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Presentation to be made by Albert "Tootie" Heath, 2 p.m. Sunday
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Carlin Muccular |
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Monterey and Boston, Sept. 20, 2002 — Berklee College of Music and the Monterey Jazz Festival announced today that Carlin Muccular of Richmond, CA is the seventh recipient of the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship at Berklee, a major jazz education prize. The scholarship is named in honor of the festival's late founder, James L. (Jimmy) Lyons, who began the festival more than 40 years ago with jazz education at its core.
The Lyons Scholarship is awarded each year to one Northern California student in recognition of their outstanding musical talent. Because it is a full-tuition, renewable award, satisfactory academic and musical progress in each successive year will allow each Lyons Scholar to attend Berklee through graduation, entirely tuition-free.
The presentation will be made by legendary drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, one of the Heath Brothers, the 2002 Monterey Jazz Festival Artists in Residence. Tootie Heath has enjoyed a long and storied career, recording with his brothers as well as such icons as John Coltrane, J.J. Johnson, Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, and Johnny Griffin.
Carlin Muccular (pron. McCuller), 18, is a gifted drummer who has been playing the instrument since he was five years old, with his earliest performances in church at the age of seven. In 1999, he received his first national exposure when he won the "Guitar Center National Drum-Off" competition at the House of Blues in Hollywood, and was named the top amateur drummer in the country.
Since that time, Carlin has recorded on three separate gospel CD projects, and this year has been touring with the acclaimed R&B singer Ledisi. He is the youngest endorser of both Remo Drumheads and Sabian cymbals, and currently studies with Cuban-American percussion legend Walfredo Reyes, Sr.
Carlin graduated from El Cerrito High School in June 2002, and begins his studies in Boston in September. He will be double majoring at Berklee, in Music Production and Engineering, and Music Business/Management. Carlin willingly attributes his musical gift and good fortune to a higher power. "Only God has blessed me with the musical talent to play the drums, as well as my hopes and dreams for a music career, which are unlimited. Attending Berklee will be a dream come true for me, one of what I hope will be many more to come after I graduate from the college."
Previous Lyons Scholars
Trumpeter Erik Telford of Pacific Grove was named the first Lyons Scholar in September 1996, and after a performing hiatus from the college, returned to Berklee in fall, 1999. Erik has studied privately with Wynton Marsalis, has performed with Ernie Watts (Berklee '66), Roy Hargrove (Berklee '89) and Joshua Redman, and has toured Japan, Australia and Europe as a member of various Monterey Jazz Festival Honor Bands. Erik completed his Berklee studies in May, 2001 with a degree in Film Scoring. He currently at the Eastman School of Music, where he is doing graduate work in composition.
El Cerrito's Dayna Stephens, a saxophonist and composer, was the award's second recipient; he began his Berklee studies in January, 1998. With a growing reputation in West Coast jazz circles, Stephens is a former member of the Berkeley High School Jazz Band, with which he toured Europe during the summer of 1998. He has attended the Stanford Jazz Workshop — where he studied with McCoy Tyner, Harold Land, and Steve Coleman — and the Young Musicians Program at Cal-Berkeley. Dayna was also an outstanding member of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School band program. During his Berklee years, Dayna competed for and won admission to the 2000 Henry Mancini Summer Institute in Los Angeles. Upon completing his Berklee studies in August 2001, with a degree in Music Education, Dayna was chosen for the Thelonious Monk Institute program at USC, along with five other Berklee alumni.
Cellist Rushad Eggleston of Carmel is the third Jimmy Lyons Scholar at Berklee, where he began his studies in January, 1999. With an excellent reputation in Monterey Bay Area circles as a member of the Youth Music Monterey orchestra, where he was first cello from 1994, Rushad has established himself as a musician in great demand at Berklee, figuring prominently in many ensembles, including the Berklee String Orchestra. Rushad studies cello at the college with Assoc. Prof. Eugene Friesen, of the Paul Winter Consort. He came to national prominence this year as a member of the progressive bluegrass string quartet, Fiddlers Four, with Michael Doucet, Bruce Molsky, and Darol Anger. The group made an eponymous CD, toured nationally, and appeared on "A Prairie Home Companion."
Drummer Thomas Pridgen, the fourth Lyons Scholar, has already amassed an impressive list of credentials. Since beginning a recording career at age 8, he has performed on 14 gospel albums. He won the Guitar Center Drum-Off at the age of 9, and by the time he was 10 years old, Pridgen was convinced he wanted to study at Berklee. Thomas has attended the college's annual Berklee in L.A. program several times. He began his studies in Boston in January 2002.
Milton Fletcher, who began his Berklee studies in fall 2000, is the fifth Lyons Scholar. By the time he was 10 years old, Fletcher, who is from Seaside, was participating in the Monterey Jazz Festival's internationally respected education programs. He held the piano chair in the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All Star band for five years, traveling to Japan to perform with the group each summer. Milton's four years in the Monterey County Honor Band took him to performances at major jazz festivals in Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain. Since coming to Berklee, Milton has performed with Berklee bandmates at the Blue Note in New York, at the Jazz and Blues Co. in Carmel, and in a live radio concert on WGBH-FM in Boston. Milton will graduate with a degree in Music Business/Management in spring 2003
The sixth Lyons Scholar is James Williams of Seaside, a gifted drummer who has been active in the Monterey Jazz Festival music education programs, various gospel church bands, and the music programs of Monterey High School. He has performed at a myriad of jazz festivals and other major music events around the world, including: the Monterey, Umbria, Montreux, and Vienne (France) jazz festivals, the Knitting Factory, Yoshi's, and the Grammy post-party at the Biltmore Hotel. James began his studies at Berklee, where he is a Music Business/Management major, in September 2001. He represented the college at the Monterey High School Competition, as a member of the Berklee All-Stars, this past spring.
Tim Jackson, general manager of the Monterey Jazz Festival, has said "We are extremely proud of our Lyons Scholars and their achievements. We are happy to have a strong relationship with Berklee, and this major award presented in honor of our founder. To see these talented young people follow their muse, through exposure to Berklee's top faculty and facilities, is an absolutely ideal result."
Auditions for the Lyons Scholarship were via submission of an audition tape to the Berklee Scholarship Committee, which selected a group of 25 for live audition in Monterey. The students selected to audition are required to file an application for admission to Berklee, which must be approved by the college in order to compete for the scholarship.
Auditions were held on the weekend of April 6, 2002, during the Festival's annual High School Jazz Competition, and were conducted, as always, by senior Berklee faculty who come to California exclusively for this purpose. The college awarded several other, partial tuition scholarships at the Competition.
Albert "Tootie" Heath will present the seventh Lyons Scholarship to Carlin Muccular on the Jimmy Lyons Stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival, at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 22, 2002. Further information is available from the Monterey Jazz Festival, at (408) 373-3366, or from Rob Hayes at Berklee College of Music, (617) 747-2566.
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