Student Jazz Guitarist Wins $5,000 Pitt-Mellon Jazz Scholarship

PITTSBURGH—Ben Geise, a jazz guitarist who will be a senior this fall at the University of Pittsburgh, is the winner of the 2004 University of Pittsburgh-Mellon Jazz Scholarship.

Geise, 21, from South Williamsport, Pa., will receive this year's scholarship at the Mellon Jazz at Hartwood Acres concert at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 6. Featuring jazz master and educator extraordinaire Ellis Marsalis, the concert is part of the Allegheny County Summer Concert Series sponsored by Mellon Financial Corporation. This is the 18th year Pitt and Mellon have joined to fund the $5,000 scholarship, given to a current or incoming Pitt jazz student who shows the most promise. A panel of international jazz musicians judged Geise's winning audition tape.

Geise has been a student of the guitar since age 16. A 2001 graduate of South Williamsport Senior High School, he enrolled at Pitt as a music major and soon developed a concentration in jazz studies, under the instruction of Joe Negri, whom Geise calls "a fantastic teacher and an amazing human being." Geise has been a member of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble for three terms and recently traveled to Jamaica where he and the other ensemble members, under the direction of Pitt Jazz Studies Director Nathan Davis, performed for children at rural schools. Davis calls Geise "one of the most talented students we've had at Pitt."

Locally, Geise performs regularly with a guitar trio and with the Atwood All-Stars, a fusion group. He sits in with established musicians at jam sessions at the Crawford Grill and performs alongside his peers at the Rex Theater on the South Side. Geise admits he is concerned that local audiences sometimes "let jazz slip through their fingers." "Considering jazz reinvents itself every night you play it, it's a shame people can't understand that," he said. "Dr. Davis promotes jazz every opportunity he gets, and I'm starting to believe I have a responsibility to do the same thing," he added.

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6/3/04/tmw