (Mount Si High School)

HONORABLE MENTION BASS
Mitch Galgan (Lyons Township High School)

OUTSTANDING BASS
Chris Palmer (Agoura High School)
Colescott Rubin (American Music Program)
George Austin (Newark Academy)
Sebastian Rios (Community Arts Program)
Liya LaPierre (Garfield High School)

OUTSTANDING UNAMPLIFIED BASS
Noah Harrington (Lexington High School)

OUTSTANDING GUITAR
Ravi Sharma (Roosevelt High School)
Juan Vidaurre (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Jake Pardo (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Nikhil Wadhwa (Garfield High School)
Christian Naval (Lyons Township High School)

OUTSTANDING BANJO
Alex Aceves (Beloit Memorial High School)

OUTSTANDING DRUMS
Luke Woodle (Roosevelt High School)
Jonathan Raymond (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Will Crandell (Mount Si High School)

HONORABLE MENTION CLARINET
Britny Anderson (Foxboro High School)
Hannah Mathieson (Lyons Township High School)
Christine Weiss (Sun Prairie High School)
Tevin Li (Lexington High School)

OUTSTANDING CLARINET
John Miller (Agoura High School)
Maddie Patch (Beloit Memorial High School)
Tyler Goodman (New World School of the Arts)
Shawn Ball (American Music Program)
Max Roark (American Music Program)
Alexandro Camarillo (Tucson Jazz Institute)

OUTSTANDING FLUTE
Sam Valancy (Community Arts Program)

HONORABLE MENTION ALTO SAXOPHONE
Ben Sveum (Sun Prairie High School)
Micah Gygi (Foxboro High School)

OUTSTANDING ALTO SAXOPHONE
John Miller (Agoura High School)
Nora Lewis (Beloit Memorial High School)
Fedor Paretsky (Garfield High School)
Breanna DeNure (Beloit Memorial High School)
Christian Cummings (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Charles Pan (Newark Academy)
Hayden Kajercline (Mount Si High School)
Simeon Roth (Tucson Jazz Institute)
Hersh Gupta (Lexington High School)
Aubrey Martin (Tucson Jazz Institute)

HONORABLE MENTION TENOR SAXOPHONE
Benjamin Lindenburg (Garfield High School)
Tai Warner (Garfield High School)
Paul Brown (Newark Academy)
Ben Stowers (Tucson Jazz Institute)
Sergio Tabanico (Tucson Jazz Institute)
Jacob Wachtendonk (Mount Si High School)

OUTSTANDING TENOR SAXOPHONE
Jesse Beckett-Herbert (Roosevelt High School)
Santosh Sharma (Roosevelt High School)
Akshay Delity (Lexington High School)

HONORABLE MENTION BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Thomas Korenchan (Lyons Township High School)

OUTSTANDING BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Sam Seacrist (American Music Program)
David Lasansky (Tucson Jazz Institute)

OUTSTANDING BASS SAXOPHONE
Ben Stowers (Tucson Jazz Institute)

HONORABLE MENTION TROMBONE
Alex Larionov (New World School of the Arts)
Luis Nunez (New World School of the Arts)

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE
Porter Jones (Roosevelt High School)
Tommy Watson (Foxboro High School)
Joseph Hudson (Beloit Memorial High School)
Kevin Jiang (Newark Academy)
Kate DeMonica (Lyons Township High School)
Olivia Gadberry (American Music Program)

OUTSTANDING FLUGEL HORN
Thomas Renehan (Garfield High School)

HONORABLE MENTION TRUMPET
Max Ruby (New World School of the Arts)

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET
Frank McKearn (Beloit Memorial High School)
Anthony Hervey (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Patrick Peters (Newark Academy)
Robert “Mac” Vega-Dowda (Community Arts Program)
Miranda Agnew (Tucson Jazz Institute)

OUTSTANDING LEAD TRUMPET
Mattias Tyni (American Music Program)

HONORABLE MENTION VOCALS
Sahana Srinivasan (Lexington High School)

ELLA FITZGERALD AWARD:
Anthony Hervey – Trumpet (Dillard Center for the Arts)
Aubrey Martin – Soprano Sax and Alto (Tucson Jazz Institute)

In the spirit of creativity and continuing the jazz legacy, Jazz at Lincoln Center also recognized the winner of the 3rd Annual Essentially Ellington Student Composition/Arranging Contest, Matt Wong of San Francisco Independence High School (San Francisco, CA). Each submission was critiqued by composer, arranger, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Saxophonist, Ted Nash, and the winning selection was recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at their annual Essentially Ellington recording session on Wednesday, May 6. In addition, the winning composer received a cash prize, a composition lesson with Ted Nash, and a trip to New York City to observe the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra recording session and the 2015 Essentially Ellington Competition & Festival.

The Competition & Festival is the culmination of the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Program (EE), which also includes non-competitive regional festivals around the country, teaching resources, a summer Band Director Academy, newsletters, and more. The year-long Essentially Ellington program will have distributed more than 23,000 newly transcribed scores by the end of this school year. For more information including background, history and audio recordings of the Essentially Ellington repertoire, and more, visit: “http://academy.jalc.org/ee/“http://academy.jazz.org/ee/

This year, the Essentially Ellington Competition & Festival was accessible via social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Throughout the weekend, students, viewers, and participants shared their thoughts and photos by using the hashtag #EE2015.

The 15 Finalists for Essentially Ellington 2015 (in alphabetical order):

Agoura High School (Agoura Hills, CA); American Music Program (Portland, OR); Beloit Memorial High School (Beloit, WI); Community Arts Program (Coral Gables, FL); Dillard Center for the Arts (Fort Lauderdale, FL); Foxboro High School (Foxboro, MA); Garfield High School (Seattle, WA); Lexington High School (Lexington, MA); Lyons Township High School (LaGrange, IL); Mount Si High School (Snoqualmie, WA); New World School of the Arts (Miami, FL); Newark Academy (Livingston, NJ); Roosevelt High School (Seattle, WA); Sun Prairie High School (Sun Prairie, WI); and Tucson Jazz Institute (Tucson, AZ).

Founding leadership support for Essentially Ellington is provided by The Jack and Susan Rudin Educational and Scholarship Fund.

Major support is provided by Jessica and Natan Bibliowicz, Alfred and Gail Engelberg, Casey Lipscomb, Augustine Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation, and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

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