Application and Audition
Each year, a maximum of six Duke Ellington jazz charts are released and auditioning bands must record three of them for competition entry. To submit an application for competition in the actual festival, band directors may choose to record their band playing the music under a written criteria. The audition recordings are then sent to Lincoln Center, where a judging panel picks the top fifteen bands through a blind screening process. Bands are also given the option of sending tapes in for 'comments only'. This means that the recordings will not be scored, but will have adjudicator comments sent back to the director for band improvement.
For the 2008-2009 year, Jazz at Lincoln Center released three Benny Carter charts, along with three other Ellington compositions. This was the first time in festival history that the repertoire was opened up to works composed by someone outside of Ellington's orchestra. For the next three years, the chart selection followed the same format: three Ellington charts and three charts from another composer:
- 2009: Benny Carter
- 2010: Mary Lou Williams
- 2011: Count Basie
- 2012: Dizzy Gillespie
For the 2013 competition, Essentially Ellington returned to its original format of six Ellington charts.
To ensure fairer opportunities for bands new to the process, only the top five of the bands that participated in the past two years are selected to return. Once the finalists are announced, clinicians are sent to each of the finalist schools to provide an in-depth jazz workshop and refine the bands for competition. The clinicians are usually members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
The competition also allows bands composed of students from multiple schools to enter as "conglomerate groups". These bands are grouped into Category C of the competition, and the winner of the Conglomerate Band Award receives a free workshop from a clinician from Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Read more about this topic: Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition And Festival
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