Cécile McLorin Salvant

Cécile McLorin Salvant is a composer, singer and visual artist. The late Jessye Norman described Salvant as “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings”. Salvant has developed a passion for storytelling and finding the connections between vaudeville, blues, folk traditions from around the world, theater, jazz, and baroque music. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. Salvant won the Thelonious Monk competition in 2010. She has received Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her 3 latest albums, “The Window”, “Dreams and Daggers”, and “For One To Love”, and was nominated for the award in 2014 for her album “WomanChild”.

In 2020, Salvant received the MacArthur fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award.

Born and raised in Miami, Florida, of a French mother and Haitian father, she started classical piano studies at 5, sang in a children’s choir at 8, and started classical voice lessons as a teenager.

Salvant received a bachelor’s in French law from the Université Pierre-Mendes France in Grenoble while also studying baroque music and jazz at the Darius Milhaud Music Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Salvant makes large-scale textile drawings. Her visual art can now be found at Picture Room in Brooklyn, NY.

Nick Tucker

Bassist Nick Tucker is an active freelance musician in Central Indiana and has been the house bassist for the American Pianists Awards jazz competition since 2014. He currently resides in his hometown, Indianapolis. Nick performs extensively in all areas of music with numerous jazz, Latin, and rock groups in Indianapolis and throughout the Midwest. He has performed with Miguel Zenón, Rich Perry, Alan Pasqua, Randy Brecker, Mike Clark, Bobby Watson and Stefon Harris, among many other jazz greats. Nick has performed all over the United States, as well as in Europe and South America.

He earned his Bachelor’s in Jazz Studies and Music Recording/Technology from the University of Indianapolis and a Master’s in Jazz Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington. Nick is an alumnus of the Stean’s Institute Jazz Program at Ravinia where he studied with David Baker, Curtis Fuller, Rufus Reid and Nathan Davis. He co-leads the Tucker Brothers with his brother Joel. 

Kenny Phelps

With over 20 years experience on the local and national musical scenes, Kenny Phelps has developed a unique and valuable perspective on music. Playing and recording with musical giants such as BeBe & CeCe Winans, Walter Hawkins, El DeBarge, Pharez Whitted, Roy Merriweather, Sly Hampton and George Duke has launched him into a respected spotlight in the music industry. He also has over 20 years of experience as a motivational speaker in schools, churches, and youth organizations. Rooted in the basic tradition of his craft, he has developed communication skills necessary to deliver a message that goes far beyond the music.

Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra

 Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra

Consisting of 17 pieces, the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra includes many of the top freelance jazz artists in the Midwest. These artists have decades of performance experience between them, such as appearances with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Benny Goodman Tribute Band, Natalie Cole, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman, as well as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The late jazz icon J.J. Johnson called the BWJO, “A marvelous new band with exceptional soloists and some of the most creative and satisfying writing I’ve heard in a long time.”

BWJO co-founders Mark Buselli and Brent Wallarab are respected educators, as well as accomplished musicians and composers. Their common commitment to America’s jazz heritage brought the BWJO to life and helped define the mission of the organization.

BRENT WALLARAB
Since 1991, Brent Wallarab has been lead trombonist with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the jazz orchestra in residence at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington, DC. As lead trombonist, he specializes in recreating the entire spectrum of jazz brass styles. In 1992, Wallarab was appointed Specialist in Jazz for the Smithsonian Institution and serves as transcriber, researcher, editor, and advisor for the Smithsonian’s extensive jazz program. He has transcribed and edited over 300 masterworks for jazz orchestra and is considered one of the leading authorities on historical composition for jazz orchestras such as Duke Ellington, Sy Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, and Gil Evans. He has been instrumental is cataloguing and identifying many pieces from the Ellington archives housed at the Smithsonian Institution.
Former Kenton composer Bill Russo has called upon Wallarab to rehearse, guest conduct and solo with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble. Wynton Marsalis has called upon Wallarab to transcribe and arrange for The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and for the “Essentially Ellington” educational program.

Wallarab is in demand for his ability as a composer and arranger in many styles. His orchestral arrangements have been performed by the New York Pops Orchestra and the Miami Symphony Orchestra. His Jazz arrangements have been performed and recorded by Bobby Short, J. J. Johnson, Illinois Jacquet, Benny Carter, Jon Hendricks, Wynton Marsalis, James Moody, and others.

Brent Wallarab is currently an assistant professor of jazz studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

MARK BUSELLI
Mark is head of Jazz Studies at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Voted teacher of the year in the music school at Butler University for 2004-2005 season Mark was also the 2001 director of the Indiana All State Jazz ensemble. He also received a Creative Renewal grant from the Indianapolis Arts Council for 2005 to go to NYC and study arranging and composition with well-known artists. He is a clinician for the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation, Conn/Selmer, and a member of BMI, and IAJE.

Buselli has appeared on numerous recordings as a sideman. Mark has worked with the Artie Shaw band, the Benny Goodman tribute band, Natalie Cole, Vic Damone, Makoto Ozone, Phil Wilson, David Baker, Herb Pomeroy, Tony Malaby, Chuck Marohnic, Slam Stewart, Al Cobine, and Dominic Spera.

Mr. Buselli graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.

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Our diverse world shapes our music, the artistic language of our contestants. It delights, informs, and inspires us all. It is in this spirit that the American Pianists Association welcomes people of any race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as people with disabilities. We commit to learn from diverse talents, ideas, and voices. We pledge to create an environment for our artists, audiences, community partners, board, and staff that is based on the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Further, we commit to enacting strategic and annual plans that provide focused, measurable strategies for living out these values every day.