Leaders in Jazz Service Award

The First Annual Leaders in Jazz Service Award, December 18, 2021 honored music educator Rebecca “Becky” Ogden and her contributions to the Columbus jazz community. The event featured The Jon Irabagon Quartet with special guest Miles Okazaki and The Columbus Youth Jazz Program at the Ohio Historical Center.

The A Tribe For Jazz mission is to preserve the legacy and advance the future of jazz through live performances, education, and community engagement.

To that end, A Tribe for Jazz presents CELEBRATION! An evening of jazz to honor the life and legacy of community icon Becky Ogden and her contributions to youth education and the Columbus Jazz community with special performances by acclaimed saxophonist Jon Irabagon and his heralded quartet (Matt Mitchell, Piano; Chris Lightcap, Bass; Dan Weiss, Drums), with special guest Miles Okazaki, and The Columbus Youth Jazz Program.

The Jon Irabagon Quartet will be presenting new music from their upcoming release “Rising Sun” on Irabbagast Records. To preserve the legacy of Becky Ogden, a community award will be given in her name by A Tribe for Jazz on an annual basis beginning in December 2022.

Rebecca “Becky” Ogden is Central Ohio's premier children's jazz educator. She is a recipient of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Community Music Educator Award and is the founder of Peanut Butter and Jazz, a series of concerts dedicated to young children with the direct intention of teaching them to love and become our next generation of fans of Jazz. She was the founder of the Columbus Music Hall and is the host of Bungalow Jazz - a series of concerts performed in her home showcasing nationally renowned talent and Columbus's most admired jazz musicians.

The Jon Irabagon Quartet Poised to be a major contributor to the world of cutting edge jazz and unbridled improvisation, the Jon Irabagon Quartet is a highly decorated and like-minded group that places equal balance between thorny, intricate composition and no-boundaries group improvisation, recalling the entire history of jazz and modern classical music and unapologetically combining these worlds into a personalized, group-focused vision. Though this ensemble has performed together in New York City, the group is excited to bring its indelible sound to more of the US in 2022. Bandleader, Jon Irabagon won the Thelonious Monk Saxophone

Competition in 2008 and was named one of Time Out New York’s 25 Jazz Icons. He started his own label, Irabbagast Records, in 2012 to release his own wide-ranging work and has toured worldwide with luminaries such as Dave Douglas, Mary Halvorson, Barry ]Altschul, Ralph Alessi, Kenny Wheeler and Uri Caine.

CELEBRATION! will be held Saturday, December 18, 2021 at the Ohio History Center, 800 East 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211 in the auditorium. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. The performance begins at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $55 and available through Eventbrite.

Photo credit: Kenny Smith