DCJazzPrix | DC Jazz Festival

DCJazzPrix™ 2026 FINALISTS!

Amina Scott Quintet

Amina Scott - bass
Oscar Rossignoli - piano
Steve Lands - trumpet
Gladney - tenor saxophone
Peter Varnado – drums

Our musical vision is to always be creating. Even when we play songs by other composers, there is always an energy of creating something new and personal with those tunes. While we come from different backgrounds, and some of us completely different cultures (Oscar is a Honduran native), we all strive to push the boundaries of what is already and revel in the discovery of what more we can do. Performance wise, we hope to obtain an audience reach outside of the southern gulf region and we also hope to record another record as a group based on our musical vision.

James Fernando Trio

James Fernando - Piano
Dan McCain - Bass
Kyon Williams – Drums

The trio’s musical vision is to expand the piano trio tradition through narrative-driven performances that balance virtuosity, humor, and emotional depth. Our repertoire features on my original compositions, written specifically for the voices of Dan McCain and Kyon Williams and crafted to foreground collective interplay as much as individual expression. We explore multi-section forms, metric modulation, counterpoint, and adventurous rhythmic concepts while maintaining a strong sense of swing, groove, and storytelling. Alongside this original material, we reinterpret standard jazz repertoire through a contemporary lens and incorporate select works from popular culture to engage younger audiences.

Our goal is to create music that feels conversational, playful, and deeply human—drawing from bebop, classical counterpoint, modern rhythmic language, and the blues tradition without being confined to any single idiom. We strive to present performances that are both intellectually rigorous and viscerally compelling.

Looking ahead, we plan to continue touring nationally at presenting venues, festivals, and universities while building a long-term identity as a cohesive working trio. We are preparing to record our second album together in May 2026 for release in 2027, further developing our ensemble language.

Our aspiration is to make a meaningful contribution to the piano trio lineage—particularly through our evolving approach to improvised metric modulation within standard repertoire—and to help shape the ongoing evolution of the jazz tradition.

Bokani Dyer Trio

Bokani Dyer- Piano, Voice
Timothy Norton- Bass, Voice
Lumanyano Mzi- Drums, Voice

Our immediate vision is to release our upcoming record and tour as much as we can to promote it. The title of the forthcoming record is 'Traditions'. The repertoire honours a variety of influences and traditions. The song Inxembula is an aboriginal folk melody from South Africa that we've arranged for jazz trio. Durch Adams is a Chorale by Bach, Tembisa is an arrangement of a song by Bheki Mseleku (A SA legend). The idea is to carry on the torch of our ancestors while reinventing the sounds in our own way.

Luther S. Allison & Poiesis

Trumpet - Brandon Woody
Alto Saxophone – Markus Howell
Trombone - Jeffery Miller
Piano + Bandleader - Luther S. Allison
Bass - Jonathon Müir-Cotton
Drums - Joe Dyson

Our sound is deeply rooted in the blues, soul, and gospel music within the context of the swing beat. We prioritize original compositions with singable melodies, rich harmonies and danceable rhythms that connect with the full range of emotion and expression. We also perform reimaginations and reinterpretations of popular music from the Great American Songbook. It is our goal to write music that grabs both the ear and heart of the masses, ranging from the trained ear of a professional musician to the ear of a casual listener. We do not have any projects out now, but we intend to record later this year and continue touring this material which we all believe deeply in.

DCJazzPrix™

DCJazzPrix™ International Band Competition:

DCJazzPrix™ is an annual international band competition that provides a unique professional and adjudication platform for emerging jazz bands, outside of traditional academic and commercial arenas. Unlike other performance-based contests, DCJazzPrix emphasizes the essential interactions between band members and recognizes these relationships as the core pursuit of the jazz aesthetic. As of December 5, 2025, there is no age restriction.

Emerging jazz bands from across the globe are encouraged to apply for our premier international competition. All applicants will have their music heard by a prestigious jury of jazz luminaries. Three finalist bands will be selected to travel to Washington, DC, to compete in the DCJazzPrix Finals before an enthusiastic audience during the annual DC JazzFest. DCJF will provide a travel stipend to each band.

The winning band will receive:

A $15,000 grand prize; second and third place prizes of $3,000 will also be awarded
A year-long association with the DC Jazz Festival for the band
Customized business development and career impact services for each member of the band
Extensive publicity support
A highly visible 2026 DC JazzFest engagement with commensurate compensation

Definition of “Emerging Band”

DCJazzPrix is designed for emerging professional jazz bands in the early stages of building national or international visibility, for whom participation in the competition and DC Jazz Festival would provide significant career acceleration.

For the purposes of this competition, an “emerging band” is defined by career stage, not age. Eligible bands typically demonstrate:

Early-to-mid career trajectory as a working band (not just as individual sidemen)
Limited but growing national/international exposure
Developing—not firmly established—brand recognition in the jazz ecosystem
Clear potential for career lift through festival visibility, professional development, and industry support

Bands considered beyond the emerging stage, who would be ineligible for this competition, include those that:

Maintain a long-standing, widely recognized artistic profile
Consistently headline major festivals or large venues
Have extensive national or international touring as a band
Possess a substantial, widely distributed recording catalog with sustained media attention

In close cases, applicants and panelists should consider:

“Would most presenters, peers, and critics still experience this band as a discovery?”

If not, the group is likely beyond the emerging category for DCJazzPrix.

Application Deadline: March 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET

DCJazzPrix™ APPLICATION

Eligibility

Repertoire: Open
Band Size: 2–9 instrumental or vocal members
Reach: International applicants welcome
Instrumentation: Any combination, including traditional jazz formats, strings, winds, percussion, voice, and technology
Band Stability: Personnel may not change after submission
Band History: Must be a formed and functioning ensemble for at least three years prior to applying; groups may not be created solely to compete
Professional Context: Bands may be affiliated with music schools or be fully self-contained, professionally emerging ensembles
Finalist Participation: All members must compete in Washington, DC. Finalists are responsible for travel; each band will receive a travel stipend up to $500. Hotel rooms for one night will be provided.

Work Sample Audio/Video Requirements

Accepted platforms: YouTube, SoundCloud, BandCamp, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Audiomack
One work sample per link
Each sample must include: title, composer, arranger, personnel, track length, and recording date
Submit no more than 30 minutes of total music
Recordings must be from Sept 1, 2022 – December 31, 2025
Must represent the current personnel of the band
Files should allow jurors to evaluate ensemble and individual musicianship
Excessive editing discouraged

Review Criteria

Artistic Excellence:

Demonstrated in work samples
Band’s vision statement and emerging professional achievement

Artistic Merit:

The band personnel: strong evidence of band stability and consistency; comprised of members collectively dedicated to sustaining the band’s identity
Significance of DCJazzPrix to the band’s professional trajectory
The value of a yearlong DC JazzFest association as a catalyst for career growth

Incomplete or late applications will not be accepted. There is a $29 fee per band entry.