DownBeat awards for local musicians

Several young musicians from Seattle and the surrounding area and a Seattle middle-school band director have been recognized in the 30th Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards.

The awards are presented by the jazz magazine DownBeat, based on tapes submitted during the 2006 calendar year.

A trio from Washington Middle School won for best Junior High School Jazz Group, and the Seattle school's jazz band was rated "outstanding" in the Big Band category.

Washington Middle School band director Robert Knatt also became the first middle-school band director to win a DownBeat Achievement Award for Jazz Education.

The Garfield High School Symphony Orchestra was the winner in the Classical Group category.

Tenor saxophonist Xavier Del Castillo, of Tolt Middle School (Carnation), and pianist Ariel Pocock, of Tyee Middle School (Bellevue), won soloist awards; trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, of Washington Middle School, was rated an "outstanding" soloist.

A Roosevelt High School graduate now studying at the New England Conservatory, Isabella DuGraf, took the College Jazz Vocal prize.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com