Tom Sykes, with the blessing of Dave's family, took the initiative to set up a trust fund. There is an annual event featuring 'The Dave Joseph Award' for the most promising music student(s) at Liverpool Community College.
Board of trustees
Tom Sykes
Paul Taft
Tricia Liedl
Silvia D'Emilio
David Fishel
RECIPIENTS
2009
Paul McGarry, guitar
| Paul joined Liverpool Community College 3 years ago on the National Award course, as a rock guitarist who was looking to broaden his ability and knowledge of other styles, jazz in particular. Considering that Paul was a complete jazz novice, he has made remarkable progress in his understanding of music theory and in his jazz playing and improvisation skills. It is for his hard work and dedicated study that he was chosen for this honour, and it is particularly appropriate for Paul to be the first recipient of the Dave Joseph Award: on his many visits to the college that Dave made after he officially retired, he would need little persuasion to sit in with the students in their practical sessions, and one of those students was Paul! 2010 Jess Wess Band Jess Wess (voice); Adam Scovell and Dom Connor (guitar); Aaron Schofield (bass); Alex Randles (drums); Nick Branton (guest saxophonist). Jess is a very promising singer/songwriter who enjoys performing her own material but is versatile enough to sing a range of styles, including jazz and soul. Her talented colleagues have been her fellow students on the National Diploma in Music at LCC, and we are very proud of the fact that they have all been accepted on music degree courses at local institutions and in London. Nick has been studying on the HNC in Music at LCC and was invited to join the band on the strength of his jazz playing, which has rapidly progressed consideringn that he only started playing the sax quite recently. Nick will continue to work on has sax playing and hopes to secure a place on a jazz degree course in the future.
2011 Tomas Petrauskas, piano and Armundas Jonaitis, saxophone
Armundas Jonaitis is a saxophonist from Lithuania. He has been living here for two years studying on the National
Diploma in Music and is enjoying being a student in Liverpool very much, studying pop, rock and jazz. In
Lithuani
a music education is based on classical music and Armundas wanted to try something new, and chose to study in England. The inspiration for his saxophone career came from his father who is an eminent sax player and jazz musician in Lithuania. He gave Armundas his first sax and said “you are going to be a professional sax player and you will became one of the best”. Armundas immediately took to the instrument and continued the family tradition. He has now been playing sax and developing his improvising skills for around ten years in orchestras, big bands, and pop groups, and has played in cafes, bars and other events, and has also won a few competitions. Now he is playing jazz, blues, and funky styles of music, playing with his own band. In the future Armundas would like to become a professional session musician and to gain the necessary skills so that he can make a successful career in music, performing, writing, composing for films, recording, promoting and selling his own music.
Tomas Petrauskas is also from Lithuania, where he and Armundas met and became friends before coming to Liverpool, and has also been studying on the National Diploma in Music at Liverpool Community College. He started playing the piano at the age of ten, and also tried the drums and guitar for two years. He started studying music seriously at the Šiauliai Conservatoire in 2007, and after two years there he decided with Armundas to continue his education in Liverpool because of the different learning system. Tomas has since gained experience of working in a band with like-minded young
musicians at the Community College.
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