University of New Orleans graduate student Barry Stephenson, a composer and bassist in the jazz studies program, has been named this year’s recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship.
Stephenson will be presented with his award at the annual ASCAP Foundation awards ceremony on December 7 in the Allen Room of the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, NY. The $3,000 scholarship is supported by the ASCAP Foundation and the Louis Armstrong Foundation, Inc.
The ASCAP Foundation has also, for the first time, invited the UNO Jazz Ambassadors to provide the jazz segment of the evening’s musical showcase. Joining Stephenson on bass will be fellow graduate students Allen Dejan Jr. on saxophone and Jamison Ross on drums with jazz studies professor Brian Seeger on guitar.
The invitation-only event, hosted by ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams, honors a wide variety of scholarship and award recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of the ASCAP Foundation. Last year’s honorees included singer Tony Bennett and his wife Susan Benedetto.
The ASCAP Foundation supports a variety of professional development, music education and recognition programs. ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, is one of the world’s largest performing rights organizations.