We have great pleasure in announcing winners for these awards for 2025.
The International Trombone Association has several awards it bestows each year. The individual awards are the ITA Award, presented every year to an individual who has greatly influenced the field of trombone, the Neill Humfeld Award, which recognizes outstanding trombone teaching in our profession while honoring the teaching excellence of the late Neill Humfeld, the Legacy Circle Award, for unparalleled accomplishments in the trombone community, the Lifetime Achievement Award, for contributions to the trombone profession over a long career.
The neill humfeld award
JoDee Davis
JoDee Davis is professor of trombone at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. She performs regularly as an extra with the Kansas City Symphony and is a member of the Trilogy Brass Trio and Crossroads Trombone Quartet. Davis has served on the faculties of Kent State University and Eastern Washington University. Formerly principal trombone of the Spokane Symphony and second trombone of the Santa Fe Opera, she has performed with a number of other orchestras including the Akron, Canton, and Youngstown Symphony Orchestras in Ohio, and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Charleston, SC, and Spoleto, Italy.
She has presented solo recitals and master classes throughout the United States and has performed and given clinics at the International Trombone Festival, the American Trombone Workshop; the Midwest Clinic; and the Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois Music Educators Conferences. She was a member of the highly acclaimed trombone quartet PRISMA, which performed at the first International Women’s Brass Conference in St. Louis, the Arizona Low Brass Symposium, and International Trombone Festivals in Cleveland, Minneapolis, Las Vegas and Feldkirch, Germany. In 2011, Davis was an adjudicator in the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. In November 2013, she presented a recital and master classes at the Musik Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen. Davis was invited to conduct the International Women’s Trombone Choir at the 2024 International Trombone Festival at Texas Christian University.
Davis’s students hold university positions throughout the United States and in public and private schools throughout the country. The UMKC Trombone Ensemble, under Davis’s direction, has won Honorable Mention in the International Trombone Association’s Emory Remington Trombone Choir Competition and made its second appearance at the Missouri Music Educators Association Conference in January 2024. The ensemble has toured in the St. Louis area and performed on a program of the St. Louis Low Brass Collective.
Davis received the UMKC Conservatory’s Muriel McBrien Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015 and the Kauffman Excellence in Service Award in 2021. She was awarded a 2017 University of Missouri Research Board grant to commission and record new music for trombone and piano. She has two solo recordings on the Albany Records label: In the Moment (2001) and The Voices of Air (2020).
Davis holds the Doctor of Music in brass literature and performance from Indiana University, and the Master of Music in trombone performance and the Bachelor of Music in music education from the University of Northern Iowa. She gratefully acknowledges her major teachers: Jon Hansen, Dee Stewart, and Jan Kagarice.
ITA Award
Don Lucas
Mr. Don Lucas has performed regularly by audition with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (MN), The Empire Brass Quintet, Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, and as the founder of the American Classic Trombone Quartet. He has also performed with orchestras in San Antonio and Lubbock (TX), Providence (RI), Raleigh (NC), Portland (ME), Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Roswell (NM).
Mr. Lucas has given recitals and taught masterclasses worldwide. His engagements in the United Kingdom included performances at Wigmore Hall (London), The British Trombone Society Festival, The Repton Brass Festival, The Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester), The Royal Academy of Music (London), The Guildhall School of Music (London), The Royal College of Music, and The Royal Scottish Academy of Music (Glasgow).
His engagements in Russia included performances and masterclasses at The Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow), The Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (St. Petersburg), and The Fine Arts Institute (Vladivostok). In South Korea, he performed at the Korean Trombone Festival, JeJu Festival, Seoul Trombone Ensemble, Wool Trombone Ensemble, and in a joint recital with Minhwan Lee at Seoul National University. In China, he worked with institutions such as the Central Conservatory (Beijing), Xinghai Conservatory (Guangzhou), Shenyang Conservatory, Shenzhen University, the Hong Kong Academy of the Arts, and Macao’s “Bandfair!” festival.
Other notable engagements include performances at the Brazilian Trombone Association National Festivals (Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia), the International Trombone Festival, UNIRIO (Rio de Janeiro), the Conservatoire Supérieur (Paris, France), the Melos Brass Festival (Corfu, Greece), Franz Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest, Hungary), Trombones de Costa Rica International Brass Festival (San José), and the International Trombone Symposium (Melbourne, Australia). He has also performed at the International Trombone Festivals in the United States and Feldkirch (Austria) as well as conservatories in Copenhagen and Aarhus (Denmark). In the U.S., he founded the Big 12 Trombone Conference at Texas Tech University.
Mr. Lucas has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and clinician at prestigious venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center, The Juilliard School, and The Eastman School of Music. He has performed with the U.S. Army Orchestra & Band “Pershing’s Own,” The U.S. Naval Academy Band, and The West Point U.S. Military Academy Band. Additional performances include appearances at the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic, the New York Conference for Brass Scholarships, the Masterworks Festival, the Eastern Trombone Workshop (Washington, D.C.), the Harmony Ridge Brass Festival (VT), the 76 Trombones and 4 Trombone Festival (Las Vegas), the College Band Directors National Association Convention, The Texas Music Educators Association Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention, the Christian Artists Music Festival (CO), Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, and the Las Vegas Music Festival, as well as numerous universities, festivals, schools, and camps.
Mr. Lucas’ honors include being the only trombonist in history to receive the Premier Prix Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music (London). He was a Bronze Medalist and finalist in the Toulon International Solo Competition, First Prize Winner of the ITA Frank Smith International Trombone Solo Competition, and First Place “Fellow” at the Harmony Ridge Brass Festival. He also won First Place in the Solo and Group Competitions at the National Christian Artists Seminar, and his ensemble, The American Classic Trombone Quartet, earned First Prize at the Summit Brass International Brass Chamber Group Competition.
His recording credits include performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the American Wind Symphony. He has recorded solo and brass chamber music selections on two CDs for North South Recordings and Warwick Music Publishers (UK). His solo albums include Hymns for Trombone and Cantabile. He is currently collaborating with pianist Haram Kim on a double CD featuring French music, titled A French Toast.
Mr. Lucas has premiered and commissioned numerous works for trombone by composers such as Fisher Tull, Jacques Casterède, Derek Bourgeois, Adam Gorb, David Maslanka, Franz Cibulka, Eddie Bass, Alun Hoddinott, Gary Belshaw, Daniel Schnyder, and Daniela Candillari (upcoming premiere).
His students have achieved prestigious positions in orchestras, service bands, touring shows, and the music industry. They have won numerous competition prizes, including First Place in the Emory Remington ITA International Trombone Choir Competition (twice), First Place in the U.S. National Tenor Trombone and Bass Trombone Solo Competitions (ATW), First Prize in the ITA Alberto Gagliardi International Solo Competition, First Prize in the SliderAsia International Bass Trombone Competition, and First Place in the National Jazz Trombone Band Competition (ATW). Additionally, his students have been finalists in the ITA International Trombone Quartet Competition (twice), the ITA Frank Smith Award, and semi-finalists for the Tilden Prize (New York City).
Mr. Lucas currently serves as Associate Professor of Trombone and Chair of the Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion Department at Boston University. Previously, he taught at Texas Tech University, Eastern New Mexico University, and Sam Houston State University.
He was President of the International Trombone Association 2008-2011 and is an Artist/Clinician for S.E. Shires Co. (Holliston, MA, USA).