VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize - a brief history


VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize
The VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize is widely regarded as Holland’s most prestigious award in the field of jazz and improvised music. It is awarded annually to a musician, composer or bandleader who has made significant contributions to the Dutch jazz scene over a long period of time. The award consists of a sculpture by Dutch artist Jan Wolkers and includes a sum of €12.500. The VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize is awarded under the auspices of the VPRO and De Jazzorganisatie.

Brief history
In 1963 the award, then titled Wessel Ilcken Prize, was presented for the first time. Its name was changed in 1980 to Boy Edgar Prize, and again in 1992 to VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize. Among the laureates over the last four decades are many renowned Dutch jazz musicians, like Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Willem Breuker, Guus Janssen, Ernst Reijseger, Ab Baars and Franky Douglas. Recent recipients of the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prize are Luc Houtkamp (2004), Benjamin Herman (2006), Bert van den Brink (2007), Pierre Courbois (2008) and Ernst Glerum (2009).

Wessel Ilcken (1924 - 1957)
Drummer Wessel Ilcken played in the Piet van Dijk Orchestra during the forties. In 1945 he married the orchestra’s singer, Rita Reijs. Together they formed their own band in 1950. Wessel Ilcken toured extensively abroad and played with Dizzy Gillespie en Stan Kenton, among others. Of the many albums he recorded, the Jazz Behind the Dikes series is perhaps the best known.

Boy Edgar (1915 - 1980)
As a physician and editor in chief of Excerpta Medica, an international medical journal, he was known as G.W.F. Edgar; in the world of jazz he went by the name of Boy Edgar. He was an active trumpet player for many years, but became famous as the musical director and conductor of Boy’s Big Band (1961 - 1971) and later Boy’s Sound. For years he performed with Boy’s Big Band during monthly radio broadcasts and in television series. Memorable also were many of the band’s concerts, featuring the likes of Abbey Lincoln, Eric Dolphy, Max Roach, Ben Webster and Nina Simone. In 1964 Boy Edgar was the second recipient of the Wessel Ilcken Prize, the award that came to be named after him following his death in 1980.