2009 Jazz Improvisation Competition Winner, Victor Garcia
Victor Garcia, Civic and Arts 2009 Jazz Improvisation Competition Grand Prize Winner, graduated from University of Illinois with an undergraduate degree in Jazz. He’s a full-time musician who plays throughout the world. He has started his own Big Band, the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, which played at the city’s Millennium Park this summer. At the age of 26, Victor is already a successful musician whose trumpet performance impressed the judges and audience members alike at the final auditions at Buddy Guy’s Legends in February. But Victor’s life could have turned out very differently. “I didn’t care where I went to high school,” Victor said. “I never even thought I’d go to college.”
At the beginning of high school, Victor’s friends joined local gangs. Two of them died in shootings. Three others found themselves in prison. Victor worried that he would meet a similar fate. “I wondered, ‘What am I doing?’ I just didn’t know what to do about it,” he said.
Around that time, one of Victor’s teachers encouraged him to attend a free jazz concert. At this show, Victor saw trumpeter Bob Ojeda, one of the Civic & Arts’ Jazz Improvisation Competition judges, play and his life was changed forever. “I was flabbergasted. I decided to learn trumpet.”
And that he did. Victor taught himself to play and then decided to take lessons at the Merit School of Music, where his teacher told him he could make a living from music. Victor decided to go to college to study jazz and he’s made a life out of it ever since. Before that, Victor admitted, he hadn’t thought much about his future.
“Music saved my life,” he explained. “There were so many times that I could have been in horrible situations, but I was committed to practicing and getting better at trumpet. I probably wouldn’t have gone to college if it weren’t for my music.”
When Victor Garcia applied for Civic & Arts’ Jazz Improvisation Competition, he had no idea that Bob Ojeda was one of the judges. “I’m so glad I didn’t know,” he said. “I’d have been freaking out.”
The final rounds of the competition were held on February 18, 2009 before a live audience of more than 200 people at Buddy Guy’s Legends. In addition to Bob Ojeda, the competition was judged by well-known jazz artists, Kent Wehman and Willie Pickens. Barry Winograd, saxman and host of WXRT’s weekly Jazz Transfusion and daytime jazz at WDCB, emceed the event.
The Civic & Arts Foundation began its unique Jazz Improvisation Competition in 2002 with five entrants. This year, with $16,000 in awards and the final auditions at the iconic Buddy Guy’s Legends, 76 young jazz musicians participated in the program. Victor Garcia won $5000; the People’s Choice award of $500, the $1500 first place award in the third division and the Grand Prize of $3,000. With this money, Victor plans to record an album with the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble. He’ll use the album to promote the ensemble to international venues and festivals.
“This competition is such a blessing for jazz musicians,” Victor said. “It’s going to make a huge difference for me.”
