Who says big band jazz is for old people? Not this teenage composer.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/06/ [login to see] /who-says-big-band-jazz-is-for-old-people-not-this-teenage-composer
Some 300 young musicians from around the country are in New York for Jazz at Lincoln Center's annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. They're attending workshops and jam sessions, meeting professional musicians and competing.

Skylar Tang, 16, has already won her award. The San Francisco Bay Area trumpet player is the winner of the Dr. J. Douglas White Composition and Arranging Contest, an honor bestowed on an original composition written and arranged for big bands by a high school student.

Tang said the vibe of her winning piece, Kaleidoscope, is kind of "frantic," a bit like her life right now. "There's a lot of stress in the tune. I go to school. I have assessments and tests. Maybe that has something to do with it," she said.

It took her about seven months to create her work. Composing for big band is "quite a process," Tang said. As a result of her win, she'll receive $1,000 and a composing and arranging lesson with Grammy winner and longtime Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member, Ted Nash. The orchestra also recorded Tang's piece.