Monk Winners Named, NEA to Aid Jazz in L.A. Schools : Jazz: Jesse van Ruller and Darryl Hall take top honors, while efforts to enhance jazz education and performance at Locke and Hamilton high schools are announced.

Electric guitarist Jesse van Ruller and acoustic bassist Darryl Hall won top honors in their respective categories this week at the ninth annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Each received first-place prizes of $10,000 in cash and scholarships.

Van Ruller of the Netherlands and Hall from New Jersey each won out over a group of nine musicians that had been narrowed to three finalists for Monday’s final event. Judges in the bass category included Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Percy Heath, Milt Hinton and Christian McBride. Jim Hall, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Mark Whitfield judged the guitar competition.

The three guitar finalists included Baltimore’s Sheryl Bailey and Paul Pieper of Annadale, Va. Thomas Baldwin, also of Baltimore, and Martin Wind of Germany were the other two bass finalists. All six finalists performed Monday at the Kennedy Center. The event also included a tribute to trumpeter Clark Terry and featured performances from the honoree and an all-star group that included trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, saxophonist Jimmy Heath, bassist Hinton and others.

The Monk Institute singles out different instruments each year for its competition. Previous winners have included saxophonist Joshua Redman and pianists Jacky Terrasson, Marcus Roberts and Bill Cunliffe. Next year’s competition will again focus on the saxophone.

Also appearing at the Kennedy Center was the winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz/BMI Composers Competition, Anthony Jay Wilson of Studio City. Wilson, the son of Los Angeles-based bandleader-composer Gerald Wilson, was awarded $10,000 for his composition “Karaoke,” which was performed by the all-star band under the composer’s direction.

Two Los Angeles area high schools were singled out at the Kennedy Center event when Jane Alexander, the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced an effort sponsored by the endowment, the Monk Institute and the Los Angeles Lakers to enhance jazz education and performance opportunities at both Locke High School in South-Central L.A. and Hamilton High School, the music academy and humanities magnet school in West L.A. The program, dubbed Jazz Sports L.A., is chaired by former Lakers’ center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The Jazz Sports L.A. program will consist of six lectures-performances by various jazz musicians at each school, with special master classes conducted by the lecturer for selected, advanced students. Bands from both schools have been invited to play at six of the Lakers’ home games this season.

The first of these Forum events will take place Wednesday when Abdul-Jabbar and Alexander will join Thelonious Monk Jr., chairman of the Monk Institute, and pianist Herbie Hancock for a kickoff event. Student ensembles will perform outside the Forum between 6:15 and 7:15 p.m.

The first lecture-performance at Hamilton High is scheduled for Thursday and will feature a performance from Hancock. Abdul-Jabbar and Alexander will also be in attendance. “It’s aincredible opportunity for our students,” Michael P. McGrath, assistant principal for the academy of music at Hamilton.