“Many of my dreams have come true, but what I’ve learned is that dreams CHANGE. I always thought that the most important thing was to play my horn, but later on I had a NEW dream: to help young musicians make THEIR dreams come true. That became my supreme joy and my greatest aspiration.”
-Clark Terry
In celebrating the legacy of St. Louis’ own jazz legend Clark Terry, Jazz St. Louis is excited to present the second annual Clark Terry Jazz Ambassador Award. This award recognizes someone in the St. Louis region who embodies the spirit of Clark Terry, inspiring and furthering a love of jazz in young people. If you know anyone who fits this mold, please nominate them at the link below. Nominees do not need to be music teachers or even full-time educators, just someone who uses jazz as a vehicle to positively influence the lives of young people. The inaugural award was presented in April 2022.
The winner, chosen by JSL staff and members of JSL’s Education Advisory Board, will be recognized at JSL’s Swing for Scholars event, and will receive a 2-ticket, 4-concert choose-your-own subscription to the upcoming Jazz St. Louis Concert Season.
Jazz St. Louis staff and teaching artists are not eligible for consideration.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Adaron “Pops” Jackson, Director of Education and Community Engagement, at [email protected].
Past Winners
2024-Brett Stamps
The 2024 Clark Terry Jazz Ambassador Award was presented to Brett Stamps, Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a respected jazz trombonist. Stamps founded the jazz studies program in 1979 and served as the director until 2011.
Stamps has performed worldwide with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, the United States Army Field Band “Studio Band” (now the “Jazz Ambassadors”), the University of Miami Concert Jazz Band, the Jim Widner Jazz Band and Cornet Chop Suey. Local performances credits include the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, the Dave Dickey Big Band, the Fox Theater Orchestra, Legacy, Bob Kuban, the Mo-Town Review, Galaxy and the SIUE jazz faculty. Brett has also built a strong following on the Trad circuit through performances and recordings with the St. Louis Rivermen and Cornet Chop Suey.
Brett Stamps has made significant contributions to jazz as both a performer and an educator. At Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, he played a key role in developing a comprehensive jazz program, guiding many students who have achieved success in the jazz world. His work reflects the educational spirit of Clark Terry, making him an ideal recipient of this year’s award.
2023-Paul DeMarinis
Paul DeMarinis is a native of St. Louis. He attended Indiana University and studied jazz improvisation extensively with the well-known jazz education pioneer David Baker and famed saxophonist/educator Jamey Aebersold. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Jazz Studies from Webster University in 1982 and 1987. He began teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Webster in 1980. By 1988 he was the full-time Director of the Jazz Studies Program. At Webster he taught saxophone, jazz improvisation and theory, jazz history, and jazz education methods. He also coordinated the faculty jazz ensemble and directs the Webster Summer Jazz Camp and the Jazz @ Webster Concert.
He was cofounder of the original music cooperative Brilliant Corners which recorded for the MAX JAZZ label in 1997, and has written extensively for his own trio, quartet, and sextet. He has enjoyed extended musical relationships with the Kim Portnoy Jazz Orchestra, The Jim Widner Big Band, The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Jazz Orchestra, and was a faculty member of Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops from 1996-2008. He has also been a faculty member of the International Summer Jazz Academy in Poland. He has performed with many notable musicians/bands, including Dave Liebman, Louie Bellson, Gary Foster, Bobby Shew, Paul Wertico, the Count Basie Orchestra, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, Doc Severinson, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Jr., Lou Rawls, Gladys Knight, the Temptations, and the Four Tops.
2022-Prince Wells III
Prince Wells III is a mainstay of the St. Louis jazz community as a musician, band leader, activist, community leader, and professor. Mr. Wells has been teaching at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville since 1989. As well as teaching a wide variety of music and interdisciplinary classes at SIUE, he has served as Director of the Music Business Program, Director of the Black Studies Program, Chair of the Music Department, and President of the SIUE Black Faculty and Staff Association. He currently serves as faculty advisor for the African Student Association. He is also one of five people in the Unites States certified to teach MacArther Fellow George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization.
During his career, Mr. Wells has been awarded a Jazz Artist Marketing Fellowship from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, a National Endowment for the Arts Travel/Study grant, and several other awards and honors. He was featured in a photo exhibit and subsequent book titled, Lift Every Voice and Sing: The St. Louis African-American Heritage Project as one of the 100 most influential St. Louis African-Americans of the twentieth century. He was also included in the exhibit “#1 in Civil Rights/The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis” at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.
