JAZZ.FM91 is pleased to announce that Mackenzie Longpré is the 2022 recipient of the Mary Alice Stuart Scholarship.

Mary Alice Stuart, the founding chair of JAZZ.FM91, made an unparalleled contribution to the organization, helping to make JAZZ.FM91 the successful enterprise it is today. To honour her legacy, a program was developed in 2009 that awards annual $1,000 scholarships to outstanding emerging jazz artists who are completing their studies at the four Toronto-based post-secondary institutions currently offering jazz programs.

Mackenzie Longpré is a Toronto-based drummer and composer playing mainly jazz and improvised music as well as pop and rock. He was born in Tarrytown, N.Y., and raised in Toronto. He holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance and is currently working on his master’s degree at the University of Toronto. He has studied with Jim Blackley, Bob McLaren, Terry Clarke, John Rudolph, Frank Falco, Jim Vivian, and most recently, Nick Fraser.

“I would like to thank everyone at JAZZ.FM91 for presenting me with the Mary Alice Stuart Scholarship Award,” Longpré said. “Being granted the time, space and facilities to study and play this music we all love so much is a unique privilege, and getting to work and study in our musical community here in Toronto is something I will never take for granted. This award is a tremendous show of support in my continued study of jazz music as I work towards my master’s degree. The recognition it represents is humbling and inspiring, and I look forward to paying that inspiration forward as I continue my studies next year.”

Longpré has played with Tara Kannangara, Future Machines, Banners, Donovan Woods, ZINNIA, Colin Story, Mike Deicont, Gordon Hyland, the Teri Parker Quartet, the Devah Quartet, and Nature Boy. He has also released records under his own name, including summer house (2012) and A Failed Entertainment (2014), as well as two pandemic-inspired solo drum records titled Miss (2020) and Palmer (2020). Along with his busy schedule as a gigging and touring drummer, Longpré owns and operates Dixon Sound, a studio used to track and mix drums for various artists.

This year’s finalists for the Mary Alice Stuart Scholarship were saxophonist James Griffith, pianist Spencer Duncan-Dorton and drummer Jadon Haughton.