The quartet led by the very young trumpeter Víctor Carrascosa was the brand new winner of the third edition of the Juventudes Musicales de España (JM Spain) Jazz Competition. This was the opinion of the jury of the contest after listening to ten groups and soloists in the qualifiers and four in the finals during the second weekend of October.
After two intense days of a contest held in the auditorium of the Conservatori Superior de Music from the Liceu, within the framework of the Barcelona Voll-Damm Jazz Festival, which could also be followed via streaming through the JM Spain YouTube channel, the jury decided the following.
The Víctor Carrascosa Quartet, made up of guitarist Camil Alcarazo Sempere (Barcelona, 05-05-2003), drummer John Christian Albright Smith (United States, 01-29-1997), double bassist Ton Felices Giralt (Barcelona, 08-11 -2002) and Víctor Carrascosa Crespo himself (Barcelona, 02-21-2003) has won first prize.
The Second Prize went to the Vicente Marín Trío , made up of drummer David Gimeno Alemany (Barcelona, 03-02-1996), double bassist Jon Carranza Anasagasti (Vizcaya, 02-07-1999) and pianist Vicente Marín Morales (Huelva, 11-25-1996).
Both the first and second prizes consist of concert tours through the JM Spain Music Network circuit, as well as various national and international promotional activities. The final, played on Sunday, October 9, was completed by the Estela Julia Quartet and the duo of Biel Harper and Aura Mauri.
The jury of this third edition of the jazz contest was chaired by the singer Carme Canela , and included the pianist Marco Mezquida, the trombonist Luis Bonilla, the drummer Gonzalo del Val and Joan Anton Cararach, artistic director of the Barcelona Jazz Festival, as members and journalist Susana Carmona, coordinator of the Terrassa Jazz Festival, as non-voting secretary.
With this third edition, the Juventudes Musicales de España Contest in its Jazz modality is consolidated as the only one of this genre, at a national level, for young performers. The Juventudes Musicales de España Contest was created in 1979 and until 2018 included only classical music modalities and instruments, then expanding to Jazz and Early Music. This edition of Jazz has meant the 104th call of the JM Spain contest in all its modalities.
