Registration is now closed
for the 2023 Ella Fitzgerald
Jazz Vocal Competition.
Check back in the fall of 2023 for details regarding the 2024 competition.

                         PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING REGISTRATION FORM

SUBMISSIONS

 

Commencement of the 2022-23 competition will begin on November 1, 2022 and conclude on January 31, 2023. The competition will be comprised of audio submissions with vocalists selecting three songs, preferably in varying keys, with judges scaling the submissions based upon standardized academic protocols. Once the song selections have been compiled the judges will select their five finalists with the finalists announced the first week of March. Blues Alley Jazz will then underwrite the cost of converting these audio selections and the five finalists will be invited to submit video recordings which will be judged using the same selection protocols. The winner of the competition will be announced and perform alongside our celebrity judge on April 22, 2023 at Blues Alley. ALL AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING ENTRIES WILL REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THE BLUES ALLEY JAZZ SOCIETY, POSTED ON-LINE, AND USED FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES.

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Age – the competition shall be open to vocal applicants between the ages of 17-25 years old without respect to race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

 

Qualifications – the competition shall be open to amateur vocalists regardless of whether they are currently enrolled in primary, secondary, or post-secondary education.

 

Registration Fee – all applicants shall pay a one-time registration fee in the amount of Fifty dollars ($50.00). There shall be no limit to the number of applicants, however registration shall occur throughout the months of November, December and January. Registration deadline, and AUDIO  track submission, is January 31, 2023.  This year’s theme will be “Ella Sings Ellington” and we invite our contestants to select three (3) songs from the eponymous 1957 recording.

 

Application Fee Process – Applicants will be adjudicated throughout the month of February. The top five entrants will be notified of their acceptance by a Society representative in early March. At that time, they will receive an invitation to compete via video submission that will be underwritten by the Society.

 

On-Line Application – This will be filled out once the applicants have passed the initial round of adjudication. Finalists will be notified via e-mail and their names posted on the host website announcing that they have been selected to compete in the April final competition. The application can be found on our participation page.

 

Adjudication – The judges in this year’s competition have been hand selected and are veteran academics and professionals. They further represent the vocal pedagogies of their respective academic institutions’ jazz vocal departments. Each of our chosen judges are established educators, performers and individual performing artists in their own right:

 

•          Darden Purcell

•          Jane Monheit

•           Peter Eldridge

 

Each of these individuals will guide your vocal submission through the adjudication process to determine final eligibility. All decisions of these judges will be left to their own discretion and all decisions shall be final.

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Winners are selected from a field of international vocal submissions and narrowed down to five finalists with three song selections from each contestant. The five finalists are then asked to submit both an audio and a video audition which is then narrowed down to one winner, one runner-up, and three third- place winners. The winners will be announced on Saturday, April 22nd and the winner will perform at Blues Alley with Ms. Monheit.