Sammy Nestico is one of the most successful and recognizable figures in the jazz music world today. A leading arranger and composer for film, television and radio for over 50 years, his musical legacy is an integral part of our national consciousness. After working as a staff arranger for ABC radio station and WCAE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Nestico joined The United States Air Force Band in 1950. Subsequently, in 1954, he was named leader of the Airmen of Note. Following his military career, which included a position as director of the White House Orchestra, he worked for fourteen years as composer/arranger for the Count Basie Orchestra. In this position, he directed ten recordings-four of them were Grammy Award-winning productions. During the same period he worked as an arranger and orchestrator for Capitol Records, co-writing the equivalent of 63 albums. Over the past four decades, Nestico has written for hundreds of major artists of stage and screen, including Julie Andrews, George Burns, Gene Kelly and Goldi Hawn. His television credits include the Grammy Awards, the Tonight Show and specials for Perry Como, Toni Tennille, Liza Minelli and Natalie Cole. Nestico has also composed numerous commercials, including spots for Anheuser Busch, Zenith, Ford Motor Company and Mattel Toys.

Content Tools
Download printable flyer	Contact Sammy Nestico Award staff
E-mail a friend or student about this competition

2009 Winner
Sara Jacovino
Middlebury, Connecticut

NYC based trombonist Sara Jacovino is an ambitious young composer and arranger who cut her teeth in the renowned One O'Clock Lab Band at the University of North Texas. Hailed by the likes of David Baker as having a completely unique compositional and performing voice, Sara has already drawn the attention of many seasoned professionals. In the fall of 2008, Sara made the move to NYC where she joined the BMI jazz composer's workshop led by Jim McNeely. In June of 2009, Sara was awarded the BMI Foundation's Charlie Parker Composition Award/Manny Album Commission after just her first season in the workshop. Earlier in the year, she was awarded Downbeat Magazine's Student Music Award in the category of jazz arranging. Similarly in 2008, Sara's received two Downbeat Awards, including best Original Song and best Extended Composition. She also earned invitations to the prestigious Better Carter Jazz Ahead residency and Ravinia Steans Institute residency, while being awarded the Kai Winding jazz ensemble prize and selected as one of three finalists in the International Trombone Association's J.J. Johnson solo jazz trombone competition. Sara can be seen leading her original quintet and big band as well as her recently co-founded jazz philharmonic, The Orchestral Reeducation Commission. Sara earned both a BMus and MMus degree from UNT while studying composition with Neil Slater and Paris Rutherford and trombone with Steve Wiest and Tony Baker.