Katonah, NY (Top40 Charts/ Blakjak Music Records) Jack Evans of New York's rock/blues/jazz group Reverend Zen is the recipient of a prestigious 2011-2012 ASCAP Plus Award. As a member of ASCAP Mr. Evans was selected for the honor by a distinguished panel of independent music experts chaired in ASCAP's Jazz & Popular
Music Division. ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, is one the world's largest performing rights organizations. Made up of more than 275,000 songwriters and music publishers it distributes licensing and royalty revenue to its members. The ASCAP Plus Awards are based on public performance activity of a writer's song catalog. That includes ASCAP surveyed and non surveyed live concerts, air play on terrestrial or internet radio and placements in film and television projects. Mr. Evans' nomination was then considered on merit with respect to all other applicants.
Over the past six years as bandleader and songwriter for Reverend Zen Mr. Evans has won seventy songwriting and performance awards around the world. During 2011-2012 the band's cd Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon has continued to receive air play and media placements in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. This is the fifth consecutive year Mr. Evans has been honored through ASCAP's cash award program.
Accolades for Reverend Zen include sixteen Finalist Awards, two Artists of the Year Nominations and Best Song Nomination, "Boy Genius", from ABC
Radio Network's 2008-2009, 2009-2010 Fame Games Effigy Awards in Costa del Sol, Spain. The 2007-2008 Effigy Awards saluted Mr. Evans' group with five Finalist Awards, Artist of the Year Nomination and Best Song Nomination. The ceremony subsequently awarded "The
Boston Shakedown" 2007-2008 Song of the Year. Paul Sedowski, CEO of Fame Games Effigy Awards, and his fellow panelists remarked, "Reverend Zen sounds like a killer band that's tight, full of energy, highly accomplished and credible. Their great musicianship and musical taste make it a pleasure to listen to their music."
In Canada Reverend Zen's "Bad Attitude" was a Best Song Nominee in 2008's Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards. In California they were named Best Artist Nominees and Best Song Nominees for "Her Love" by 2008's Los Angeles
Music Awards. The period also saw Mr. Evans' group receive six Semi Finalist Awards from the BBC-sponsored 2008, 2009, 2010 UK Song Contests in London and the 2008, 2009 Australia Song Contests in Sydney. Back in L.A. the band won four Finalist Awards from 2007-2008, 2008-2009 Unisong International Song Contests, "Bad Attitude", "Boy Genius", "
Magdalena", and "My Sigmund Freud". More European accolades came their way in Paris with three Semi Finalist Awards and a 2008 Finalist trophy for "Dangerous Times" from France's 100% Song Contest. Reverend Zen ended the twelve-month period bestowed 2008's Golden Wave Artist of the Year Award by event founder and radio personality Carmen Allgood in Denver.
Two thousand seven brought Reverend Zen a Los Angeles
Music Awards Best Artist Nomination and record setting four Best Song Nominations, "Dangerous Times", "Bad Attitude", "The
Boston Shakedown" and "Don't Try to Tell Me". The 17th annual Hollywood festivities went on to name Evans' band 2007 Artist of the Year as "Bad Attitude" won L.A.
Music Awards' Song of the Year. They completed 2007 crowned Artist of the Year by WCH
Radio in St. Louis.
"These songs have heart, emotion, tremendous flow, excellent style and first rate production." Commented judges from VH1's 2006 Song of the Year Contest. That years' VH1 event named Reverend Zen's "Dangerous Times" one of their top five Finalists in the New York/Houston-based contest. Five more trophies went to "The
Boston Shakedown", "Bad Attitude", "
Magdalena", "Don't Try to Tell Me" and "Fingerprints" with 2006 VH1 Runners Up Awards. The year also saw the group saluted in England by RGW Radio's 2006 Bronze Artist Award in Norfolk, U.K. Mr. Evans' band has additionally received multiple songwriting and performance honors from the highly regarded Billboard World Song Contest in New York, the Mid Atlantic Song Contest in Washington, D.C. and U.K.'s Singer-Songwriter Awards in London.
The award winning songs by Mr. Evans, a Berklee College of
Music graduate, can all be found on Reverend Zen's cd Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon. The release features a stellar group of musicians who've performed with Eric Clapton,
Annie Lennox,
David Sanborn, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, B.B. King, Shawn Colvin, Dr. John, Donald Fagen, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, John Scofield, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Jennifer Lopez,
Dennis Chambers, Paul Schaeffer, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Boz Scaggs, Joe Cocker, Donald Harrison, Lenny White,
Celine Dion, Albert Collins, Michael McDonald,
Pearl Jam, Taj Mahal, John Medeski, Solomon Burke, Keith Carlock, Diana Ross,
George Russell, Patti LaBelle,
Rufus and Carla Thomas.
Reverend Zen is also a featured artist on compilation releases "Fresh Produce 4" from MVY
Radio in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod, and Newport, R.I., "Music for Coffee Beings I" from RPW Records in Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada, "Songwriters & Storytellers" from San Francisco Bay area's Indie Artist Alliance and "Just Talents" from Research
Music in Miami, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and Berlin, Germany. An in-depth interview with Mr. Evans can be found at allaboutjazz.com. The ASCAP Plus Awards' distributions take place late this month at the ASCAP offices in New York.
https://www.reverendzenmusic.com; myspace.com/reverendzenmusic; facebook.com/reverendzen; facebook.com/Reverend-Zen; sonicbids.com/ReverendZen; Reverend Zen's cd Angels, Blues & the Crying Moon available at: iTunes, cdbaby.com, amazon.com
