San Diego's Chase Morrin was awarded the Jazz Education Network's (JEN) 2015 Student Composition Showcase winner at JEN's January 7-10, 2015 conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. His composition "Three Brahmin" was one of 4 works chosen by a panel of 4 adjudicators from 24 submissions and was performed at the conference by the world-renowed, Washington D.C.-based Alan Blaylock Orchestra. Chase is no newcomer to awards, especially since he had a small combo composition win at the 2012 JEN conference! The JEN Student Composition Showcase, designed to spotlight young jazz composers, gives students an opportunity to have an original composition recognized and performed at the International level. The winners of the 2015 competition also had the newly added benefit of a private mentoring session with a leader in the Jazz field. Chase's reaction to the award,
"This year was especially exciting and different than the 2012 JEN, first, because my big band chart won apposed to a small combo piece. This meant Alan's Orchestra played my piece which was a real privilege. Second, this year they paired the composers with mentors to chat about music, the future, etc. I was paired with Ellen Rowe. She was incredibly kind and gave me some great advice. I really enjoyed talking with her. "
Before heading back to continue his studies at Harvard, Chase will be performing at Dizzy's San Diego TONIGHT, Friday, 1/16 at 8pm with the trio he performed with during a separate session at the JEN conference, including Justin Grinnell bass and Charlie Weller drums.
Here is the performance of Chase's winning piece "Three Brahmin" by the Alan Blaylock Orchestra,
READ THE FULL ARTICLE for your chance to comment and send shout-outs to Chase, along with more information about his winning piece and the JEN Student Composition Showcase