Jay Thatte (photo above) has been playing music since he was seven years old, starting out on classical piano. In the sixth grade at Newark Academy, a coeducational private day school in Livingston, NJ, where he lives, he was exposed to jazz by Julius Tolentino, the Director of Bands. “He introduced me to clarinet and saxophone,” Thatte recalled. “I’ve been taking lessons from him since then. I didn’t go to Newark Academy for music, but it was like a stroke of luck. I loved it.”
When Tristan Connolly (photo below) was 11 or 12, growing up in Fairfield, CT, he was listening to some music on Spotify. “I came across this playlist entitled Jazz,” he said, “and I took a listen. I heard this song, ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ which featured Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, and Dizzy Gillespie, and, in that moment, I fell in love with jazz. I just wanted to be able to play what they did.”
Thatte and Connolly, both entering their junior years in high school in the fall, are the Grand Prize Winners in the 2026 Gerry Mulligan Jazz Challenge, sponsored by The Gerry and Franca Mulligan Foundation. “For the first time in the history of the nine-year contest,” said Mia Toschi, GFMF Executive Director, “two students scored the top prize, and each will be awarded a new Conn Selmer saxophone.”
To enter this year’s contest, student musicians were asked to upload a solo performance video of Mulligan’s “Outback of the Barn,” a composition that was first played by his New Sextet in 1976.
Newark Academy won Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition in 2024 and was a finalist in 2025, Thatte’s freshman year in high school. Thatte was part of the competing band and won Honorable Mention as a soloist. He participates in JALC’s year-round Youth Orchestra, directed by Tolentino; will be attending its Jazz Academy this summer; and has been invited to be a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Band, which selects 21 student musicians from across the country.
“The reason I like Gerry Mulligan,” he said, “is his warm and huge sound. Also, the fact that he was a very melodic player.” Thatte’s main instrument is tenor saxophone, and his two favorite players are Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane. Among current saxophonists, he would choose Joshua Redman.
What the 16-year-old Thatte loves most about jazz is “that it’s a community art form. Improvising is like a conversation with other people. It’s a type of music that really brings people together in a special way. I’ve also learned about its heritage, where it comes from, the influences on it from many parts of the world.”
While attending Tomlinson Middle School in Fairfield, Connolly was “fortunate to have a great jazz teacher, Tim Lewis, who supported me.” Connolly played baritone saxophonist in the middle school band for three years, and Lewis recalled “teaching him one-on-one lessons in the eighth grade. As a middle school teacher, I find my main focus is to inspire my students to listen and copy what they hear on the records. Tristan took real ownership of his learning in this way. He has a very intuitive ear and feel for music in general. He would come into his lessons with new things he checked out, mainly showing me transcriptions of his favorite artists. Gerry Mulligan was a major influence on him. Others would include Bird, Stitt, and, if memory serves, some Art Pepper. His enthusiasm for the music is infectious, and it has been a real joy for me to see him taking big steps forward!”
Like Thatte, the 15-year-old Connolly, who attends Fairfield Warde High School, participates in JALC’s Youth Orchestra. This summer he will be attending the Litchfield, CT, Jazz Camp on a full scholarship, having won its Talent Search, which was held in March. “I’ve always been a big fan of Gerry Mulligan,” he said. “I fell in love with his sound and his melodic playing. He was one of my big inspirations. I think playing and listening to jazz helps me relax. It makes me motivated. It’s a great part of my life.”
As a jazz musician and educator, Tolentino gets to work with “so many talented young musicians; and Jay and Tristan are some of the brightest and talented students I’ve been able to work with. It was probably around two or three years ago when I realized that Jay was going to be a monster player on the saxophone. He is very dedicated and loves jazz music.
“I first heard Tristan on an online audition for Jazz at Lincoln Center. I could hear his love for Sonny Stitt — one of my favorites — in his playing right away. He has also grown so much in the short time I’ve gotten to know him at JALC and in the New York All State Jazz Band. They are both deserving of this award from the Mulligan Foundation!”
The other finalists in this year’s Gerry Mulligan Challenge are Robert Jefferson of Burlington, NC, who will receive a $500 cash award, and Jenna Marx of Westlake Village, CA, and Kalman Leviton of Chevy Chase, MD, who will each receive $250.-SANFORD JOSEPHSON
TRISTAN CONNOLLY PHOTO BY ISRAEL CORONA