Peter Slavid (UK)
Peter broadcasts The European Jazz Hour on a number of internet and local radio stations and also writes for London Jazz News. Inspired initially by the American Avant-Garde of Ornette Coleman,
JUDGES
Geila Zilkha (Japan)
Jazz Vocalist, singer, songwriter, educator
Born and raised in Kobe, Japan. Now based in Tokyo. Geila was born half Israeli and Japanese. Attended Canadian Academy International School, then graduated Berklee College of Music in 1991.
Alain Derbez (Mexico)
Alain Derbez, born in Mexico in 1956, is a poet, narrator, essayist, song writer and musician who is the founder, among other groups, of Sonora Onosón and Los Gallos Justicieros in Mexico City and El Codigo Postal in the city of Xalapa.
Adam Simmons (Australia)
Producer, Musician and editor for Dingo (Australian Jazz Journal). Originally from Ballarat, Adam plays saxophones, clarinets, flutes, shakuhachi, fujara, toys and graduated from Victorian College of the Arts in 1992.
Fernando Rodriguez de Mondesert (Dominican Republic)
Member of the Jazz Journalists Association, journalist for Jazz Times Digital and various newspapers in the Dominican Republic. He is the Founder and Director of Jazz en Dominicana.
Boris Jourdain (France)
Management and booking InVivo Agency.
Invivo agency has its focus on the French and European markets.
Catherine Tackley (UK)
Professor Catherine Tackley is Vice President of the Royal Musical Association, a member of the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s College of Experts, a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Peer Review College, a Trustee of the National Jazz Archive (UK) and Musical Director of Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats Big Band.
Aya Al Azab (Poland)
Aya Al Azab is a musicologist and journalist of Polish-Jordanian roots specializing in blues and jazz music. She collaborates with the „JazzPRESS” magazine and the „Twój Blues” quarterly. She hosts radio program on Polish Radio Lublin and Radiojazz.fm, focusing on blues, jazz music and the history of African American musical culture. She is currently preparing a doctoral dissertation.
Jason Lee (China)
Jason Lee is born and educated in Hong Kong. He has studied East Asian Studies in the City University of Hong Kong. Exposed to jazz during high school, he became immersed in this music idiom (before that pop music and western classical music for which he plays decent classical piano) and going to live jazz music in the Asia International City.
Jan Fritz (Germany)
Founder of the agency JAZZMEDIA & MORE and editor for diverse music magazines. He was a music editor at the private radio channel KISS-FM Berlin (production and hosting of the weekly broadcast „Jazzbeats“ from 1992-1996).
Mirian Arbalejo (Spain)
Mirian Arbalejo is a jazz critic and author. She's a member of the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA), the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (GRAMMY), and the DownBeat Veterans Committee.
