Westminster Middle School Student Wins Willie Atkins Young Lions of Jazz Award

Westminster Christian Academy 8^th grader Christian McGhee recently won the award for Outstanding Musicianship at the first annual Willie Akins Young Lions of Jazz Competition held at the Ambassador Cub of St. Louis. McGhee – member of the Westminster band and jazz band – embraced the opportunity to play his drums onstage with St. Louis saxophone legend Willie Akins.

 Atkins invited McGhee to play with him at a number of venues after performing with him at Jazz at the Bistro in St. Louis. Impressed by the 13-year-old’s talents, Atkins requested that he play with the Willie Atkins/Montez Coleman Quartet at the Young Lions of Music Competition, in which young people brought their musical talents to compete for three awards:  Overall Performance, Top Musicianship, and 2^nd Place for Musicianship. Rather than playing with the band, McGhee was asked to compete and won the Willie Akins Young Lion of Music Award for Top Musicianship.

 “Christian is a very joyful person who has that rare ability to make a person feel his joy through his music,” says Westminster Band Director Hugh Jones. “That’s talent. I’m really happy that someday I’ll get to say, ‘I knew him when...!’”

 McGhee has been invited to The Percussive Arts Society International Convention – PASIC 2012 – in Austin and to have a dinner meeting with legendary drummer Steve Gadd.