University of Kansas invited to compete at the 2022 Jack Rudin Jazz Championship at Lincoln Center

Jazz Ensemble I

 

UPDATE 3/1/2022: The Jack Rudin Jazz Championship has been postponed and will now take place April 19-20 rather than January 10-11. The article has been update to include the most recent information.

LAWRENCE – The 2021 DownBeat Award-winning Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dan Gailey, has been invited to compete at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship at Lincoln Center in April 2022.

Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) announced its second annual Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, a two-day invitational competition featuring ensembles from ten of the most well-regarded university jazz programs in the country. Students will perform on the Rose Theater stage on April 19-20, 2022, throughout Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The Jack Rudin Jazz Championship honors the legacy of Jack Rudin, longtime supporter of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and his founding support for Essentially Ellington, the organization’s signature transformative education program. Launched in 2020, right before the pandemic, the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship provides participating ensembles with quality literature and a forum for celebrating excellence and achievement, while introducing higher education to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education methodology and philosophy—extending JALC’s educational mission into the sphere of professional development for the next generation of leading jazz artists. 

The 2022 competition will be judged by a panel of leading jazz performers, composers, and educators: Ayn Inserto, Camille Thurman, Jeff Hamilton, Randy Brecker, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis. 

On April 19, the Combo Showcase will take place in the Appel Room at 7:00 p.m. On April 20, Competition Part I will happen from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and Part II is from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Rose Theater. At 7:30 p.m. in Rose Theater, the final concert will include the final round of competition, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performance, and the awards ceremony. 

Tickets for all the performances can be purchased at: https://bit.ly/3xTBPJl. 

The ten ensembles competing in the 2022 Jack Rubin Jazz Championship come from the following colleges and universities: 

  • Brigham Young University (Provo, UT) 
  • California State University, Fullerton (Fullerton, CA) 
  • Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, IN) 
  • Michigan State University College of Music (East Lansing, MI) 
  • North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC) 
  • Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) 
  • University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS) 
  • University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Cincinnati, OH) 
  • University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) 
  • University of North Carolina Greensboro (Greensboro, NC) 

Travel to the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship has been sponsored via a matching grant from Reach Out Kansas, Inc. and the Law Offices of Smithyman and Zakoura.