Marshall University and the Nu Jazz Agency will present the Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition June 22-23 on Marshall’s Huntington campus. Among the largest competitions of its type in the world, the competition will be a triennial event in Huntington, offering an awards package of more than $200,000 in cash and prizes.
Named for NEA Jazz Master, educator and patriarch of “America’s First Family of Jazz” Ellis Marsalis, the international piano competition will take place in conjunction with the inaugural Huntington International Jazz Festival June 19-23.
“I am very proud and honored to be presenting this competition in partnership with Marshall University,” Marsalis said. “In addition to being the only university in the world with their own building dedicated exclusively to the study of jazz, Marshal University also has the type of program and support from the community that can truly make a difference to the way this music is presented.”
The jazz piano competition will be a two-day contest involving four separate performance segments designed to challenge competitors’ abilities across different genres, styles and formats of the jazz idiom. These rounds will be judged by Ellis Marsalis himself, as well as Arturo O’Farrill, Jon Batiste and special guest judge Branford Marsalis. The judges will select first, second and third place winners. These winners, along with winners for “Best Rendition of an Ellis Marsalis Song” and “Best Original Composition,” will be determined after an intensive series of competition segments designed to demonstrate performance at the highest level and to showcase the broad range of skills necessary to be a pianist of the “first call” in jazz.
The first segment is “New Orleans Heritage,” testing each pianist’s skills in trio format on tunes not only from Ellis Marsalis, but from the songbooks of fellow New Orleans contemporaries such as Harold Batiste, James Black, Alvin Batiste and Nat Perillat. The second segment is called “Plus One,” which will challenge the pianist to accompany both a singer and instrumentalist in bodies of work from the American Songbook. The pieces to be performed will be randomly selected from sealed envelopes, on stage in front of a live audience, immediately before they perform.
The third segment, “Solo Piano,” will require contestants to play a ballad and a Latin Jazz piece. The fourth and final segment is called “The Trio.” Each competitor will be required to perform one blues piece, one jazz bebop standard and one original composition.
The winner will receive a $25,000 cash prize; a record contract with ELM Records; and management, marketing, booking and promotions assistance from Nu Jazz Agency. First prize also includes guaranteed performance opportunities from a bevy of venues and festivals around the world, including a night at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York, SOUTH Jazz Bistro in Philadelphia, the San Jose Jazz Festival in California and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans. The second-place winner will receive $10,000 and the third-place winner will receive $5,000. They also will receive national and international performance opportunities.
The competition will set a new standard for top-tier jazz competitions, said Jerald Miller, executive director of the competition and managing director of the Nu Jazz Agency.
“This competition is designed to find true talent and to build truly substantive careers, regardless of the age range or sex of competitors, as long as they meet the entry requirements,” Miller said. This competition aims to enhance careers of outstanding musicians “by providing a combination of essential industry and career supports such as recording, management and promotion, and performance opportunities at major venues and international jazz festivals, in addition to a substantial cash prize award.”
Marshall is an ideal place for this event because of its commitment to jazz education.
“Changing lives and inspiring extraordinary futures is what we do at Marshall University, and we’ve been doing it through our jazz curriculum for many years,” said Marshall University President Jerome A. Gilbert. “Although jazz music originated early in the 20th Century, this truly American art form remains relevant in our times, demanding collaboration, creativity and flexibility. These skills are vital for tomorrow’s leaders and entrepreneurs and students of jazz, whether they become professional musicians or pursue other career opportunities, putting these skills to use daily to improvise boldly and to adapt to new environments.”
Marshall University’s jazz studies program offers 13 jazz courses and degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level. They are housed in the Jomie Jazz Center, a 12,700-square-foot facility with classrooms, practice rooms, media facilities, a recording studio, a rehearsal hall and performance spaces dedicated to the study of jazz. Courses focus on performance, arranging, history, music technology and production. Marshall has hosted guest artists including 26-time DownBeat Critics’ and Readers’ Poll award-winner Steve Turre, Ashlin Parker, and Marsalis, giving students chances to engage and interact with masters of the music.
“Ellis Marsalis has been such a huge icon in jazz music and as the patriarch of the Marsalis family, but of even greater impact has been his work in jazz education for many, many years,” said Dr. Martin Saunders, director of jazz studies and professor of trumpet at Marshall. “Having an endorsement of his trust for this program is a great honor for me.”
For more information on the Ellis Marsalis International Jazz Piano Competition, visit www.jazzpianocompetition.org or contact Saunders by e-mail at m.saunders@marshall.edu.