Eddie Harvey (1925-2012)

A new ‘Eddie Harvey Jazz Arranger of the Year Award’ will be formally launched at a concert celebrating Eddie Harvey’s life (see more details in Peggy Hannington’s preview) at the Royal Academy of Music on November 10th.  

Ivor Widdison writes about the Award:

Whilst Eddie didn’t exactly rage against the injustice of it, he did lament the neglect of the importance of the role of the jazz arranger. We think we can do a little something to remedy that. And indeed to help to perpetuate the memory of the man who gave so much to British jazz.

We propose to set up an Eddie Harvey Jazz Arranger of the Year Award, which will be made annually and be open to all ages. For the winner it will be worth £2000.

The rules will be straightforward. The only specific exclusion is that the submitted arrangement must not have been previously publicly performed. Submissions will be notated with no limitations on the combination of instruments or voices.

For most practical purposes, we think applicants should try to encompass their arrangement within 15 minutes. Arrangements can be of original or non-original works.

Arrangers should be resident in the UK; and we think it important to reassure all would-be competitors that the judges will base their findings on charts that do not reveal authors’ identity.

The judges’ (Pete Hurt, Mark Armstrong, Kate Williams and Jason Yarde) verdict will be final and not subject to appeal.

These are early days for the project, but we are looking at a closing date for submissions to be received by the Scheme’s administrator – contact details to follow) of 31 July 2014.

There will be a public presentation and performance of the winning submission by NYJO in an appropriate formation – and who knows what that will be; with strings, perhaps, as a septet, or then again something completely different! It’s this inclusivity which makes the Award so exciting.

Full details of the Award will be available on the night of the celebratory concert – Sunday 10 November 2013, 6 pm at the Royal Academy of Music.