In the spirit and vision of Metropolitan Jazz Octet founder Tom Hilliard, MJO has created a scholarship for young arrangers called the Emerging Jazz Arranger Scholarship (EJAS).  

The scholarship will provide financial support for the creation, rehearsal, recording, and production of original music specifically tailored for the jazz octet format. EJAS will also oversee the coordination of promotional efforts to enhance the visibility and impact for emerging jazz arrangers.

The 2025 awardees, John Wambach and Trevor Dean Stewart, are recent graduates from the DePaul School of Music Program.  The submission music from these awardees was recorded at Electrical Audio (Chicago). It was engineered by John McCortney and produced by Jim Gailloreto and John Kornegay.  

MJO worked closely with DePaul faculty Thomas Matta, Scott Burns, and Dean of the School of Music John Milbauer. The session musicians were comprised of recent DePaul graduates.

Hilliard, the MJO founder, had a strong connection to DePaul, as did the EJAS production team.  MJO is proud to sponsor this program. We feel it will help jumpstart careers, provide a template for artistic professionalism, and contribute to the growth of the jazz art form.