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32 nd Annual
Gene Knific » piano/Rhodes
Portage Northern High School
Tad Weed
Portage, Mich.
High School Outstanding Performance
Gabriella Martini » voice
Brearley School
Karyn Joaquino
New York
Performing Arts High School Winner
Annie Dingwall » piano/voice
Booker T. Washington HSPVA
Bart Marantz
Dallas
Performing Arts High School Outstanding Performances
Asher Kurtz » guitar
Booker T. Washington HSPVA
Kent Ellingson
Dallas
Michael Wharton » guitar
Booker T. Washington HSPVA
Kent Ellingson
Dallas
College Winner
Jose Valentino Ruiz »
flute/saxophone/EWI/bass
University of South Florida
Kim McCormick
Tampa, Fla.
College Outstanding Performances
Ulrich Ellison » guitar
University of Texas, Austin
John Fremgen
Austin, Texas
Jonathan Ragonese » EWI
Manhattan School of Music
Justin DiCioccio
New York
Justin Lee:
Junior High
School Jazz
Soloist
Winner
Lasting
Impressions
The vocal jazz soloist winners in this
year’s Student Music Awards have
shown the ability to tackle music in a
wide variety of genres. Take Siobhan
Brugger, who has performed for the past
two years with Impressions, the award-winning
vocal jazz ensemble at Meadowdale
High School in Lynnwood, Wash. A graduating
senior, she is comfortable soloing on
all styles, from bop to ballads to blues,
according to band director Jeff Horenstein.
Last year, Brugger won the Seattle–Kobe
Female Jazz Vocalist Competition, which
allowed her to tour Japan.
Brugger studies privately with Seattlearea
jazz vocalist Greta Matassa, who has
helped her with repertoire, rhythm, scat,
phrasing, breath support and range. “Greta
has taught me how to explore the chord
changes in a song, and has introduced me to
many techniques and ideas,” Brugger said.
“When I solo, I start simple and build my
ideas and dynamics to finish with more
complex rhythms and licks. I have learned
to embrace pauses in my solos instead of
packing ideas into one long run.”
When she begins college next fall,
Brugger wants to pursue a dual degree in
vocal jazz and a social science. “Reaching
people through my music would provide me
the opportunity to use my other gifts and
passions to help people and make a difference
in the world,” she said.
Before Kate Davis ever got into jazz
vocals, she was the bass player in the jazz
ensemble at West Linn (Oregon) High
School. “It was in this band that I found a
love for jazz singing,” Davis said. “One
rehearsal in preparation for a gig, my band
director, Jeff Cumpston, asked me to sing
through a vocal chart with the band so the
other musicians could get a feel for it. I
ended up digging into jazz beyond the
bass.”
Influenced strongly by instrumentalists,
Davis cites pianist Bill Evans, bassist Scott
LaFaro and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard as
inspirations, along with quintessential jazz
vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Carmen
McRae, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.
In her solos, Davis tries to stay away
from practice patterns and resists the temptation
to overdo it. “While being structural
and making sense is important, I like to vary
things, stretch my own boundaries and
never sing or play the same things every
Vocal Soloist Winners
Sarah
Pumphrey
time,” she said. After graduation, Davis
plans to attend a New York conservatory
and hopes to pursue a career as a professional
vocalist/bassist.
Olivia Harris is another student with
vocal as well as instrumental chops. A graduating
senior at Booker T. Washington
HSPVA in Dallas, Harris has become wellrounded
through her performing arts high
school’s wide curriculum, performing with
the Lab Singers (jazz), the Entertainers
(musical theater) and the MIDI ensemble (a
crossover group).
“She’s one of the few who can do both
things,” said Bart Marantz, director of jazz
studies at BTWHSPVA. “If a student can
play piano and accompany themselves, they
can reharmonize or pick a texture that
they’re hearing.”
Sarah Pumphrey participated in the
vocal jazz ensemble and was featured as a
soloist in the big band at Azusa Pacific
University last semester. She studies privately
with Kathleen Grace, a vocal jazz
teacher at University of Southern
California. Her jazz vocal influences range
from classic artists like Rosemary Clooney,
Fitzgerald, Sinatra, and Lambert, Hendricks
& Ross to more modern performers such as
Kurt Elling, Sara Gazarek, Karrin Allyson
and Diana Krall.
“I am focusing on learning how to solo
from an instrumental approach,” Pumphrey
said. “Instead of the typical singer’s
approach of embellishing the melody, I’m
starting from scratch and learning how to
improvise solely based on the chord structures.
As a result, I’ve gained a much better
understanding of chord progressions and
melodic patterns.” —Ed Enright
88 DOWNBEAT June 2009