The winners of the 2021/22 edition of the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award are announced:
Guitarist Dan Wilson, originally from Akron, Ohio wins the Northern American edition and will perform at ten major jazz festivals in the USA and Canada
Pianist Yessaï Karapetian from Yerevan in Armenia, and based in Paris, wins the European edition and will perform at seven major jazz festivals across Europe!
The Statement from Letter One says:
“Los Angeles, California. LetterOne and Air Artist Agency are proud to announce the winners of the 2021/2022 ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’ – Armenian pianist Yessaï Karapetian has won the European edition of the award, while US guitarist Dan Wilson has won the North American edition.
Altogether more than 750 artists – a new record – submitted a video of their performances and soundtracks to be considered by the jury for the ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’. The Jury was chaired by world-renowned bassist and two-time Grammy Award Winner Marcus Miller, who was joined by legendary producer Brian Bacchus, journalist and ‘Radio France’ presenter Alex Dutilh, ‘The Guardian’ Senior Arts Editor Imogen Tilden, journalist, author and ‘NPR’ contributor Michelle Mercer and investor, philanthropist and founder of the ‘Leopolis Jazz Fest’ in Lviv, Mikhail Fridman.
As part of their prize, Yessaï Karapetian and Dan Wilson will now perform in 2022 at major jazz festivals in Europe and North America. Additionally, they will both receive a full year of PR/marketing support through the award winning Air Artist talent agency.
Yessaï Karapetian was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1993 and studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Upon graduation, he received a full scholarship to pursue a Master of Music Degree in Contemporary Performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which he concluded successfully.
Yessaï convinced the ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’ jury with the romantic, ferocious and bridge-building music that he put forward. The jury said, “Yet again the level of musicianship among the finalists was incredibly high. Taking that into consideration it is even more impressive that Yessaï managed to stand out with his expressive style and entrancing compositions.”
Dan Wilson, guitarist, composer and winner of the North American edition of the ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’, spent the majority of his youth in the church community in Akron, Ohio where his musical path began.
Dan’s musical identity was shaped by a variety of styles ranging from gospel and blues to traditional jazz, bossa nova and hip-hop. After graduating, Dan performed to worldwide acclaim with Christian McBride’s ‘Tip City’ and recorded his debut album ‘Vessels of Wood and Earth’ for McBride’s imprint ‘Brother Mister’ on Mack Avenue. He is a member of Joey DeFrancesco’s band and played on his Grammy nominated album ‘Project Freedom.’The jury of the ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’ said, “Dan has the incredible ability as a musician and a composer, to give his own, modern twist to music in an immensely invigorating and respectful manner, while still paying tribute to the Jazz greats before him. Despite the tough competition it quickly became clear to us that there could only be one winner of this year’s US award.”
Starting his European tour in June 2022, Yessaï Karapetian will perform at seven of Europe’s most famous jazz festivals — Love Supreme in the United Kingdom, Kongsberg Jazz festival in Norway, Nice Jazz festival in France, Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, Leopolis Jazz Fest in the Ukraine, JazzOpen Festival in Stuttgart, Germany and Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.
In North America Dan Wilson will perform at the Blue Note Jazz Festival in New York (NY), DC Jazz Fest in Washington (DC), San Francisco Jazz Festival at the SFJazz Center (CA), Monterey Jazz Festival (CA), the Coastal Jazz & Blues Festival in Vancouver (Canada), Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (Canada), TD Ottawa Jazz Festival (Canada), Earshot Jazzfestival in Seattle (WA), Iowa City Jazz Festival (IE) and the CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival (NY).
Producing the Award is the award-winning Air Artist Agency, whose director Burkhard Hopper has long-standing experience in introducing new artists. For 9 years Hopper ran the Rising Stars concert series in Europe which introduced artists such as Diana Krall, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, David Sanchez and Esbjörn Svensson to European audiences. Hopper was also the European agent to artists such as Ray Brown, Lalo Schifrin, James Morrison, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Monty Alexander.
The ‘LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award’ – which is designed to help young jazz musicians realize their true potential – is a significant event in the international jazz calendar that benefits from the sponsorship and backing of Mikhail Fridman, an international businessman, philanthropist and jazz fan. A frequent visitor of Jazz festivals around the world, Fridman is the founder of the Leopolis Jazz Festival in Lviv (UA).” (End of Release)
