WBGO Presents The Letter One Rising Stars Jazz Award

WBGO is proud to present the fourth annual LetterOne RISING STARS Jazz Award concert and ceremony on Saturday, February 6 at 9 p.m. (ET). Listen to and watch the program here:

• 88.3FM
• WBGO.org
• WBGO's Facebook page

WBGO is the exclusive global broadcast partner of the event, hosted by Jamie Cullum and featuring appearances and performances by Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Jamie Cullum and others, including this year's award winners.

The award, presented during the broadcast, offers one European winner and one U.S. winner the opportunity to appear at popular Jazz festivals throughout Europe and the U.S respectively, with all expenses covered and an accompanying dedicated promotion/marketing team.

What sets this award apart is the exposure and support provided to the winners — for the U.S. winner, there are confirmed appearances at 10 major festivals such as Montreal, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., while the European winner receives concerts at seven major festivals including Nice, Vitoria, Umbria and Jazz Open in Stuttgart — often supporting major artists such as Marcus Miller or Bobby McFerrin. The LetterOne 'RISING STARS' Jazz Award tour, agent and marketing support equates to a monetary value in excess of €75,000 or $85,000, making the prize one of the most valuable jazz awards in the world. Past recipients include Tom Ibarra, Adrien Brandeis, Sasha Berliner, Giveton Gelin and Kathrine Windfeld.

Over 375 up-and-coming artists from Europe and over 350 from the U.S. completed submissions for this year's award which is open to all age groups, and approximately one-third of this year's applicants were women.This year's stellar international Jury consists of Jazz superstar, educator and three-time Grammy Award Winner Terri Lyne Carrington (Jury head); producer Brian Bacchus (Gregory Porter, Randy Weston), media personality, journalist and festival director Alex Dutilh; international businessman, philanthropist and founder of the International Jazz Festival in Lvov, Mikhail Fridman; journalist, author and NPR contributor Michelle Mercer and UK Guardian Senior Arts Editor Imogen Tilden.

Producing the program is the award-winning Air Artist Agency, whose director Burkhard Hopper has a long-standing experience in introducing new artists. For 9 years Burkhard Hopper ran the Rising Stars concert series in Europe which – among others – introduced artists such as Diana Krall, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Elling, Nicholas Payton, Jane Monheit, David Sanchez and Esbjörn Svensson to European audiences.