Musicians often get their starts slowly.
Word of mouth builds, and shows attract buzz ““ maybe a magazine gets interested. After a while, record labels might just start knocking.
But there’s another way to kick off a musical career. For some, it comes in one fell swoop by implanting their music in the minds of record executives, possible collaborators, and fans in an instant. When it comes to this kind of start, there’s no better way than performing at a highly televised, music-veteran judged, international competition.
The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’s annual competition, to be held for the first time in Los Angeles this Saturday in Schoenberg Hall, is the world’s most renowned jazz competition. The featured instrument changes each year; this time around, the focus is the trumpet. The goal: to find the leaders of the next generation of trumpet players.
“Students at UCLA will get to see the next Wynton Marsalis, or Herb Alpert, or Quincy Jones. This competition can launch careers,” said Tom Carter, the institute’s president.
Those potential careers are due, in part, to the high-profile nature of the competition. Drawing an international field of applicants, the festival is both advertised in magazines that reach the jazz-performing community and covered on mainstream outlets.
“Performers come from all around the world. This year, we have trumpeters from Ukraine, Australia, Greece and Haiti, among others,” Carter said.
With the festival’s widespread reputation, one of the first challenges organizers face is deciding who gets to compete. From an original pool of hundreds of applicants, judges select 10 performers. Congregating in Schoenberg Hall, the competitors perform in front of a band, selling their wares to the some of the most revered names in the history of the trumpet.
“The judges look at creativity of solos and improvisation, how the performers react to the band and communicate with the band, what sort of sound the trumpeters have, what their presence on stage is like, and their sound selection,” Carter said.
No judges could be more qualified. Comprising some of jazz trumpet’s most revered performers, the panel includes Quincy Jones, Herb Alpert, Terence Blanchard, Hugh Masekela, Clark Terry and Roy Hargrove.
Luckily for the performers, the legends might have more on their minds than judging. Invoking the jazz tradition, the festival provides an opportunity for the competitors to develop partnerships with the established musicians.
“For the judges, this is a chance to take on a mentoring role. For the competitors, they can form lifelong partnerships,” Carter said.
A tribute concert for Herbie Hancock, the venerated jazz pianist who has spent much of his career with trumpeters, will also take place and the performance will feature an all-star cast including Joni Mitchell, Sting, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau, Nancy Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Chris Botti, George Duke, George Benson, Terence Blanchard and Roy Hargrove.