NEWPORT, RI (CelebrityAccess) — The ASCAP Foundation, led by President Paul Williams, and Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., led by Founder & Chairman George Wein announced that The Ben Morris Quintet has been selected to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Morris was selected for the performance by a jury of jazz composers including ASCAP members Fabian Almazan, Erica Lindsay, and Nate Smith as part of an effort to promote emerging jazz talent. Morris will perform on August 2nd on the festival’s Storyville Stage, along with violinist/fiddler and singer Zosha Warpeha, multi-winds instrumentalist Juan Gabriel Olivares, bassist Dan Montgomery, and jazz drummer Sam Gautier.
The Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards were established by The ASCAP Foundation in 2002 to provide a springboard for jazz composers up to the age of 30.
The program, named in honor of the legendary jazz trumpeter Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation’s multi-year financial commitment to supporting the program.
“We are happy to be working with The ASCAP Foundation, now in our fourth year, to showcase the work of 2019 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipient, Ben Morris. Both organizations are committed to providing exciting opportunities for the next generation of jazz performers and composers and we look forward to hearing The ASCAP Foundation artist at this year’s Newport Jazz Festival,” Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein said.
