2023-2024 Marvin Hamlisch International Music Awards
Nominees, jazz Composition (Emerging Division)
Jared Decker, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Jared Decker is a drummer, composer, arranger, and educator living in Jersey City, NJ. He plays regularly around New York City and New Jersey, and has performed nationally and internationally, building a reputation as a talented and versatile musician. Jared has performed and recorded jazz with the likes of Victor Goines and Warren Wolf, accompanied singer-songwriters like Goldwoman and Samantha Joy Pearlman, and produced several of his own projects, most recently as co-bandleader for the Constellation Big Band. He also works regularly as a pit orchestra musician for musical theatre, including recent performances for Powerline Road, and the New Off-Broadway Cast Recording of Baby.
Joey Kendrick, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Joey Kendrick is a Brooklyn-based composer. His big band compositions have been performed and recorded by ensembles across the country, including in his native Kansas City. Joey has released numerous recordings with big bands and other ensembles. His debut solo EP, Dry January, was released in 2023.
Xinqian Li, Los Angeles, California, United States
Xinqian Li, a composer and jazz guitarist, a lifetime member of Pi Kappa Lambda of the American music honor society. Resides in Los Angeles and she is currently pursuing a Doctor Degree in studio jazz guitar at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Her musical style is heavily influenced by traditional jazz, and she consistently strives to develop her own distinctive sound. She composes a diverse range of traditional and contemporary jazz pieces for large ensembles. Prior to her involvement in jazz guitar, she dedicated many years to studying fingerstyle guitar and has received numerous awards in various competitions. In 2018, she was invited to perform at the Big Apple Music Festival at Queens College in New York. In 2019, she performed with the Jazz Big Band in Zhuhai, China, sharing the stage with numerous musicians from China's jazz community. In 2021, she was invited to form a swing septet with professors from China's Sichuan Conservatory of Music, which regularly performs at the Chengdu Riverside Jazz Club and Oak Nose Jazz Club. She also participated in the China Swing Music Festival that same year. Concurrently, she released four singles on NetEase Cloud Music, formed her own trio, and began touring southwest China. From 2021 to 2023, she was awarded the USC Thornton Music Scholarship for two consecutive years. In 2023, she received a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music Summer Program and performed in a big band in Boston. That same year, she won gold medals at the Universal Stars and Global International Music Competitions and was invited to play on “Hit The Wall’’ musicial directed by Gregg T. Daniel and Chevaughan Dyer. In 2024, she joined the jazz big band led by Dr. David Moyer and the rock blues trio led by German drummer Vera Carter, and also led her own composition's jazz quintet. She acquired her knowledge from Bruce Forman, Tim Kobza, Richard Smith, Josh Nelson, and Bob Minzter.
Zhengtao Pan, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Zhengtao Pan is a young musician who was born in 2003 and grew up in Shanghai, China. He is currently studying Jazz Composition and Compostion at Berklee College of Music. He has scored several games and film projects. His commerical game works include "Mist Sequence", "Lost Soul Aside", "One Piece: The Bloodline" etc. He is also responsible for outsourcing music for some game companies such as Byte Dance, Masaya Games, miHoYo Co., Ltd etc. He has also produced and written songs for different game, TV, and animation series. His music has been selected as best large instrumental composition in the Jazz Education Network, Top 20 in the Lei Cine Scoring Project, and Top 20 in the Call for the Scores by the Film Scoring Academy of Europe. Recently he has been selected as the winner of Downbeat Student Award for small ensemble composition and the winner of Young Musician International Competition “Citta’ di Barletta”. Besides scoring, he arranges jazz tunes for jazz orchestra and bands, and writes concert music as well. Several of his concert music were premiered by the HyperCube ensemble, and Cascadia Composers. His music is performed by Grammy Winning Artist Steven Feifke’s Bigband in Newyork. He believes every note functions as a tool to help him express his identity. He has also collaborated with Budapest Scoring Orchestra, Budapest Jazz Orchestra, US Jazz Ambassadors, European Recording Orchestra and New York Philharmonic among others.
Artur Verbin, Kyiv, Ukraine
Being passionate about music for my entire life, I started composing as soon as I got opportunities to invest into it. Music and creating are the very things that saves me from dull days at work. It is the only thing that makes me feel alive.