Louis Smith Scholarship Awarded
The second annual Louis Smith Scholarship presentation took place on Sunday, April 28, at Kerrytown Concert House. The scholarships, presented by SEMJA, were awarded during Sean Dobbins’ “Rising Stars” performance which featured young bassist Austin Aldrich, one of two recipients.
The Louis Smith Scholarship Fund was established as a way to pay tribute to the late trumpeter who, through much of his career, devoted himself to educating young musicians in order to help preserve jazz and its traditions. Dobbins, a former student of Smith, has become one of the areas most dedicated jazz educators, heading several programs for young jazz musicians in both the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti and Detroit areas.
The second scholarship recipient on Sunday was trumpeter Jibreel Johnson. Both Johnson and Aldrich are seventeen-year-old juniors at Ann Arbor’s Huron High School. Aldrich plans to attend the Ann Arbor Public Schools summer jazz program, while Johnson will attend the Community Music School of Detroit’s summer jazz camp. Both young men had the opportunity to show off their chops at Sunday’s performance, proving that jazz is in excellent hands.