Jonny Mansfield wins the 2018 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The young vibraphonist and composer Jonny Mansfield has been announced as the recipient of the 2018 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize. Press release attached.
We have received the following press release from Edition Records;
The 2018 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize winner is Jonny Mansfield
The Royal Academy of Music and Edition Records today announce vibraphonist and composer Jonny Mansfield as the recipient of the 2018 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize.
The annual prize, now in its eighth year, is awarded to a graduating jazz musician at the Royal Academy of Music who demonstrates excellence in both performance and composition. Mansfield wins an exclusive recording session of a proposed album on the Edition Records label which will be released in 2019.
Mansfield follows in the footsteps of the highly-acclaimed previous winners; saxophonist Josh Arcoleo (2011), trumpeter Reuben Fowler (2012), vocalist Lauren Kinsella (2013), bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado (2014), vibraphonist Ralph Wyld (2015), guitarist Rob Luft (2016), and saxophonist Tom Barford (2017) whose album is released on 31 August 2018.
The judging panel – Dave Stapleton: Edition Records Founder and Producer, Nick Smart: the Academy’s Head of Jazz and Evan Parker: saxophonist and lifelong collaborator of the late Wheeler – met in June to decide the winner.
Evan Parker said: ‘This prize honours the life and work of a musician who was distinguished not simply as a magnificently gifted improvising instrumentalist, but also as a composer and arranger. In awarding the prize to Jonny Mansfield this year we have chosen a young musician who has already shown himself to be remarkably talented in all three disciplines, and seems to have a musical vision beyond his years.’
Edition Records boss Dave Stapleton commented: ‘As the music industry continues to evolve and change at an unprecedented rate, it’s hugely rewarding for us to have an opportunity to help develop and guide these young, talented and vital artists of the future. Jonny Mansfield is a musician of real depth and maturity, both as an instrumentalist and composer. Jonny also has the ability to recognise the wider challenges facing him and approach them with drive and determination to pursue a career in this music. To succeed in the 21st Century music industry requires all-round skill and talent, which Jonny has in abundance.’
Kenny’s son, Mark Wheeler, said: ‘I have enjoyed hearing Jonny a few times at Academy events and also online, and I know my Dad would have loved his playing and his wonderful writing. It’s exciting to see how these young musicians flourish and it remains a source of joy for all the family that Dad’s name and legacy lives on through this fantastic prize.’