The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) today announced the top five finalists of the 15th annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Selected from a record-breaking pool of more than 360 entrants spanning 38 different countries,these gifted young singers represent the next generation of great jazz vocalists.
The 2026 finalists are: ·
Alyssa Allgood (Chicago, IL)·
Angélique Nicolas (Toulon, France)·
Jackie Ribas (New York City, NY)·
Nathan Farrell (New York City, NY·
Vahn Black (Washington, DC)
On November 22, 2026, the finalists will compete on the iconic NJPAC stage in front of a live audience and before a distinguished panel of judges. This year’s jury includes: leading jazz vocalist for the hip-hop generation Jose James; 3x Grammy® Award nominee Gretchen Parlato; Tony, Drama Desk, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Vice President of Programming Jason Olaine; Outer Critics Cricle Award-winning actress/singer Lillias White; and percussionist T.S. Monk (son of Thelonious Monk).
Hosted by WBGO Radio’s Gary Walker, this special event will also feature a performance by April May Webb, the 2024 winner of the competition. The first-prize winner of the competition—affectionally known as “The SASSY Awards”—will receive a $5,000 cash award, with second-place receiving $1,500, and third-place receiving $500.
The competition honors the legacy and humble beginnings of legendary jazz singer/NEA Jazz Master Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990). In 1942, Vaughan was a Newark teenager whose raw talent won her an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater, launching one of the most successful and influential jazz careers in American music history.
Past winners of the competition include Cyrille Aimée, Jazzmeia Horn, Ashleigh Smith, Arianna Neikrug, Deelee Dubé, Quiana Lynell, Laurin Talese, Samara Joy (2023 GRAMMY® Award winner for Best New Artist), Gabrielle Cavassa and Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, G. Thomas Allen, Lucía Gutiérrez Rebolloso, Tyreek McDole, April May Webb, and Kate Kortum.
As one of the world’s premier jazz vocal competitions, The SASSY Awards offers outstanding, unsigned singers over the age of 18 a unique platform to launch their careers in the music business. Contestants are evaluated on vocal quality, musicality, technique, performance, individuality, artistic interpretation, and ability to swing.
About Top Five Finalists
Alyssa Allgood is a jazz vocalist, songwriter, bandleader and three-time DownBeat magazine Critics Poll Rising Star based in Chicago, praised for her “force, clarity and jazz
integrity” (The New York City Jazz Record). Allgood performs heartfelt originals and contemporary arrangements of standards with a voice that moves from tender to bold, and
“improvisational prowess” (DownBeat) that puts her at the center of the band’s conversation. The inaugural winner of the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition, Allgood has commanded iconic stages including Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Dizzy’s, Birdland, Mezzrow, the Green Mill, the Jazz Showcase and Blues Alley. She has recorded with internationally renowned musicians Geoffrey Keezer, John Patitucci, Kendrick Scott and Greg Ward, and had compositions selected as finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and International Songwriting Competition. Critics have consistently praised Allgood’s lyrical
expression and instrumental-like improvisation.
Vahn Black is a Detroit-born vocalist, songwriter, producer and composer. A graduate of Spelman College and Detroit School of Arts, her work moves between song, film, theater and performance art, with an attention to voice as both instrument and witness. In 2014, she placed runner-up in the Detroit Jazz Festival’s Youth Vocal competition. She has worked with artists including Anthony Hamilton, MAJOR., Frankie Beverly featuring Maze, Elle Varner and Chrisette Michele, and has been recognized by NPR’s Tiny Desk and Tiny Desk Top Shelf. Her recordings, including The Gladys Bentley Project series and I Am a Woman Again: Naked, continue an ongoing conversation with Black musical lineage, memory and selfauthorship.
Nathan Farrell is a New York-based artist, vocalist, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer. In 2026, he was featured with GRAMMY® and Tony Award-winning Bryan Carter’s Jazz at Pride at Dizzy’s Club and at Live from Emmet’s Place. A product of JAZZ HOUSE KiDS in Montclair, New Jersey, Farrell gained renown at a young age with outstanding award recognitions from the Essentially Ellington Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Manhattan School of Music and Charles Mingus Festival, DownBeat magazine, The Pittsfield Jazz Festival’s Jazz Prodigy Series and a roster placement in the 2016 and 2017 GRAMMY® Camp Jazz Session Big Bands. He is an in-demand vocal collaborator, including
background vocals and arrangements for the Jonas Brothers at Prudential Center, an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and vocals on Lawrence’s GRAMMY®-nominated arrangement of “Something in the Water (Acoustic-ish).”
Angélique Nicolas is a French jazz vocalist, composer and vocal educator whose artistry bridges jazz, soul and gospel. A finalist in the 2024 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal
Competition, she returns with a deeply personal approach to interpretation and improvisation. A graduate of the Toulon Conservatory in vocal jazz and contemporary music, she first
gained national recognition through The Voice France in 2016. Her recent work includes original releases Still, Blurred Skies, 8 Unfolded and While We Walk (2026), an intimate improvised piano-and-voice project with pianist Enzo Carniel. She is developing ARETHA – A Bridge of Souls, a contemporary jazz tribute to Aretha Franklin that honors the African American roots, heritage and legacy of this music while creating a bridge between cultures and generations. Nicolas sees music as a living heritage to honor, embody and pass forward — a space for freedom, connection and transformation, carrying enduring messages of dignity and empowerment.
Jackie Ribas is a Brazilian-American vocalist whose artistry is rooted in gospel, Brazilian music, soul and jazz. She sang in church and at 12 began studying at a music conservatory. For seven years she was a vocalist on Altas Horas, a popular Brazilian television show. Since moving to New York in 2011, Ribas has built an international career performing jazz and
Brazilian music at prestigious venues and events including the NFL Draft, New York Fashion Week, Formula 1 in Brazil and the inaugurations of two New Jersey governors. Her international performances include venues in France, Portugal, Germany, Amsterdam and Ghana, where she was invited to perform for International Jazz Day for two consecutive years. Ribas’s voice carries the influences of where she comes from and where her musical heart lives: the spirit of gospel, the richness of Brazilian music, the freedom of jazz and the soul of a lifelong performer
Event + Ticket Information:
Date: Sunday, November 22, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. ET
Location: NJPAC, One Center Street, Newark, New Jersey
Tickets:
On sale now. Reserve online at SarahVaughanCompetition.com or call 888.GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722).
