Jazz award winners

Some of the University of Adelaide's most talented jazz students have celebrated the annual Jazz Awards with a taste of Broadway.

Nine of the best jazz students from the University's Elder Conservatorium of Music were winners of the 2011 Jazz Awards for South Australia.

Presented by the Elder Conservatorium and the Helpmann Academy, the awards recognise the State's brightest emerging performers from the school's Jazz Studies program.

The winners are chosen from a range of disciplines, including piano, drums, bass, guitar, saxophone, trombone and voice.
The awards not only recognise the quality of the students, but also enable them to showcase their talents in performances.
The winners were:

• InterContinental Award for Most Outstanding Honours Jazz Student - joint winners: Lauren Sturdy (jazz voice) and Holly Thomas (jazz drums), $1000 each
  
• Adelaide City Council and Tommy Norman Scholarship Award for Most Outstanding Undergraduate Jazz Student Award - joint winners: Stephen Neville (jazz drums) and Alex Wignall (jazz piano), $1000 each
  
• Keith Langley Award for Top Jazz Trombone: Aaron Deanshaw, $500
  
• Keith Langley Award for Top Jazz Saxophone: Natalie Ahrens, $500
  
• dB Magazine Award for Top Jazz Guitar: Marko Gal, $500
  
• Allans Music + Billy Hyde Award for Top Jazz Drums: Adam Williams, $800
  
• Mitzi's Prize for Top Jazz Bass: Martin Holoubek, $500

Hosted at the InterContinental Adelaide hotel, the Jazz Awards 2011 featured performances by all nine award-winners, along with guest performer Luke Thompson, Lecturer in Jazz Voice at the Elder Conservatorium.

They put together a program of classic Broadway showtunes re-interpreted with a soulful jazz twist, with instrumentation, improvisation and rhythms typical of jazz. Chord changes, solos and the phrasing of the music were all given a unique jazz treatment.

The Elder Conservatorium first presented the Jazz Awards in 1997 to encourage emerging jazz musicians and to showcase their talents to the Adelaide community.

For more information about jazz studies, go to: music.adelaide.edu.au/specialisations