The hugely successful, high-powered and influential partnership between Yamaha in association with Jazzwise, PPL and the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group continues into a record fourth year of a Jazz Scholarship programme that has provided financial assistance, performance and recording opportunities to a new generation of young jazz musicians, nominated for special consideration by the Heads of Jazz at six of the UK’s leading conservatoires/universities.
This year the six jazz scholars to benefit from the scheme comprise Andrew Linham, an alto saxophonist studying at Leeds College of Music; drummer David Hamblett, a student at the Royal Academy of Music; pianists Dougie Freeman, studying at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Chris Gilligan from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama; Peter Randall who studies Double Bass at Trinity College of Music and Lluis Mather who studies tenor saxophone at Birmingham Conservatoire.
All six scholarship winners who are about to leave college will each receive £1000 to help set themselves up as they embark on their new musical careers. More importantly they have also been given the opportunity to perform live at the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group’s annual ‘Summer Jazz’ event in association with Jazzwise and PPL in the Atlee Suite, Portcullis House, House of Commons on Wednesday 14th July, 7:30 – 9:30pm, where award winning jazz broadcaster Helen Mayhew, Yamaha Education Liaison Manager Bill Martin and Yamaha Senior Director Mike Ketley will present the Scholarships to the six award winners.
Guests at the event will include Members of Parliament from both Houses who are interested in jazz, along with invitees from the jazz community, press and venue operators. In addition to the £1000 scholarship and unique platform of a performance at the Palace of Westminster, all six Scholarship Award winners will have the opportunity to feature alongside some of Yamaha’s most highly respected and established jazz artists on ‘The Yamaha New Jazz Sessions 2010’ promotional CD, sponsored by Yamaha Music UK, to be recorded and cover-mounted on Jazzwise magazine’s Xmas and New Year double issue, with the chance to perform live at the CD launch at London’s internationally renowned ‘606’ Jazz Club. Previous year’s highly acclaimed ‘Yamaha New Jazz 2 of 2 Sessions’ CDs produced by Andy Ross at Astar Studios have included tracks by Yamaha artists Leanne Carroll, Nigel Hitchcock, Julian Joseph, Gwilym Simcock, Jason Rebello and Ryan Quigley, who will perform live at the ‘Summer Jazz’ event with ‘Brass Jaw’. The CD series is expected to top 45,000 copies circulated since its debut release in 2008, amounting to one of the most significant jazz albums of the year and following the 2009 recordings Yamaha Jazz Scholar Kit Downes invited Andy Ross to produce his debut trio album Golden’ (Basho), featuring 2008 Jazz Scholar Callum Gourlay on double bass, that received 4 star reviews from the Guardian and Observer jazz critics.
The annual scheme jointly sponsored by Yamaha Music UK Ltd in association with Jazzwise is designed to support young emerging jazz musicians by providing valuable funding and important marketing support through performance and recording opportunities.
Yamaha’s Senior Director Mike Ketley commented, “These innovative scholarships have further extended our relationship with Jazzwise, PPL and the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group. We are committed to the promotion of Jazz Performance and these scholarships complement our many other music education and student support initiatives. What better way to support the studies and showcase the talent of the UK’s finest upcoming young Jazz musicians than through financial assistance, live performance and the recording opportunity that features them alongside major artists in the jazz world on the cover of the UK’s biggest selling jazz magazine.”