Thornton Jazz Studies Department students named winners at DownBeat’s 45th Annual Student Music Awards

Several USC Thornton Jazz Studies Department students won awards in DownBeat’s 45th annual Student Music Awards. These awards will be published in the June edition of DownBeat Magazine.

The Michael Neufeld Quintet, led by USC Thornton faculty member Michael Stever, won in the category of asynchronous small jazz combo for undergraduate college outstanding performance.

Trombonist, composer and graduate student Kenton Luck, led by USC Thornton Faculty member Vince Mendoza, was the graduate student winner in the small ensemble with strings jazz arrangement category for his original composition “After the Rain.”

Composer and percussionist Marcello Carelli,  a master’s student in the USC Thornton Jazz Studies Department, took home an award for jazz arrangement for a medium ensemble for his work, “It’s All Right With Me,” from his debut album, The Era. Carelli was led by USC Thornton faculty member Peter Erskine.

Addison Tharp — a composer, trumpeter and USC Thornton graduate student — won in the jazz arrangement category for outstanding big band arrangement for “L’s Bop.” Tharp was also led by Stever.