The annual competition enters its seventh year of recognizing and supporting top rising jazz band talent from around the globe
WASHINGTON D.C. – June 24, 2021 — The DC Jazz Festival® (DCJF) today announced the three bands selected as the 2021 DCJazzPrix™ Finalists, all of whom will perform Sunday, September 5, 2021 during the DCJazzPrix Finals at Union Stage, part of the 17th Annual DC JazzFest. Tickets will be available for purchase starting on Friday, June 25th for $15 and for $20 the day-of-show with standing and seated general admission on a first-come-first-serve basis. The band finalists are the Giveton Gelin Quintet, Camilla George, and Dayramir Gonzalez & Habana enTRANCé.
Giveton Gelin
Quintet: Since age 10, Giveton Gelin taught
himself to play the trumpet simply by emulating his favorite
records. After years of self-tutelage, bassist Adrian D’Aguila began
to mentor him, providing Giveton the tools to play jazz. Later on, Nassau,
Bahamas-born trumpeter would study with Dr. Eddie Henderson at the Oberlin
Conservatory. That same year, he received recognition at the Young Arts
Foundation, and was selected for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program.
Thereafter, he continued his studies at the Juilliard School-- expecting to
graduate in 2021. In the span of three years, Gelin has played with
some of the leaders of the NY jazz scene, including Curtis Lundy, Bobby Watson,
Roy Hargrove, Sullivan Fortner, Wynton Marsalis, Ben Wolfe, and Jon Batiste.
Additionally, the 21-year-old trumpeter has received tutelage from some of the
world’s greatest, including Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Ralph Peterson,
and Giveton was a protege of the late, Roy Hargrove. Giveton was awarded the
2020 LetterOne Rising Star Jazz Award, and ASCAP's Herb Alpert Award.
Ultimately, Gelin's artistic vision is to pay tribute to the ancestors, and
unify others by incorporating universal human experiences into sound. Through
his quintet, the young trumpeter brings forth a new narrative to jazz music.
The group includes pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Phillip Norris, drummer Kyle
Benford, and 2021 DCJF LetterOne Rising Star artist Immanuel Wilkins on alto
saxophone.
Camilla
George: An alto saxophonist born in Eket, Nigeria, Camilla has been
interested in music from an early age and particularly in the fusion of African
and Western musics. She grew up listening to Nigerian legend Fela alongside
alto sax masters Jackie McLean and Charlie Parker. She began playing the
saxophone when she was 11 years old upon winning a music contest and won
saxophone lessons. Camilla went on to study with many jazz greats such as
saxophonist, Jean Toussaint (of Art Blakey Jazz Messengers fame), Julian
Siegal, and Martin Speake at Trinity College of Music where she gained a
master’s in jazz performance. In 2014 Camilla formed her own critically
acclaimed project showcasing the stars of the new UK Jazz Scene. Dubbed “The
Golden Girl of Jazz” by The Evening Standard, Camilla’s debut
album, ‘Isang’ (pronounced E-SANG which means journey in Ibibio her native
language) received huge critical acclaim. Her follow up album, “The People
Could Fly” which was released in September 2018, featuring special guest Omar
as well as in-demand guitarist of the moment, Shirley Tetteh, has already
garnered substantial critical acclaim with 4 star reviews from the Financial
Times and Jazzwise magazine to name a few. The album and Camilla have been
featured on several key playlists such as State of Jazz, and Camilla is the
poster girl for Tidal’s British Jazz playlist. Camilla’s love of
fusing African and Western musics to make her own unique style is a key reason
why she is a firm fixture on the new London Jazz scene alongside peers such as Nubya
Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings and Zara McFarlane. Her music is a hypnotizing blend
of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz. Camilla’s music is politically minded,
reflecting African history and slavery in particular. Her band consists of
pianist Sarah Tandy, guitarist Shirley Tetteh, bassist Daniel Casimir and
DC-native Rod Youngs on drums.
Dayramir Gonzalez & Habana enTRANCé: Dayramir González &
Habana enTRANCé is a project developed in 2004 in Havana, Cuba,with a mission
of bringing Afro-Cuban jazz to the forefront of popular music by crafting music
that is intellectual, yet accessible. This project is a dynamic force of piano,
bass, drums, percussion, with one central goal: to create an engaging and
unforgettable musical experience. Habana enTRANCé's leader and visionary is
pianist Dayramir Gonzalez, a showman who lives for the audience, an
internationally lauded pianist and composer that has been hailed for his
"monster technique" and prolific creativity, a range which melds
rock, classical, jazz and Afro-Cuban stylings.
DCJazzPrix, an international competition created to recognize and
support top emerging jazz band talent, was launched in 2016 and since then has
received a rapidly growing and diverse applicant response. The Jury considered
a highly competitive pool of applicants and evaluated these gifted, emerging
bands on their artistic quality and merit when selecting the finalists.
Each band will receive benefits associated with a major jazz festival
performance opportunity, and the finalists will compete live during the DCJazzPrix Finals at
the DC JazzFest at The Wharf. Audience response will be a factor in
the Jury’s determination of the winner. Aside from gaining significant
exposure, the winning band will begin a yearlong association with the DC Jazz
Festival to include: a $15,000 grand prize, customized business development and
career impact services, extensive publicity training, and a highly visible 2022
DC JazzFest engagement with commensurate compensation.
“The interaction of musicians in a band context is at the core of the jazz
aesthetic. It is exciting to help ‘discover’ and promote the careers of
emerging jazz artists committed to the creative and professional development of
their excellent bands,” said DC Jazz Festival Executive Director Sunny Sumter.
“DCJazzPrix is unique in that it recognizes bands over soloists. It
allows jazz artists to concentrate on band development on multiple fronts,
increase performance opportunities, and sustain their collective output.”
DCJazzPrix program is made possible by the generous support of The Leonard
and Elaine Silverstein Family Foundation. The DCJazzPrix prize is made possible
by the generous support of Conrad Kenley, and the Galena-Yorktown Foundation.
Tickets will be available for purchase starting Friday, June 25th and
more information about attending the event can be found at dcjazzfest.org/dcjazzprix.
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