Saxophonist Remy Le Boeuf has received the fifth annual ASCAP Foundation/Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize, created in honor of the late keyboardist and composer George Duke—an ASCAP board member and SJO co-founder.
Le Boeuf, who is 33, co-leads the Le Boeuf Brothers with his piano-playing twin brother Pascal; the group has released four albums to date. He also has a solo career, and in May 2019 he released his first album as sole leader, Light as a Word, on Outside In Records. That album was followed in November by a big-band release, Assembly of Shadows. As a sideman, he’s worked with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Dayna Stephens, Alan Ferber, Dave Liebman, Linda Oh, Donny McCaslin, and others. He will perform his commissioned work at the ASCAP Foundation/SJO’s free concert at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, Calif., in 2020 and 2021.
This is not Le Boeuf’s first commission. Previously he has composed works for SFJAZZ, the Jerome Foundation, and the New York Youth Symphony.
The ASCAP Foundation/SJO prize is made possible in part by a grant from the ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Fund and the SJO’s Commissioning Club.
“Thank you for this wonderful opportunity,” Le Boeuf said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working with the members of SJO.”
