The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition is the most prestigious vocal jazz competition in the United States and one of the most respected in the world. Named for Newark, New Jersey’s own Sassy, whose four-octave voice and rhythmic mastery placed her among the greatest musicians, not just the greatest singers, of the 20th century, the competition has been hosted by NJPAC since its founding as part of the institution’s commitment to the living jazz tradition. Now in its 15th year, it has established a track record of identifying genuinely significant vocal talent before the rest of the industry catches up. The list of alumni who have gone on to major careers reads like a roster of the most important young jazz voices of the past decade: Cyrille Aimée, Jazzmeia Horn, Laurin Talese, Samara Joy, Gabrielle Cavassa, and Tyreek McDole all came through this competition. When a competition’s alumni list looks like that, the word “prestigious” is doing accurate work.

This year’s pool was the largest in the competition’s history: more than 360 entrants from 38 different countries submitted applications for consideration. From that field, five vocalists have been selected to perform live at NJPAC on November 22. The judges will hear each of them on the same stage, in the same room, with the same audience, and choose a winner. What they are listening for, beyond the technical elements of vocal quality, musicality, and technique, is individuality, artistic interpretation, and the specific ability to swing. That last criterion is always the one that matters most at a competition named for Sarah Vaughan.

These are the five vocalists who will take the NJPAC stage on November 22, 2026:

Five vocalists. Five cities. Five continents of musical tradition represented in a single competition. Alyssa Allgood’s Chicago jazz roots. Vahn Black’s Detroit soul and production sensibility. Nathan Farrell’s multi-instrumental New York artistry. Angélique Nicolas returning to a stage she knows from 2024, determined to go further this time. Jackie Ribas bringing Brazil and gospel and jazz together in a single voice. Any one of them could win, and the November 22 competition at NJPAC will be one of the most closely watched evenings in vocal jazz this fall.

The panel of judges assembled for this year’s competition is one of the most distinguished in the competition’s history:

• José James — Acclaimed vocalist described as the leading jazz voice for the hip-hop generation, with a catalog that ranges from pure jazz standards to soul and R&B crossover.
• Gretchen Parlato — Three-time Grammy Award nominee and one of the most uniquely influential jazz vocalists of the past two decades, recognized for her intimate, whisper-close approach to jazz singing.
• Jason Olaine — Vice President of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the most influential programming minds in the institutional jazz world.
• Lillias White — Tony Award-winning and Drama Desk Award-winning actress and singer, bringing theatrical vocal tradition to the panel alongside its jazz presences.
• T.S. Monk — Percussionist and son of Thelonious Monk, carrying the deepest possible connection to the jazz tradition onto a judging panel for an event that honors a vocalist who was herself one of Monk’s closest musical collaborators.

The SASSY Awards matter because of what has come after them. When you look at the alumni of this competition, the trajectory is not coincidental. Samara Joy came through this competition and went on to win the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2023, becoming the most celebrated young vocalist in jazz. Cyrille Aimée, who won in 2012, has built an international career of genuine depth and reach. Jazzmeia Horn, who won in 2013, has received two Grammy nominations and established herself as one of the most important vocal jazz voices of her generation. Gabrielle Cavassa, who won in 2021, made her Blue Note Records debut this year. Tyreek McDole, who won in 2023, is already performing at Chris’ Jazz Café in Philadelphia and building the kind of club career that the competition was designed to launch. The pattern is consistent: the SASSY Awards find the singers who are going to matter before anyone else does.

One of the five names announced this week, Alyssa Allgood, Vahn Black, Nathan Farrell, Angélique Nicolas, or Jackie Ribas, will join that list on November 22. The NJPAC stage in Newark on that Sunday evening is the place to be for anyone who wants to say, years from now, that they were in the room when the next one announced themselves.

The November 22 competition is the closing event of the 15th Annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival at NJPAC, which runs November 6 through 22 and includes headline performances by Gregory Porter, Charles Lloyd, Bruce Hornsby and Christian McBride, and a Miles Davis centennial tribute supergroup under Jon Faddis. Tickets for the Sarah Vaughan Competition finale and for the full festival are available through the NJPAC box office at njpac.org.

The Improv Café will be watching November 22 closely. The station that only broadcasts live jazz, live big band, and live swing has always understood that the voice is the oldest instrument in this tradition, and that finding the next great jazz singer is not a competition so much as an act of cultural preservation carried out in public, before an audience, exactly the way the music has always renewed itself.