TJP – THE JOST PROJECT WINS BEST IN JAZZ IN PHILADELPHIA IN THE PHL LIVE CENTER STAGE AWARDS

I’m honored to let you know that TJP won BEST IN JAZZ IN PHILADELPHIA in the PHL LIVE CENTER STAGE Awards presented by Philadelphia City Councilman David Oh. The Fourth Annual PHL LIVE Awards show took place December 14, 2017 at The Trocadero in Philadelphia. Tony Miceli (vibes) and I accepted the award for the band. Kevin MacConnell (bass) was not able to attend. It was presented by two of the judges, WRTI’s Jeff Duperon and The Clef Club’s Lovell Hines. Tony offered a humble “Thank you,” and I shared how surprised and grateful we were, appreciating all the talented performers in our category.

The event concluded a multi-phase, city-wide music competition where local artists in music were given the opportunity to win prizes including $1,000 to each winner in the 11 genres recognized, recording time and more. Created by Councilman Oh, he said in a recent Metro newspaper article, “When I was running for office apart of what I talked about was the importance of the creative innovative economy. With Philly’s history as a music city and the fact that music is an equal opportunity employer, if we could provide the opportunity for people to make it, we want to help them.” He appreciates the great support he received from the local music industry leaders.

Judges in each of the 11 categories picked their favorite acts to advance to the live performance phase of the competition. Categories included R&B, World, Classical, DJ/EDM, Country/Folk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Gospel and Rock. The jazz competition took place at the Clef Club on November 8, 2017. For more information, visit: phllive.org.

TJP is devoted to reaching new audiences for jazz with innovative arrangements of music by such artists as The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Blind Faith and many others.

Our new CD is called “Peace and Love” with drummer Doug Hirlinger and special guest saxophonist Joel Frahm. It includes such songs as “America” by Simon & Garfunkel, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”, “Get Together”, “America the Beautiful” and many others. A chorus of children from Philadelphia Performing Arts, a String Theory Charter School join them on “Get Together.” Our CD “Can’t Find My Way Home” (Dot Time Records) is played on Sirius XM radio and has audiences enjoying our unexpected interpretations of this music. In Jazz in Europe, Johan van Deeg wrote, “The Jost Project is without a doubt one of the most creative bands I have ever heard,” and Grace Blake, Artist Relations Manager of Iridium, said “They totally blew me away!”