This year’s competition will feature 13 of the world’s most outstanding young jazz trumpeters who will perform before a panel of jazz greats including Ambrose Akinmusire, Randy Brecker, Roy Hargrove, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Owens, and Arturo Sandoval. The trumpet semi-finalists hail from all across the United States, Venezuela, and Japan.
Chris Burbank, a native of Bedford, New Hampshire, has played the trumpet since middle school. He has performed with jazz greats including Terence Blanchard, Maria Schneider, Clark Terry, Kenny Barron, Benny Golson, Mulgrew Miller, Paquito D’Rivera and Benny Green. Burbank has led clinics and other education programs in the United States, Japan, England, and Spain on behalf of The Juilliard School, where he recently earned a master’s degree in jazz studies. He is currently completing his doctorate in jazz performance at the Frost School of Music under the direction of Brian Lynch.
Aidan Lombard grew up in Kenilworth, Illinois and began playing the trumpet at age 9. He developed an interest in jazz after joining Midwest Young Artists, a Chicago-area youth conservatory. Lombard is an undergraduate at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he is a Stamps Music Scholar and performs in the Stamps Jazz Quintet. He is an alumnus of the GRAMMY Band, the Jazz Band of America and the Vail Jazz Workshop. Lombard is also a student of Brian Lynch and has studied with Terell Stafford, Clay Jenkins, and Marques Carroll.
The Semifinals of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition will be held on Saturday, November 8th at Schoenberg Hall on the UCLA campus. Three finalists will be selected to participate in the Competition Finals on Sunday, November 9th at the Dolby Theatre. They will vie for scholarships and prizes totaling more than $100,000 including a $25,000 first-place scholarship and a guaranteed recording contract with Concord Music Group.
Immediately following the three finalists’ performances at the Competition Finals, an All-Star Gala Concert on Sunday, November 9 will bring together renowned artists including hosts Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Kevin Spacey, and special guests Pharrell Williams, John Mayer, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wayne Shorter, Queen Latifah, Jimmy Heath, Don Cheadle, Chaka Khan, Goldie Hawn, Taj Mahal, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Miller, Kenny Burrell, Stefon Harris, T.S. Monk, Joshua Redman, Billy Childs, Melissa Aldana, Vinnie Colaiuta, James Genus, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Ben Williams, Kris Bowers, and others. John Beasley will serve as the evening’s musical director.
At the All-Star Gala Concert, the Institute will present its prestigious Maria Fisher Founder’s Award to President Bill Clinton. Each year, the Founder’s Award is given to an individual who has made major contributions to the perpetuation of jazz music and the expansion of jazz and music education in schools around the world. Past recipients of the Founder’s Award include Aretha Franklin, Madeleine Albright, George Benson, B.B. King, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, Clark Terry, Dr. David Baker, George Wein, Max Roach, and Stevie Wonder.
The Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, often compared in stature to classical music’s International Tchaikovsky Competition and Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious jazz competition. Each year, the Competition features a different musical instrument, and major scholarships and prizes are awarded to talented young musicians.
For more than 25 years, the competition has launched the careers of a number of major jazz stars including saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalists Jane Monheit and Gretchen Parlato, pianist Marcus Roberts, bassist Ben Williams, and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. These artists and dozens of others from past competitions have forged successful careers as performing and recording artists, as well as music educators to help perpetuate America’s legacy of jazz.
Proceeds from the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition and All-Star Gala Concert will support the Institute’s public school jazz education programs across the U.S. and around the world. All of these education programs are provided free of charge to students, schools, and communities worldwide.
###
About Frost School of Music
The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music is one of the largest and best music schools located in a private university in the U.S., and one of the most comprehensive and relevant in all of higher education. With over 700 students and 100 faculty members it a top choice for instrumental, keyboard and vocal performance as well as composition, music business, music education, music engineering technology, music therapy, songwriting, jazz, studio music, and more. It is one of two schools created in 1926 when the University of Miami was founded. The naming gift from Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost in 2003 was a historic occasion.
The mission of the Frost School of Music is to foster musical leadership by providing an innovative, relevant, and inspiring education; advance performance, creativity, and scholarship; and enrich the world community with meaningful outreach and brilliant cultural offerings.
The Frost School has pioneered new curricula and was the first in the nation to offer professionally accredited Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Business and Music Engineering Technology, and was among the first to offer degrees in Music Therapy, as well as Studio Music and Jazz. Renowned for its Instrumental Performance programs, it is the home of the Frost Chamber Orchestra, Frost Symphony Orchestra, and Frost Concert Jazz Band and is a leader in vocal training with the Frost Opera Theater, Frost Chorale, and other notable choirs.
Frost is the exclusive home of the Frost Experiential Music Curriculum which fully integrates performance, music history, ear training, and composition through chamber music and skills ensembles; the Henry Mancini Institute which provides Frost students with cross-genre performance opportunities in real-world professional settings; the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation’s Ensemble Scholars program which provides free tuition, room and board to 19 academically strong and highly talented undergraduate music students; and the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program which develops the creative skills of talented young artist/songwriters by immersing them in the diverse traditions of American songwriting.
