The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz honors its namesake by hosting its annual International Jazz Competition, which since 1987, has provided a springboard to some of the genre’s brightest young stars. Past winners include Joshua Redman, Joey DeFrancesco, Chris Potter, and Jane Monheit, making the competition the most prestigious in the world. On Friday, as part of its Discovery Artist series, the Kennedy Center hosts 2008’s winner, up-and-coming saxophonist Jon Irabagon, the first Filipino-American to win the award.

“If you win that competition, it’s not a guarantee toward stardom or anything like that,” Irabagon told DCist by phone while packing for a short European tour. “I find myself actually working harder. It’s been a really good motivator.”

Irabagon has been building a solid reputation in New York’s crowded jazz community, both as a leader and a sideman. His discography includes Jon Irabagon’s Outright!, recorded with his peers from around the Big Apple, and I Don’t Hear Nothin’ But the Blues, an avant-garde collection of drums/sax improvisations. Irabagon also has ties to the D.C. music scene, having recorded with Motel, the jazz/hip-hop collective led by local bassist, bandleader, and Unbuckled alum Matt Grason.

This eclectic mix illustrates Irabagon’s broad range, which made an impression on Grason during their graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music.

“You’d realize, ‘Oh damn, he doesn’t have a bag – everything he plays sounds like that’s his specialty,” Grason said.