Free Show for Hundreds of Monterey County School Music Students at Monterey County Fairgrounds, Thursday, September 26
Walnut Creek, Calif. Trumpeter Bryce Hayashi Wins Gerald Wilson Award
Bassist Nick Isherwood from Medical Lake, Wash. Named 2019 Jimmy Lyons Scholar to Berklee College of Music
Monterey, Calif; September 17, 2019; Monterey Jazz Festival kicks off the weekend’s activities on Thursday, September 26 with another edition of the “Concert on the Lawn” with Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra (NGJO) performing a free 45-minute concert for 500 Monterey County students. The concert will start at 11am that day at the Garden Stage at the Monterey County Fair & Event Center.
The concert is part of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s commitment to inspire the discovery and celebration of jazz.
The 21 students in the NGJO represent the nation’s most talented high school musicians from eight states and were selected through robust online auditions, judged by professional jazz artists and educators. Students are from California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina. Read the full list of NGJO members.
In addition, six women musicians have been selected to the 2019 NGJO, a milestone for the band. This year’s musicians include Summer Camargo (trumpet, Dillard Center for the Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Jayla Chee (bass, Carlmont High School, Belmont, Calif.); Zion Dyson (vocal, The Bishop’s School, San Diego, Calif.); Serena Geroe (guitar, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, Calif.); Kellin Hanas (trumpet, Wheaton North High School, Wheaton, Ill.); and Veronica Leahy (alto saxophone, Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, N.C.).
The 2019 NGJO recently performed in British Columbia, Canada at the TD Victoria International JazzFest and TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington.
In addition to performing the Concert on the Lawn, the NGJO will appear at a Rotary Club of Monterey event and an evening performance at MJF’s Jazz Legends Gala at the Tehama Golf Club in Carmel, honoring Kenny Barron and Dave Holland on September 26. The NGJO also performs with MJF62 Artists-in-Residence Allison Miler and Derrick Hodge on the Arena’s Jimmy Lyons Stage on Sunday, September 29, and throughout the Grounds during the three-day Festival.
Monterey Jazz Festival invests over $900,000 annually in its education programs which includes jazz clinics in schools, Summer Jazz Camp, the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and more.
Bryce Hayashi Wins 2019 Gerald Wilson Award
Established in 2005, Monterey Jazz Festival’s the Big Band Composition Competition has honored high school composers with the Gerald Wilson Award, named in honor of the late legendary composer, arranger and trumpeter who was a friend of Monterey Jazz Festival for many years. Compositions are judged by college-level music faculty, and the winning piece is performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Trumpeter Bryce Hayashi, 16, is a student at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, California. He is a member of the award-winning Northgate Jazz Band and the highly-acclaimed SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Big Band. In 2018, Bryce played lead trumpet with the California All-State High School Honor Jazz Band, and in 2017 he held the lead trumpet chair in the California All-State Middle School Honor Jazz Band. His winning piece, “The Place I Call Home” will be performed by the 2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra on the Jimmy Lyons Stage on Sunday, September 29. Read more here.
Nick Isherwood Named as the 2019 Jimmy Lyons Scholar to Berklee College of Music
Established in 1995, the Lyons Scholarship is named in honor of Monterey Jazz Festival’s late founder, James L. (Jimmy) Lyons, who started the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958. Upon satisfactory academic and musical progress in each successive year, the Lyons Scholars can attend Berklee entirely tuition-free. Read more about Berklee and Monterey.
The 2019 Jimmy Lyons Scholar, Nick Isherwood, is a jazz bassist from Medical Lake, Washington, a small town just outside of Spokane. His private teachers include Kim Plewniak and Scott Steed. Isherwood was selected as the top bassist out of six competing states to perform with the National Association for Music Education All Northwest Jazz Band in 2016. After high school, Isherwood received a scholarship to attend the University of Northern Colorado as a jazz studies major, where he studied with Erik Applegate and Nicholas Recuber. Nick begins his studies at Berklee in September 2019 and will attend the 62nd Monterey Jazz Festival for the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship presentation on Sunday September 29 at 1:30pm on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena, and to sit in with the Berklee Global Jazz Ambassadors, led this year by saxophonist Prof. George Garzone. Read more here.
2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra
Paul Contos, Director
WOODWINDS
Veronica Leahy, alto / Charlotte Latin School, Charlotte, N.C.
Ian Munoz, alto** / New World School of the Arts, Miami, Fla.
Daiki Nakajima, tenor / Prospect High School, Saratoga, Calif. (MJF62)
Makoto Yorihiro, tenor / Century Academy High School, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Dylan McHann, tenor / Gibbs High School, St. Petersburg, Fla. (Summer tour)
Jason Arkins, baritone** / Carmel High School, Carmel Hamlet, N.Y.
TRUMPETS
Summer Camargo, split lead / Dillard High School, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Grady Flamm, split lead / Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, Calif.
Ethan Pires / Northgate High School, Walnut Creek, Calif.
Kellin Hanas / Wheaton North High School, Wheaton, Ill.
Ethan Avery** / Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, Santa Monica, Calif.
TROMBONES
Ilai Macaggi / Green Valley High School, Henderson, Nev.
Leo Markel*** / Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Benjamin Conn** / Agoura High School, Agoura Hills, Calif.
Sam Keedy** / Denver School of the Arts, Denver, Colo.
Joe Turgeon** (bass) / Jesuit High School, Sacramento, Calif.
RHYTHM
Esteban Castro, piano / Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, N.J.
Serena Geroe, guitar / Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, Calif.
Jayla Chee, bass / Carlmont High School, Belmont, Calif.
Peter Glynn, drums** / Columbia High School, Maplewood, N.J.
Zion Dyson, vocal / The Bishop’s School, San Diego, Calif.
** 2-year NGJO Member
*** 3-year NGJO Member
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For more information, high-resolution photographs and interviews, please contact:
Timothy Orr, Marketing Associate
Monterey Jazz Festival
Direct Line: 831.646.8670
Monterey Phone: 831.373.3366
[email protected]
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Monterey Jazz Festival is honored to receive support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, NEA Art Works, North Coast Brewing Company, Scheid Family Wines, Blue Note at Sea, Inns of Monterey, Yamaha, Medcom Solutions, Taylor Farms, Macy’s, Blue Microphones, Montage Health, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Kind Bars, El Jefe Tequila, Tahoe Blue Vodka, Geico, Sanctuary Vacation Rentals, Vibes Earplugs, Alvarez Technology Group, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Naturipe, MogoARTS Marketing, Remo, KSBW/ABC/EstrellaTV, DownBeat, JazzTimes, KAZU, SmoothJazz.com Global, Monterey Herald, KSQD, STAR Sanitation Services, and Mission Linen Supply.