2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition
 

2004 Thelonious Monk
International Jazz Vocals Competition
September 12th and 13th

Sponsored by General Motors

Hosted by Herbie Hancock and Billy Dee Williams with Special Guest Quincy Jones

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz will present its 17th annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and Gala Concert, sponsored by General Motors, in Washington, DC. The 2004 Competition will feature 13 of the world's most outstanding emerging jazz vocalists who will be competing for over $60,000 in scholarships and prizes. The Semifinals will be held on Sunday, September 12th at 1 p.m. at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium, (10th St. & Constitution Avenue, NW). On Monday, September 13th at 7:30 p.m., three finalists will perform with a group of Jazz All-Stars in the Eisenhower Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The Competition, compared in stature to that of the classical Tchaikovsky and Van Cliburn Competitions, is the most prestigious jazz competition in the world, and is widely known for discovering jazz stars of tomorrow. It has launched the careers of vocalists Jane Monheit and Tierney Sutton, saxophonist Joshua Redman, and pianists Marcus Roberts and Jacky Terrasson, to name a few. These artists and dozens of others from past competitions have forged successful careers as performing and recording artists as well as music educators. They have earned worldwide respect and media attention while helping preserve the legacy of jazz.

Each year the Competition shines a spotlight on young artists from varying jazz disciplines which have included piano, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and guitar. This year's jazz vocalists will be reviewed by an illustrious panel of judges including internationally renowned jazz artists Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau and Jimmy Scott. Accompanying the singers will be a jazz combo featuring Carl Allen on drums, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass and George Duke on piano, who also serves as the event's Artistic Director.


The Hosts for the evening will be Herbie Hancock and Billy Dee Williams and they will be joined by Special Guest, Quincy Jones. Along with performances by the finalists, the event will feature a performance by pianist Misha Piatogorsky, this year’s winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition sponsored by BMI. The $10,000 Composers Award is presented annually to the young, aspiring composer who best demonstrates originality, creativity, and excellence in jazz composition. This year's Composers Competition is devoted to compositions featuring creativity in jazz vocals. BMI is the world's largest performing rights organization, representing the work of Thelonious Monk and hundreds of thousands of other composers of all genres of music.

The second half of the event will feature performances by the vocals competition judges. They will be joined by Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Jr., Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Clark Terry, Jimmy Heath, George Duke, and others, along with the very talented students from around the world who study in the degree program of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the University of Southern California. The Institute’s Maria Fisher Founder's Award will be presented Senator Orrin Hatch, who has made outstanding contributions to the Institute and the world of jazz.

A Gala VIP After-Party fundraiser hosted by Senator and Mrs. Ted Stevens and Joseph E. Robert, Jr. will immediately follow the Competition Finals in the Kennedy Center's Atrium. Honorary Vice Chairs include: Senators Lamar Alexander, Thad Cochran, Susan Collins, Elizabeth Dole, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Hagel, Arlen Specter and John Sununu; Congressmen John Conyers, Norm Dicks, John Dingell, David Dreier, Harold Ford, John Lewis, Ed Markey and George Miller; Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi; and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. For information about Gala sponsorships or tickets, or to receive an invitation to the Gala, please contact Judy Brophy at 202-364-7272 or e-mail [email]jbrophy@monkinstitute.org[/email].

The competition will be taped as a documentary for Black Entertainment Television and the BET Jazz cable network. The documentary will feature performances by the semifinalists, backstage interviews with the finalists and judges, and footage from the post-competition reception.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz ([url]www.monkinstitute.org[/url]) was established in 1986 in memory of the renowned jazz pianist and composer. Its mission is to preserve America’s legacy of jazz through performance and education. The Institute offers the world’s most promising young musicians college level training by America’s jazz masters and presents school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world. Additionally, the Institute provides scholarships, performance opportunities, and worldwide recognition to gifted young musicians through its many jazz education programs. The Institute’s most recent project is Jazz in America: The National Jazz Curriculum, a free internet-based curriculum for 5th, 8th and 11th grade public school students, located at [url]www.jazzinamerica.org[/url].

Tickets for the September 12th Semifinals are free of charge and will be distributed at Baird Auditorium by the Smithsonian Associates (202-357-3030) on a first come first served basis beginning 90 minutes prior to the 1 p.m. starting time. Tickets for the September 13th Finals at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater may be purchased at the Kennedy Center box office, by calling Instant Charge at 202-467-4600 or on the web at [url]www.kennedy-center.org[/url].

Please all visit [URL=http://monkinstitute.com]The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz[/URL]

Sasha Dobson, daughter of Gayle and the late Smith, is a finalist...what a voice!

Go Sasha!

Her debut CD is "Introducing Sasha Dobson"

Actually Mike, she's a semi-finalist - the finalists will be chosen on Sunday the 12th!

[QUOTE=Mike Schwartz]Sasha Dobson, daughter of Gayle and the late Smith, is a finalist...what a voice!

Go Sasha!

Her debut CD is "Introducing Sasha Dobson"[/QUOTE]

Sasha is a favorite among other musicians in NY because she can actually play...she knows the music the way a player knows it. She isn't a recast pop or cabaret singer; jazz really runs in her blood.

(It's-a-disclosure-and-it's-a-plug-department): Sasha's record "The Darkling Thrush" with the Chris Byars Octet, is (finally) due out starting next month on Smalls Records. This might be her "other debut," as it was recorded before the other one. I'm obviously biased, but everything I've said will be obvious enough to people who hear her.

Luke

I've heard from the inside that Sasha did not make the finals -
although I heard that she performed well.

I have not met Sasha, but I have heard nothing but positive things about her from folks. I have no doubt she's a fine musician. I know her parents and she come from a rock-solid tradition filled with deep love and knowledge of the music.

I miss her Dad. He was a wonderful singer/pianist. I love so many of his arrangements. I hope Gail is doing well. Great family.

Sasha will do well and build a great reputation no matter the results of the competion. She's in it for the long haul, is well-equipped, and the word on the street is that she knows her stuff, is a professional and great to work with/listen to.

who won!??!?!
 

Does anyone know who won???

and the winner is....
 

Gretchen Parlato! Check out her site at [url]www.gretchenparlato.com[/url]

She has impeccable taste in repertoire. But shouldn't she change her name to Gretchen Cantato?

i have no doubt she's a wonderful talent but sounds like she might have had a "leg up," so to speak, "knowing" herbie and wayne beforehand.

Who were the semi-finalists? Does anyone have pictures from the competitions posted?

[QUOTE=Valerie]i have no doubt she's a wonderful talent but sounds like she might have had a "leg up," so to speak, "knowing" herbie and wayne beforehand.[/QUOTE]

Why would that be an issue? They weren't judges. Many of the contestants in all years have had serious professional experience playing with heavyweights.

[QUOTE=Pete C]Why would that be an issue? They weren't judges. Many of the contestants in all years have had serious professional experience playing with heavyweights.[/QUOTE]


ok, pete, ok. you sure don't sound like the "political/social/general cynic" i remember!! lol!!

Here is the official press release and picture are coming

VOCALIST GRETCHEN PARLATO WINS 17TH ANNUAL
THELONIOUS MONK INTERNATIONAL JAZZ COMPETITION

Sponsored by General Motors


The 17th annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, this year devoted to jazz vocals, came to a close this evening with four winners among a strong field of 13 competitors. Taking top honors and the $20,000 first place scholarship was Gretchen Parlato, 28. A native of Los Angeles and current resident of New York, Gretchen began singing at the age of four. Gretchen has studied and performed with jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones and Gerald Wilson and appeared at the 2001 Ojai Music Festival with Oscar Castro-Neves. She has performed as a vocalist on TV shows including "Jag" and "Lucky" and sings on Walt Disney Records' "A World of Happiness," also featuring Debrah Harry, Isaac Hayes, and Gary Oldman. Her program included Vincent Youman's "More Than You Know" and Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in Love Before."

Second place honors and a $10,000 scholarship went to Kellylee Evans, 29, from Ashton, Ontario, Canada. The $5,000 third place scholarship went to Robin McKelle, 28, a resident of West Newton, Massachusetts. A fourth place scholarship of $2,500 was awarded to Charanee Wade, 22, from Brooklyn, New York.

This year's Competition, sponsored by General Motors, with Semifinals held at the Smithsonian Institution's Baird Auditorium on Sunday, September 12 and Finals held at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater on Monday, September 13 in Washington, DC, was co-hosted by Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Jr., and Billy Dee Williams. The Competition's world-class panel of judges and performers included Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, Flora Purim, and Jimmy Scott. The Competition band was comprised of drummer Carl Allen, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, and pianist George Duke, who also served as the Competition's Artistic Director. Also featured on stage were jazz All-Stars Terence Blanchard, Jon Faddis, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, and Clark Terry.

The Institute's 2004 Maria Fisher Founder's Award was presented to Senator Orrin Hatch, who has made outstanding contributions to the Institute and the world of jazz. Presenting the award was Institute Honorary Chairman Billy Dee Williams.

At the jazz vocals Competition Finals, Misha Piatigorsky, winner of the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition sponsored by BMI, performed his winning piece "Low Talk" and received the $10,000 grand prize award from Philip Graham, BMI's Senior Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations. Piatigorsky, who is now residing in Israel, was born in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. His grandfather was the famed cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, and his father was a composer of classical music. Over the past decade, Piatigorsky has produced, written, and arranged for singers including Mariani Ebert, Barbara Mendes, Judy Bady, and Ayelet Piatigorsky. He has also produced his own projects including the Piatigorsky ensemble, AYA, and his own trio recordings. Piatigorsky scored the music for three films, wrote the hip-hop musical "Mister," and was the musical director of a gospel Baptist church in the Bronx. Currently, he is completing the debut CD of "Trio del Sol" for Twinz Records.

Preceding the Finals on September 13, all participants were invited to the State Department, where Secretary of State Colin Powell hosted a VIP reception honoring the Thelonious Monk Institute and its successes in fostering the music's development through educational outreach. Jazz masters Herbie Hancock and Dee Dee Bridgewater performed for the audience. Tom Carter, President of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, acknowledged the evening's co-chairs Quincy Jones, Joseph E. Robert, Jr., and Senator and Mrs. Ted Stevens.

The Competition, which showcases a different instrument every year, is the world's most prestigious jazz competition. It has launched the careers of pianists Marcus Roberts and Jacky Terrasson, saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalist Jane Monheit, and trumpeter Ryan Kisor, among others. This year's Competition was taped for a two-hour documentary that will air on Black Entertainment Television and BET Jazz, and was recorded and aired live on XM Satellite Radio.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz ([url]www.monkinstitute.org[/url]) was established in 1986 in memory of the renowned jazz pianist and composer. Its mission is to preserve America's legacy of jazz through performance and education. The Institute offers the world's most promising young musicians college level training by America's jazz masters and presents public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world. Additionally, the Institute provides scholarships, performance opportunities, and worldwide recognition to gifted young musicians through its many educational programs.

"The Institute's 2004 Maria Fisher Founder's Award was presented to Senator Orrin Hatch, who has made outstanding contributions to the Institute and the world of jazz. Presenting the award was Institute Honorary Chairman Billy Dee Williams."

Does anybody know what those contributions are?

Sen Hatch was been the spearhead for the Jazz in the Classroom initiative. taking over the position from Tipper Gore.

I'm putting up pictures on [URL=http://monkinstitute.com]the Monk Institute website[/URL] shortly.

I have to say next the hand drum competition, this one was fantastic when all the judges and special guests performed. One of the true highlights was to have Flora, Herbie and Wayne doing "Dindi" and then Al Jarreau comes out with a bottle of water in his hands and they do "Aqua de Beber." But the standing ovation came when Jimmy Scott just accompanied by George Duke did a 10 minute version of "I Feel Like A Motherless Child."

Also another highlight for me was meeting Bluenoter today for lunch!

is there a way for people that are not us residents to get the recording of the competition? will it be for sale?

The Competition, which showcases a different instrument every year, is the world's most prestigious jazz competition. It has launched the careers of pianists Marcus Roberts and Jacky Terrasson, saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalist Jane Monheit, and trumpeter Ryan Kisor, among others. This year's Competition was taped for a two-hour documentary that will air on Black Entertainment Television and BET Jazz, and was recorded and aired live on XM Satellite Radio.

from the article above tamarili...

unfortunately, I do not receive any of these channels... Are there any resources available on the net on which I can see the contest?...
It's not e asy in the Middle-East.... :confused:

I've heard Robin McKelle sing, what a great voice. I've got to check out these other finalists.

FWIW, Robin has a CD out under Miles Donahue that features her in about half the tunes. All standards done tastifully well.

I couldn't say, but when the series airs on BET, they very well may offer it on DVD...you can contact them to find out, as for XM you can do the same, as well as the Monk Institute, which has a link here.

13 Semifinalists (in order of appearance) From the Program
 

Mari Anne Jayme is a native of Somerset, Kentucky who began playing the piano at age four and singing at age 13. She went on to receive a BS from Western Michigan University and a Master's degree from Roosevelt University. Mari Anne was a Voices of Liberty Singer for Walt Disney, and a featured vocalist for the Marshall Vente Jazz Festival. In addition, Mari Anne participated in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead Residency for Young Jazz Artists, and in 1997 she received the Downbeat award for "Outstanding Jazz Vocal performance."

**Robin McKelle was born in Rochester, New York and began singing at the age of five. She received her BM from Berklee College of Music. Robin is a frequent soloist with the Boston Pops, performing most recently with Michael McDonald and the Boston Pops Orchestra for a taping of "Evening at the Pops." Robin has performed and recorded with many well-respected artists, including Herbie Hancock, John Secada, BeBe Winans, and Darren Hayes. In addition, she has recorded and arranged her won CD, Never Let Me Go.

**Charenee Wade was born in New York and began singing at the age of 10. She attended the LaGuardia High School of music and Art and received her BM from the Manhattan School of Music, where she is currently pursuing her Master's degree. Charenee has performed at the Kennedy Center with the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program and has also been a featured vocalist at the Montreux, New Orleans and East Coast Jazz Festivals. Charenee recently performed as the opening act for Herbie Hancock at the 2003 Clifford Brown Jazz Festival.

Jo Lawry was born in Australia and started singing at the age of eight. She received her BM in jazz performance, as well as an Honours degree from Elder Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide University. Jo is currently studying for a Master's degree at SUNY Purchase. The recipient of a Award for Post-Graduate Study in the United States, Jo has been an artist-in-residence at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC and was a featured artist at the Glenelg Jazz Festival.

Sachal Vasandani was born in Chicago, Illinois and started singing at the age of three. He studied at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he received the 1999 Down beat award for "Collegiate Jazz Vocalist of the Year." Sachal has performed throughout the US, Canada, Belgium, German, India, and The Netherlands. His own group, Vasandani, is currently planning an international tour. Sachal recently perfromed a series of concerts for the 2002-2003 Carnegie hall season as part of the Citigroup outreach program.

Sasha Dobson was born in Pleasant Hill, California and began singing at the age of five. Early in her childhood, she began performing with the Dobson Family Band. Sasha continued her musical pursuits through her studies at Cabrillo College and the New School University. She has appeared at numerous prestigious jazz festivals, inclusing Monterey, Dan Jose, Stanford and Montreux, and has performed in China, Lebanon, Greece, and Russia.

Melissa Morgan was born in New York City and began singing at the age of 15. She received her BA in Vocal Jazz Performance for the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. Melissa was a guest vocalist with Dizzy Gillespie Alunmi All-Star Band at the famed Blue Note jazz club. She also appeared as a featured vocalist for New York's residency performing with various trios. Melissa was runner-up for the New Jersey Governor's Award for Vocal Music.

**Gretchen Parlato was born in Los Angeles and began singing at the age of four. She received her BM in ethnomusicology from UCLA and was the first vocalist to graduate from the Thelonious Monk Institue for Jazz Performance. Gretchen has studied and performed with jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, and Gerald Wilson and appeared at the 2001 Ojai Music Festival with Oscar Castro-Neves. She has performed as a vocalist on TV shows including Jag and Lucky and sings on Walt Disney Records' A World of Happiness," also featureing Debbie Harry, Isaac Hayes, and Gary Oldman.

**Kellylee Evans was born in Toronto and began singing even before she could talk. She sang her first church solo at the age of five and studied piano beginning at age eight. Kellylee received a dual BA in English literature and legal studies from Carleton University, where she also pursued a Master's degree in legal studies. While in her last year of graduate school, she decided to make singing her full-time career. Since then, she has recorded a CD titled Fiight or Flight, in which she performed her own original works.

Jose James was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and began singing at the age of 17. After graduating from South High School in Minneapolis, he studied briefly at the Macphail Center for the Arts. Since then, Jose has been a featured vocalist at many Minneapolis theatre venues, and has peformed alonside artists including Rene Ford and the Bobby Commodore Trio. Most recently, he was the artistic advisor at the Fitzgerald Theater and a featured vocalist in the jazz balladeer production, "The Heart of a Man."

Rachael Price was born in Sydney, Australia and started singing at the age of five. She participated in the Nashville Jazz Workshop and is currently studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. Rachael is a member of The Price Sisters Jazz Vocal Trio and has been a vocalist with Martin's Greek Bluegrass Band. She has also performed with the Voices of Baha. Rachael recently recorded her first album, Dedicated to You, and will be performing at the 2004 New Haven Jazz Festival.

Monica C. Lynk was born in Gainesville, Florida and grew up in Ohio. She began singing at six month old. Monica studied at the Berklee College of Music and in 1999 was nominted Best Jazz Vocalist at the Boston Music Awards. She has toured Europe, Asia, and most recently Africa, and has performed with renowned artists including Roy Hargrove, Will Downing. Monica is a featured vocalist in Kendrick Oliver's "New Life Jazz Orchestra," and was named the 2004 Jazz Ambassador to North and West Africa.

Abigail Riccards was born in Boston, Massachusetts and began singing as early as she could speak. She received her BA in music with a concentration in vocal jazz from the University of Massachusetts and is curently working on her Master's degree at William Paterson University. Abigail was the lead vocalist for the University of Massachusetts Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and she also performs with the award winning a cappella group of Six Minutes. In 2001, Abigail received the Downbeat award for "Outstanding Soloist of the Year."

**= Semifinalist

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


At the end of the semifinal ceremony, the lady sitting on my left made the comment that the fix was in because three of the semifinalist had connections to Herbie Hancock (Honorary Chair). The lady sitting directly in front to me said Gretchen Parlato would probably win because in addition to her connections to Hancock, Gretchen Parlato was the 1st graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. It was the buzz in the hallway. During the ceremony, Hancock said no one has ever questioned him about the outcome of the competitions because he's not a judge. Herbie may not have been a judge, but his influence (in this situation) was very obvious.




x

[QUOTE=tamarili]is there a way for people that are not us residents to get the recording of the competition? will it be for sale?[/QUOTE]

please email Judy Brophy

[email]jbrophy@monkinstitute.org[/email]
Please tell her I suggested you email her (since Jazzcorner hosts, maintains and designed monkinstitute.org) and ask her about the reality of it becoming a recording. I will do the same

Best Lois

only ONE male vocalist in the competition? that's a shame!

Hornplayer, there were only two male singers Sachal Vasandani and Jose James.

x

[QUOTE=Lois Gilbert]please email Judy Brophy

[email]jbrophy@monkinstitute.org[/email]
Please tell her I suggested you email her (since Jazzcorner hosts, maintains and designed monkinstitute.org) and ask her about the reality of it becoming a recording. I will do the same

Best Lois[/QUOTE]

thank you, I will try.

[QUOTE=xquisit]

At the end of the semifinal ceremony, the lady sitting on my left made the comment that the fix was in because three of the semifinalist had connections to Herbie Hancock (Honorary Chair). The lady sitting directly in fron to me said Gretchen Parlato would probably win because in addition to her connections to Hancock, Gretchen Parlato was the 1st graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. It was the buzz in the hallway. During the ceremony, Hancock said no one has ever questioned him about the outcome of the competitions because he's not a judge. Herbie may not have been a judge, but his influence (in this situation) was very obvious.
x[/QUOTE]Pete: Are you listening/reading?!? Thanks, Xquisit.

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jazz Hopefuls, Trying for the Sound of Success
By BEN RATLIFF

Correction Appended

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 - The voice was the chosen instrument for this year's Thelonious Monk International Jazz competition. And the big preliminary question was whether the contest might reflect what's happening to jazz singing outside of the gently pedantic atmosphere of a jazz education organization like the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

Even the most ambitious jazz instrumentalists seem to find limits for their audience. Singers can have a much broader appeal. Norah Jones, whose two albums have sold more than 12 million copies combined since 2002, proved that a singer with at least a basis in jazz can give audiences something they didn't necessarily know they wanted. And since the last time vocalists were heard in this competition, six years ago (the instrument changes each year), many other singers have proved that divergent approaches to repertory, instrumentation and rhythm, moving away from canonical notions of the jazz singer, can be extremely persuasive to the jazz-oblivious, without blaspheming the tradition.

But the Monk Institute is a nonprofit enterprise, and this competition, in its 17th year and won in the past by musicians including Joshua Redman, Jacky Terrasson and Teri Thornton, isn't about crossing genres; it sets down aesthetic certainties about jazz, asking that they be upheld. This happens through the initial tape-screening process, through the judges' uniform list of criteria and through the high standards of the jazz-singer judges themselves. It's by now an old joke that Monk himself might not have won the competition named after him, but you wonder if Ms. Jones would have gotten beyond submitting a tape.

In the semifinals on Sunday at the Smithsonian Institution's Baird Theater, singers had 15 minutes to do what they wanted. According to the rules of the contest, they all had to be under 30 and without contracts from major record labels, and they all had to perform with the same house rhythm section.

As always, the judges - Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling, Flora Purim and Jimmy Scott-had before them sheets to rate the singers according to suggested criteria, including control, dynamics, time, swing feel, taste, concept, originality, interaction with the rhythm section, leadership and stage presence.

These pressurized performances were, in effect, miniature nightclub sets, and the singers had to pace themselves. Kellylee Evans, from Toronto, worked hard for the audience's attention, opening with a smart, slow ballad version of "Love for Sale" and generally acting as if she owned the place.

José James, from Milwaukee, skinny and magnetic, started with a version of "Every Day I Have the Blues" so powerfully suggestive of Joe Williams that the judges reacted physically. Mr. Scott, 79, waved his hands in the air. Ms. Bridgewater, beaming, cooled herself vigorously with a fan. But then the spell broke: Mr. James ended with an unfocused scat solo and dropped out of the running.

You want these competitions to yield thunderous signals of arrival, but that seldom happens: often the musicians have already been on the scene for some years, or the high-stakes artificiality of the event flusters them. But Gretchen Parlato, a little-known Los Angeles singer who recently moved to New York, created a surprise attack. (She has a connection with the Monk Institute, having been chosen as the first singer in its two-year program, from which she graduated in 2001.)

Ms. Parlato, small and serious, said almost nothing onstage, but her talent was so deeply centered and concentrated that the effect might have been the same had she stood behind a curtain. The set included a scat version of Charlie Parker's "Embraceable You" improvisations; an "I Fall in Love Too Easily" that suggested Chet Baker's dry-toned version but superimposed hints of a lavish, Donny Hathaway melisma; and a hard-swinging version of "Chega de Saudade," sung in excellent Portuguese. (Anyone curious can see her perform tomorrow night at the Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, in the South Village.)

On Monday, in the finals, a concert held at the Kennedy Center and filmed by BET, Ms. Parlato did it again. (Al Jarreau and Quincy Jones were on hand as more judges.) Relatively unmannered, with accurate pitch, she didn't copy older singers or overemote; she just calmly nailed a ballad and a medium-tempo piece with improvisations, interacting with the rhythm section at its own level.

Ms. Parlato won first prize, a $20,000 check. Ms. Evans came in second, impressing the judges with an original song. Robin McKelle, who teaches at Berklee College of Music, came in third, punching out "Angel Eyes" like a hardened professional, and Charenee Wade, an impressive Betty Carter-influenced singer from New York, came in fourth.

Because the Monk Institute, based in Washington, cultivates ties to the government, and because various agencies give it support, a disjunctive strangeness arises during these events, as the jazz world meets barricades and metal detectors. There was a State Department reception for the contestants, held by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, at which Herbie Hancock and Ms. Bridgewater sang "Caravan."

At Monday night's concert, Senator Orrin G. Hatch was given the institute's founder's award. And toward the end of the concert's second half - an impressive all-star sequence involving the judges and a few other big names, including Wayne Shorter and Jon Faddis - Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked to present the first prize. He did so gracefully, but not before first quoting a passage from the writings of a British Royal Air Force pilot in World War II to the effect that we must win the war against fear.

He was making the point, in a roundabout way, that less fear equals more jazz. The audience began hissing and heckling, and he quickly finished.

At that point the winner and runners-up, after going through this emotional pasta machine in front of television cameras with unfamiliar colleagues and high-ranking generals, were importuned to sing a song together. Competition is good for jazz, but the evening ended on an awkward note.


Correction: Sept. 17, 2004, Friday

A Critic's Notebook article on Wednesday about the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition in Washington misidentified the presenter of the first-place prize. He was Edward T. Welburn, vice president for design at General Motors North America; the fourth-place prize was presented by Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[QUOTE=Valerie]Pete: Are you listening/reading?!? Thanks, Xquisit.[/QUOTE]

The only thing those anecdotes tell me is that other people had the same thoughts you did. That doesn't verify them.

[QUOTE=Pete C]The only thing those anecdotes tell me is that other people had the same thoughts you did. That doesn't verify them.[/QUOTE]
you're right, as usual, mr. c!