At age 14, drummer/composer wins jazz award from ASCAP.Byline: Scott McLennan Like lots of teenagers, Lucas Apostoleris is into music. Unlike a lot of teenagers, Apostoleris is enamored en·am·or tr.v. en·am·ored, en·am·or·ing, en·am·ors To inspire with love; captivate: was enamored of the beautiful dancer; were enamored with the charming island. by the jazz of the 1950s. "Philly Joe Jones For other persons of the same name, see Joe Jones. Joseph Rudolph (Philly Joe) Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was a Philadelphia-born United States jazz drummer. ," he snapped without pause when asked about favorites. "Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was a bebop/hard bop percussionist, drummer, and composer. He worked with many of the greatest jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins ." Like Jones and Roach, Apostoleris is a drummer. And his love of the music is not limited to simply listening to and recreating the work of past masters. Apostoleris is also a composer. Make that award-winning composer. The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers named Apostoleris a recipient of an ASCAP ASCAP abbr. American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Foundation Young Jazz Composers Award. Though other 14-year-olds have won the award since its inception in 2002, ASCAP's Ken Cicerale said it is rare for someone so young to have his or her work selected for this competitive national recognition. Apostoleris is in good company this year, as well-known teen prodigies Grace Kelly Noun 1. Grace Kelly - United States film actress who retired when she married into the royal family of Monaco (1928-1982) Grace Patricia Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco, Kelly and Matt Savage were also singled out by ASACP ASACP Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection ASACP Adult Sites Against Child Pornography . Honorees range in age up to 29 years old, and the field will be honored at a ceremony on June 17 in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Apostoleris is a student at the Joy of Music Program in Worcester. The home-schooled ninth grader from Princeton started playing drums, then added guitar, and now is also playing in a couple of the music school's combos. He worked primarily with teacher Jerry Sabatini on composing the piece that ASCAP judges called "original, promising and exciting." "We were just hoping to get some feedback," Sabatini said of JOMP's encouragement to Apostoleris. "I guess we got pretty good feedback." The title of the piece is something Apostoleris keeps to himself (not even his mother Sue knew what the song is called). He revealed that it is a ballad written in the bebop bebop or bop Jazz characterized by harmonic complexity, convoluted melodic lines, and frequent shifting of rhythmic accent. In the mid-1940s, a group of musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker, rejected the conventions of style, and that he recorded it himself on piano. There are hopes that the JOMP jazz combo he plays in will premier the work later this year. Apostoleris said he has been writing songs for about four years. He developed a jazz vocabulary after drum teacher Mike Connors started him off on Charlie Parker tunes. "I had to hear the solos, then sing the solos, then learn to play the solos," Apostoleris said. Working with Sabatini, Apostoleris transcribed batches of bebop songs and became fluent in the language of jazz, according to the teacher. But it was not the notes on the page that convinced Apostoleris he had something worthy of submission to ASCAP. "It had a good feel," he said of the piece entered into the national competition. But those at JOMP see in Apostoleris a talent that goes beyond feel or luck. "He does a lot with music. He plays drums, he studies classical music. He works with jazz. And he is not a dabbler," said JOMP's Rich Ardizzone. "He is going to do anything he wants to with music." ART: PHOTO PHOTOG pho·tog n. Informal A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS CUTLINE: Lucas Apostoleris, winner of a national ASCAP composers award for his bebop composition written under the mentorship of JOMP music teacher Jerry Sabatini, right. |
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