The Competition

Young jazz pianists, age 15-18, submitted audio tapes or CDs of their performance of three tunes each; a panel of judges blindly reviewed the submissions and selected two students as winners of $500 scholarships and finalists for the Performance Award. This year the finalists performed in front of an esteemed trio of local pianist/educators—Jeanne Arland Peterson, Mary Louise Knutson, and Tanner Taylor. (Jeanne has served as a judge at each of the four competitions!) For the finals, held on the stage of the Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis before an audience of families, friends and other jazz fans, each pianist performed three pieces, two with a combo comprised of bassist Gordon Johnson and drummer Phil Hey, and one solo. Following each finalist, judges provided constructive comments.  New Schubert Club Director Kathleen Van Bergen served as host. Awards were presented by Dakota owner (and founder of the Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education) Lowell Pickett (The Jane Matteson Performance Award), Stephen Paulus (The David Paulus Memorial Scholarship) and John Froehlich (The Marie Froehlich Memorial Scholarship). 

The Winners

         

         Joe Strachan, age 17, is completing his junior year at Northfield High School. He started playing piano as a second grader, but says “I was getting less into it as time went on, especially regular practicing (30 minutes every day, yuck). And when I quit classical piano I turned to jazz, and basically stumbled by chance into some phenomenal teachers --Ethan Frier, Denny Malmberg, and Laura Caviani, who were kind enough to steer me in the right direction.” Joe continues to study with Laura Caviani, and notes that his favorite pianists include Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and of course, Laura Caviani. And “I love Mingus, as a composer/piano player, especially that Mingus Plays Piano album.” He adds, “As an improviser, however, my favorite musician is saxophonist Michael Lewis [Happy Apple, Fat Kid Wednesdays] and my teacher, Laura Caviani. She’s da bomb!”  Joe’s performed with his own trio over the years and has participated in his school jazz programs for the past five years. He also plays in other area combos and has be part of the Minnesota Youth Jazz Bands for two years.  One of the reasons Joe entered the Jazz Piano Scholarship Competition was the chance to play at the Dakota. “I really wanted to play at the Dakota, and it gave me a reason to drop some names and kinda sneak into a nice recording studio and make a demo, which was a huge learning experience. Every time I play and can hear myself,  I learn new things about what I can do better as a performer...I learned a lot about composing myself and relaxing before performing.”  Joe has another year of high school ahead. In the meantime, he plans to “keep on absorbing all that I can from all possible sources, not only jazz, and hopefully I can find a clear voice on my instrument. Going to college will be helpful, but I don't really know where I want to go. Maybe Indiana University.” 

Jacob Wittenberg was no stranger to the Jazz Piano Scholarship Competition, having been a finalist in 2006. Now a graduating senior at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights and student of Tom Pletscher, he started playing classical piano at age 5 “after my parents heard me tinkering on a friend’s piano.” After studying classical piano for nine years, including some jazz transcriptions, he “switched over to jazz study with Tom Pletscher, and my interest in jazz took off.”  McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea have been Jacob’s sources of inspiration.  “In my improvisation, I try to combine the power and intrigue of McCoy Tyner with the funky and creative sounds of Hancock and Corea...As of late, I’ve been listening to a lot of Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Frank Zappa, and Radiohead.” When Jacob first saw the scholarship competition a few years ago, he “was really impressed with the talent of each musician.  Their playing inspired me to enter the competition...Participating in this year’s contest advanced my playing ability.  In order to get in shape for the contest, I practiced more than I’d ever practiced before, and it really paid off.  It was also an awesome experience getting to play on the Dakota stage, and getting to hear Joe play is always a treat.” For the past year, Jacob has held the piano chair for the Dakota Combo, an all-star ensemble sponsored by the MacPhail Center for Music and Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education. Other experiences have included summer jazz programs at the Eastman School for Music and University of Massachusetts, the Minnesota Youth Jazz Band I, the All-State Jazz Band, and a jazz combo with fellow teen musicians from the metro area. This fall, Jacob heads west to pursue “a degree in the Music, Science, and Technology Program at Stanford, which means that I’ll be delving into the physics of sound.  I will also continue my jazz studies at Stanford and will hopefully gig around a bit.  Music has been a defining characteristic of my life for the last 4 years, and I hope to mix the performance aspects of jazz with some of the recording/technological parts.” 

The upcoming Twin Cities Jazz Festival (aka Hot Summer Jazz Festival) offers more opportunities to hear the best of young jazz musicians from across the metro area and beyond. At Mears Park on the first festival weekend, student ensembles from the Walker West Music Academy perform on Saturday afternoon, June 21st.  Across the river on Peavy Plaza, there will be two afternoons and evenings of performances by youth and music school bands on the final festival weekend, June 28-29. The Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education/MacPhail Center for Music Youth Stage will feature high school and middle school bands, the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth band, the final performance of the 07-08 Dakota Combo, and Joe Strachan and Jacob Wittenberg performing with MacPhail faculty. Visit the festival website for full schedule. 

Young jazz musicians are encouraged to consider the Dakota Combo auditions in September (information at www.dakotacombo.com) and the 2009 scholarship program (watch www.dfje.org for details).