Five artists-Kenny Burrell, Dick Hyman, Helen Merrill, Bessie Smith and Juan Tizol (the last two posthumously)-have been inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame. The honors took place at an invitation-only event in New York City on June 9.
In addition, vocalist Gregory Porter was presented with the ASCAP Foundation Jazz Vanguard Award.
An inaugural ASCAP Jazz Advocate Award was presented to Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
Presenters and performers included Alan Bergman, Jay Leonhart, Russell Malone, Ted Rosenthal, Vaneese Thomas, Steve Turre and others. The ASCAP Jazz Wall Panel members are: Alan Bergman, Jay Leonhart and Rufus Reid.
The reception also celebrated the recipients of the 2014 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards, established in 2002 to “encourage the jazz creators of the future,” according to a press release. Those awards, states the release, “recognize composers less than 30 years of age whose works are selected through a national competition.”
The 2014 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed with their age, current residence and place of origin: Nii Akwei Adoteye, age 27 of Washington, DC (Alexandria, VA); Michael Caudill, age 22 of Amherst, MA (Loveland, CO); Mike Conrad, age 25 of Waterloo, IA (Arlington Heights, IL); Addison Frei, age 22 of Oviedo, FL (Lawrence, KS); Walter Gorra, age 20 of Glenwood Springs, CO (Glendale, CA); Nicolas Hetko, age 22 of Miami, FL (Albany, NY); Daniel Kaneyuki, age 26 of Fountain Valley, CA (Huntington Beach, CA); Keith Karns, age 28 of Denton, TX (North Pole, Alaska); Martha Kato, age 24 of Brooklyn, NY (Nagoya, Japan); John Kosch, age 20 of Lincoln, NE; Paul Krueger, age 27 of Eugene, OR (Lincoln, NE); Rafael de Lima, age 28 of Miami, FL (Campinas, San Paolo, Brazil); Sara McDonald, age 22 of Brooklyn, NY (Bethesda, MD); Josh Shpak, age 20 of Boston, MA (Walnut Creek, CA); Andrew Schiller, age 24 of Boston, MA (Norfolk, VA); Jeff Schneider, age 26 of New York, NY (Bridgeport, CT); Erica Seguine, age 26 of Bloomfield, NJ (Albany, NY); Todd Simon, age 28 of Annapolis, MD (Dover, DE); Martin Terens, age 28 of New York, NY (Hamburg, Germany); Zan Tetickovic, age 22 of Brooklyn, NY (Ptuj, Slovenia); Zac Zinger, age 25 of Woodside, NY (Sewickley, PA); Christopher Zuar, age 26 of New York, NY; and Nicole Zuraitis, age 29 of Brooklyn, NY (Waterbury, CT).
The youngest ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composers, ages 11 to 18 are: Esteban Castro, age 11 (NY); Michael Orenstein, age 18 of Berkeley, CA (Oberlin, OH); and Tissiana Vallecillo, age 12 (AZ) and Matt Wong, age 15 (CA).
Composers receiving Honorable Mention are: Coyote Anderson, age 25 of New York, NY (Glen Stey, NY); Dominic Bierenga, age 19 of Mount Pleasant, MI (Grand Rapids, MI); Jake Chapman, age 19 of New York, NY (Los Angeles, CA); Jodie Landau, age 21 of Sherman Oaks, CA; David Meder, age 23 of New York, NY (Tampa, FL); Caili O’Doherty, age 22 of New York, NY (Portland, OR); Jeremy Siskind, age 27 of Kalamazoo, MI (Irvine, CA) and Benjamin Tiberio, age 22 of Miami, FL (Rochester, NY).
The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2014 competition were: Ken Hatfield, Rufus Reid and Sachal Vasandani.
