ASCAP Foundation Announces 2020 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers

The ASCAP Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2020 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. The program was established in 2002 to encourage young gifted jazz composers up to the age of 30. It carries the name of the great trumpeter and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation's multi-year financial commitment to the program. The recipients, who receive cash awards, range in age from 17 to 29 and are selected through a juried national competition.

"Jazz is one of our most vital art forms and the recipients of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards carry its innovative spirit into the future," said ASCAP Foundation President, Paul Williams. "We are grateful to the Herb Alpert Foundation for helping us to recognize and encourage these young music creators and congratulate them on their success."

The 2020 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed below with their age, current residence and place of origin. The youngest winners are listed with their age and state of residence:

David Bernot, age 25 of Denver, CO (Gilbert, AZ); Eri Chichibu, age 27 of Boston, MA (Miyagi Japan); Eddie Codrington, age 23 of Kalamazoo, MI (Ann Arbor, MI); Grace Corsi, age 23 of Los Angeles, CA (Seattle, WA); Angelo Di Loreto, age 29 of New York, NY (Buffalo, NY); Eliana Fishbeyn age 24 of New York, NY (Chapel Hill, NC); Shimon Gambourg, age 24 of Brooklyn, NY (Tel Aviv, Israel); Giveton Gelin, Age 20 of New York, NY (Nassau, Bahamas); Bryce Hayashi, age 17 of California; Jisu Jung, age 25 of Boston, MA (Seoul, Korea); Takumi Kakimoto, age 25 of Boston, MA (Himeji, Japan); Dave Meder, age 29 of Corinth, TX (Tampa, FL); Zachary Rich, age 26 of Greeley, CO (Witchita, KS); Rin Seo, age 29 of Long Island City, NY (Seoul, South Korea); Jueun Seok, age 27 of Rochester, NY (Seoul, South Korea); Matthew Thomson, age 25 of Boston, MA (Sydney, Australia); Elliott Turner, age 24 of Greeley, CO (Tacoma, WA); Gary (Kaiji) Wang, age 24 of Rochester, NY (Beijing, China); Matthew Whitaker, age 18 of Hackensack, NJ; and Drew Zaremba, age 28 of Greeley, CO (Yorba Linda, CA).

Composers receiving Honorable Mention this year are: Michael Echaniz, age 25 of Oakland, CA; Chase Kuesel, age 25 of Brooklyn, NY (Norwalk, CT); and Martina Liviero, age 28 of Brooklyn, NY (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

Through a partnership with the Newport Festival Foundation, one of this year's Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards recipients will be featured on stage at the 2020 Newport Jazz Festival, slated for August 7- 9 in Newport, RI.

The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2020 competition were: Hilary Kole, Keyon Harrold, and Oscar Perez.

Additional funding for this program is provided by The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund.