University of Pittsburgh Percussionist Wins Pitt-Mellon Jazz Scholarship

PITTSBURGH—Ajinkya "Jinx" Joglekar, 19, a music major and student percussionist at Pitt, is the winner of the 2003 University of Pittsburgh-Mellon Jazz Scholarship. Joglekar will accept the $5,000 award at 7:30 p.m. Sunday,

Aug. 10, at Hartwood Amphitheater. Pitt Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Robert Hill will make the presentation prior to the Mellon Jazz at Hartwood concert featuring Ramsey Lewis. The free public event is part of the Allegheny County Summer Concert Series, sponsored, in part, by Mellon Financial Corporation.

This is the 17th year Pitt and Mellon have joined to fund the scholarship, which is awarded to a current or incoming Pitt jazz student. The applicants' audition tapes are judged by a panel of international musicians, which this year included jazz composer and educator David Baker, bassist Rufus Reid, saxophonist James Moody, and saxophonist Nathan Davis, who is director of Pitt's Jazz Studies Program.

"Jinx is one of the most developed young drummers that we have ever had at Pitt," said Davis of the Philadelphia native, who is entering his junior year. "I am sure, if he continues, he will be a major force in jazz."

Joglekar, who picked up his first set of drumsticks in fifth grade, performed with both rock and jazz bands while in high school and joined the Pitt Jazz Ensemble when he enrolled at Pitt in fall 2001.

He performs regularly with Pittsburgh's professional jazz musicians at jam sessions at the legendary Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh's Hill District and is the drummer for a jazz trio that plays for the dinner crowd in Market Square in Downtown, Pittsburgh. Joglekar says studying under Davis and being part of the Pittsburgh jazz scene are some of the "perks" of the jazz program at Pitt.

Joglekar also is a participant in the Brackenridge Fellowship program through Pitt's Honors College, and he conducted research this summer on the evolution of Western tuning systems and modern approaches to tuning. "My project encompasses music and my interest in physics," said Joglekar, who is interested in pursuing a graduate program in ethnomusicology.

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8/4/03/mgc