Carnival of Soul

“When I first heard about the Rising Stars Jazz award and was asked to be on the jury for it I was super excited because I had seen so many talented musicians over the years not getting the right support and not developing according to their abilities. This award gives them the platform and publicity to excel and achieve on a European level.” Jamie Cullum

Danish pianist Kathrine Windfeld and American trumpeter Giveton Gelin have just been announced as the respective winners for the European and North American editions of the annual LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award. The two winners were selected from over 700 artist submissions with a shortlist of 25 chosen by festival directors. This year’s winners, Kathrine Windfeld and Giveton Gelin were chosen from the shortlist by a professional jury chaired by ten-time Grammy award winning artist George Benson. Accompanying Mr Benson on jury duty for this year’s awards were senior Arts Editor at the Guardian, Imogen Tilden, radio host Alex Dutilh and Mikhail Fridman as representative for LetterOne. Previous jury members include Grammy award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, UK Jazz superstar Jamie Cullum and former festival director André Menard among others.

For anyone who loves and champions jazz, it is gratifying to discover an award that supports emerging talent so superbly. This jazz award, now in its third year, is sponsored and backed by businessman Mikhail Fridman who is also the founder of one of the world’s top jazz festivals, the Leopolis Jazz Festival in Lviv, Ukraine.

This year’s Rising Stars award ceremony was hosted by inimitable musician and TV presenter Jools Holland with an evening of performances from past winners of the award (Tom Ibarra, Sasha Berliner and Adrien Brandeis), alongside appearances by established musicians Jamie Cullum, China Moses and Sarah McKenzie. The first winner of a Rising Star award, eighteen-year-old French guitarist Tom Ibarra, who won in 2017 and US vibes player Sasha Berliner, a winner in 2018, offered sublime performances demonstrating why they were previous award winners.

LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award is much more than a prestigious award for emerging jazz musicians in Europe and North America. The aim of this award is to have a lasting professional impact on the winners by booking high level gigs and providing practical support in the way of marketing and PR offered by Air Artists Agency.

The winning artists (one in Europe and one in North America) are given gigs at seven major international festivals in Europe and ten in the United States. The North American edition of the award will secure bookings for Giveton Gelin at ten high profile festivals including the Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, DC Jazz Fest in Washington, SF Jazz in San Francisco, Monterey Jazz Festival, Coastal Jazz & Blues Society, TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival, Earshot Jazzfestival Seattle and the CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival. Kathrine Windfeld will perform at Love Supreme, UK, Leopolis Jazz Fest, Ukraine, Kongsberg Jazzfestival, Norway, Nice Jazzfestival, France, Umbria Jazz, Italy, Jazzopen Stuttgart, Germany and Festival de Jazz de Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain.

This year’s European winner, Danish pianist and composer Kathrine Windfeld, is one of the most exciting new Scandinavian jazz composers and arrangers. After completing her music studies in Copenhagen and the Malmö Academy of Music in 2014, she founded the Kathrine Windfeld Big Band and a year later she released the album Aircraft which received critical acclaim in Scandinavia and was awarded with a Danish Jazz Grammy. The follow up, Latency, released in March 2017, also received widespread critical acclaim. Jury Chairman George Benson has high hopes for Kathrine Windfeld: “it was a tough call, almost impossible to choose just one winner out of 25 extremely talented finalists! Kathrine shows great potential, her innovative approach combined with an attractive blend of musical styles makes her ‘one to watch out for!”

The North American winner, Nassau-born trumpeter Giveton Gelin taught himself to play his instrument by emulating his favorite records. Formal studies at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School followed where is still studying now. This is definitely a young musician to watch as he’s already played with pioneers of the New York jazz scene such as Curtis Lundy, Harold Mabern, Winard Harper, Sullivan Fortner, Ben Wolfe and Jon Batiste. His extraordinary talent has attracted the attention and tutelage from legendary artists like Wynton Marsalis and the late Roy Hargrove. Commenting on Giveton Gelin, the jury said: ‘it almost instantly became clear that Giveton Gelin [should be] the North American ‘Rising Star.’ His tone, phrasing and general way of playing remind us of many greats before him. This combined with his determination to make it from the fringes of jazz into the very heart of Jazz, New York, convinced us that he has a bright future ahead!’ 

The Letter One Rising Stars Jazz Awards will be accepting submissions from jazz artists for next year’s European and North American awards from August to October 2020. Check the website for further details.