r i | rr. : 4 " ART WORKS. arts.gov The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. All NEA Jazz Masters concert photos on inside covers by Tom Pich, except top left of back inside by Vance Jacobs. NaTionaL EnDowmenT For rae atts 1983—3012 CREDITS This publication is published by: National Endowment for the Arts Office of Public Affairs Jamie Bennett, Director Don Ball, Editor Thanks to Paulette Beete, Rebecca Gross, and Katja von Schuttenbach for editorial assistance. Designed by: Fletcher Design, Inc. /Washington, DC In addition to information provided by the artists, the following reference texts were used in researching biographical information of the NEA Jazz Masters: All Music Guide to Jazz by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Backbeat Books (allmusic.com) American Musicians II by Whitney Balliett, Oxford University Press Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, Oxford University Press Four Jazz Lives by A.B. Spellman, University of Michigan Press Jazz: The Rough Guide by Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, and Brian Priestley, Rough Guides Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 4th Edition by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, Penguin Talking Jazz: An Oral History by Ben Sidran, Da Capo Press January 2012 Voice/TYY: (202) 682-5496 For individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Individuals who do not use conventional print may contact the Arts Endowment's Office for AccessAbility to obtain this publication in an alternate format. Telephone: (202) 682-5532 National Endowment for the Arts 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506-0001 (202) 682-5400 Additional copies of this publication can be obtained for free by contacting the NEA website: arts.gov. This publication was printed on recycled paper. cover photos: 1. George Wein at the 2008 announcement of that year's NEA Jazz Masters at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. PHOTO BYTOM PICH 2. Percy Heath on bass and Clark Terry on trumpet and flugelhorn at the 2004 NEA Jazz Masters concert. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 3. Nancy Wilson performing at the 2007 NEA Jazz Masters concert, photo by tom pich 4. Toots Thielemans performing at his awards ceremony in 2009. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 5. Danny Barker playing at his awards ceremony in 1991. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN 6. Tom McIntosh on trombone with the JALC Orchestra at the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters concert, photo by tom pich 7. Jimmy Heath (right) enjoys Slide Hampton's playing at the 2007 NEA Jazz Masters concert, photo by tom pich 8. Billy Taylor performing at the 2005 concert in California. PHOTO BY VANCE JACOBS 9. Chico Hamilton also performed at the 2005 concert. PHOTO BY VANCE JACOBS 10. Yusef Lateef (right) peforming at his induction into the NEA Jazz Masters in 2010, with Adam Rudolph. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 11. Dave Brubeck at the 2004 awards concert in New York City. PHOTO BYTOM PICH 12. For the 2006 concert finale, NEA Jazz Masters (from left) Jimmy Heath, Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, and James Moody took to the stage, photo by tom pich 13. Hubert Laws performs during his awards concert in 2011. PHOTO BY FRANK STEWART 14. Gerald Wilson (left) leads his orchestra during the 2005 NEA Jazz Masters concert, photo by vance Jacobs 15. The Marsalis family performs during their awards ceremony in 2011. photo by frank stewart 16. Joe Wilder blows his trumpet during the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters concert, photo bytom pich 17. David Liebman shows his prowess on the soprano saxophone during the 2011 concert, photo by frank stewart 18. John Levy accepts his NEA Jazz Masters award for advocacy in 2006. photo bytom pich 19. Lee Konitz performs at his awards ceremony in 2009. PHOTO BY tom pich 20. Shirley Horn plays during the 1991 NEA Jazz Masters awards ceremony and concert, photo by michael wilderman AMessaGe From THe CHairman J azz is an unpredictable art form. It is in the spontaneity, in the improvisation, that the listener and musician meet. It is that moment where the audience and performer communicate— talk, shout, laugh, gossip. It is that moment of beauty, that moment of clarity, which we wish to honor with the NEA Jazz Masters awards. These awards, the highest honor the federal government provides in jazz, are given to those musicians and advocates who have had a significant impact on the field. Certainly this year's class — Jack DeJohnette, Von Freeman, Charlie Haden, Sheila Jordan, and Jimmy Owens — live up to that high standard. Because jazz is best experienced live, the agency supports the NEA Jazz Masters live initiative — administered in partnership with Arts Midwest — which provides grants to presenting organizations to support NEA Jazz Masters' appearances throughout the country. In addition to making these legends better known to the general public, the initiative also includes an educational component that provides special programming to increase understanding of the music and its key practitioners. NEA Jazz in the Schools, in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center and supported by the Verizon Foundation, is an online curriculum that provides resources to high school teachers to explore jazz as an art form and a means to understanding United States history. The Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, established in 1992 by the National History of American History, partners with the NEA to produce comprehensive interviews with NEA Jazz Masters. The interviews, which cover the musicians' entire lives and careers, are fascinating source material for researchers and the general public alike to learn more about these important American artists. In the back of this publication, you will find a CD containing samples from the NEA-produced Jazz Moments series, radio shorts featuring NEA Jazz Masters. These segments have been broadcast on stations Chairman Rocco Landesman greets zoio NEA Jazz MasterAnme Ross at the luncheon m New York City. PHOTO BY TOMPICH throughout the country to further the general public's knowledge about and interest in jazz. All the Jazz Moments radio segments are available for free download at arts.gov and through iTunes U. I would like to thank our partner in bringing the NEA Jazz Masters awards ceremony and concert to you: Jazz at Lincoln Center, which will also be streaming the event live. Please join me in honoring the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters for their work in the jazz field and their contributions to the nation's cultural heritage. Rocco Landesman Chairman National Endowment for the Arts Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/neajazzmasters3000nati TaBLe of coirrenTS The NEA Jazz Masters at 30 by Dan Morgenstem 1 2012 NEAjazz MasTers 7 Jack DeJohnette Von Freeman Charlie Haden Sheila Jordan ■ Jimmy Owens NEAjazz MasTers 1982-2011 (Year Fellowship Awarded) Muhal Richard Abrams (2010) 14 Toshiko Akiyoshi (2007) 15 George Avakian (2010) 16 David Baker (2000) 17 Danny Barker (1991) 18 Ray Barretto (2006) 19 Kenny Barron (2010) 20 Count Basie (1983) 21 Louie Bellson (1994) 22 Tony Bennett (2006) 23 George Benson (2009) 24 Art Blakey (1988) 25 Bob Brookmeyer (2006) 26 Cleo Brown (1987) 27 Ray Brown (1995) 28 Dave Brubeck (1999) 29 Kenny Burrell (2005) 30 Donald Byrd (2000) 31 Candido Camera (2008) 32 Benny Carter (1986) 33 Betty Carter (1992) 34 Ron Carter (1998) 35 Kenny Clarke (1983) 36 Buck Clayton (1991) 37 Jimmy Cobb (2009) 38 Ornette Coleman (1984) 39 Chick Corea (2006) 40 Miles Davis (1984) 41 Buddy DeFranco (2006) 42 Dorothy Donegan (1992) 43 Paquito D'Rivera (2005) 44 Sweets Edison (1992) 45 Roy Eldridge (1982) 46 Gil Evans (1985) 47 Art Farmer (1999) 48 Ella Fitzgerald (1985) 49 Tommy Flanagan (1996) 50 Frank Foster (2002) 51 Curtis Fuller (2007) 52 Dizzy Gillespie (1982) 53 Benny Golson (1996) 54 Dexter Gordon (1986) 55 Jim Hall (2004) 56 Chico Hamilton (2004) 57 Lionel Hampton (1988) 58 SUde Hampton (2005) 59 Herbie Hancock (2004) 60 Barry Harris (1989) 61 Roy Haynes (1995) 62 Jimmy Heath (2003) 63 Percy Heath (2002) 64 Joe Henderson (1999) 65 Luther Henderson (2004) 66 Jon Hendricks (1993) 67 Nat Hentoff (2004) 68 Billy Higgins (1997) 69 Andrew Hill (2008) 70 Milt Hinton (1993) 71 Bill Holman (2010) 72 Shirley Horn (2005) 73 Freddie Hubbard (2006) 74 Bobby Hutcherson (2010) 75 Milt Jackson (1997) 76 Ahmad Jamal (1994) 77 J.J. Johnson (1996) 78 Hvin Jones (2003) 79 Hank Jones (1989) 80 Jo Jones (1985) 81 Quincy Jones (2008) 82 Orrin Keepnews (2011) 83 Andy Kirk (1991) 84 Lee Konitz (2009) 85 118 Yusef Lateef (2010) 86 Hubert Laws (2011) 87 John Levy (2006) 88 John Lewis (2001) 89 Ramsey Lewis (2007) 90 David Liebman (2011) 91 Abbey Lincoln (2003) 92 Melba Liston (1987) 93 Johnny Mandel (2011) 94 The Marsalis Family (2011) 96 Tom McIntosh (2008) 96 Jackie McLean (2001) 97 Marian McPartland (2000) 98 Carmen McRae (1994) 99 Jay McShann (1987) 100 James Moody (1998) 101 Dan Morgenstem (2007) 102 Anita O'Day (1997) 103 Max Roach (1984) 104 Sonny Rollins (1983) 105 Annie Ross (2010) 106 George Russell (1990) 107 Gunther Schuller (2008) 108 Jimmy Scott (2007) 109 Artie Shaw (2005) 110 Wayne Shorter (1998) Ill Horace Silver (1995) 112 Jimmy Smith (2005) 113 Sun Ra (1982) 114 Billy Taylor (1988) 115 Cedi Taylor (1990) 116 Clark Terry (1991) 117 Toots Thielemans (2009) McCoy Tyner (2002) 119 Rudy Van Gelder (2009) 120 Sarah Vaughan (1989) 121 Cedar Walton (2010) 122 George Wein (2005) 123 Frank Wess (2007) 124 Randy Weston (2001) 125 Joe Wilder (2008) 126 Joe Williams (1993) 127 Gerald Wilson (1990) 128 Nancy Wilson (2004) 129 Teddy Wilson (1986) 130 Phil Woods (2007) 131 Snooky Young (2009) 132 NEA Jazz Masters by Year 133 NEA Jazz Masters Award Ceremony 134 Jazz Moments with NEA Jazz Masters Audio CD 136 NEA Tazz MaSTERS aT30 By Dan Morgenstem W hen the National Endowment for the Arts was established in 1965, it was cause for rejoicing among artists and their supporters throughout the land, including, of course, practitioners of that quintessentially American music called jazz. But when it came to partaking of the pie, jazz was not invited to the table. (When it was brought up at an early music panel meeting, a then noted classical composer's response, it is said, was "Jazz? Why, that's music played in nightclubs!'') But in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson named Duke Ellington to the National Council on the Arts, and then — during the waning days of Roger Stevens' tenure as NEA chairman — added Willis Conover. Conover's Voice of America (VOA) radio program Music U.S.A . — which focused on jazz — had long been the most popular VOA product, and he had become a master of behind-the- scenes lobbying for jazz in the nation's capital. Conover arranged for a New York lunch with Stevens and a few representative jazz figures. The result was the first NEA funding for jazz, a mere $5,000. It was, however, put to good use by the lunchers plus a few others, who met ad hoc with Walter Anderson, the NEA's second director of Music, and decided that instead of parceling the funds out in small doses, it would be more effective to award the entire sum to one person — the composer, pianist, and theoretician George Russell (who would be named an NEA Jazz Master 21 years later). The award was well- publicized in the jazz world, where such recognition, even from less auspicious sources, was still quite uncommon. In 1970, the Arts Endowment and jazz began a more formal relationship. A proper jazz panel was appointed, and the funding was quadrupled (still not a kingly Dan Morgenstem receiving his NEA Jazz Masters award at the ?oo- 'i ceremony. PHOTO BYTOMPICH NEA jazz MaSTERS aT30 sum, but overall NEA funding was quite modest at the time). Things would improve considerably under the new chair, the redoubtable Nancy Hanks (for whom the Arts Endowment's home is named), and the benign, even fatherly direction of Anderson, who revealed to the panelists — in the first decade, a mixture of notable musicians, music educators, members of the media, and advocates, among them several who would later be named NEA Jazz Masters — some of the intricacies of their responsibilities, such as learning to think in regional rather than local terms. Although from a classical background (a pianist and organist who came to the NEA after many years as head of Antioch College's music department), Anderson was very open to jazz and NEA Jazz Masters Sonny Rollins, Hank Jones, and Dizzy Gillespie at a 1 987 rehearsal at Wolf Trap in Virginia. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN by the end of his eight years with the panel had become quite a fan. It was soon evident that older musicians were not likely to apply for the fellowships in jazz offered by the program, or for other kinds of grants involving further study or teaching. In 1972, a Jazz Oral History Project involving musicians aged 60 or older was established in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, which itself just the year before had introduced jazz to its performance program. During its decade-long run, the project yielded 120 in-depth interviews, widely consulted by scholars and media people. It was later revived and is currently charged with interviewing NEA Jazz Masters. In a sense, the oral history project was the precursor of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships, which had their origin in a 1980 position paper by Aida Chapman, then assistant director of Music at the NEA. The paper presented various ideas for honoring the jazz field, including a Hall of Fame. The result, in 1982, was what was first called the American Jazz Masters Fellowships, which, aside from the honor, also included an honorarium of $20,000. The latter was most welcome to the eldest of the first three NEA Jazz Masters, Roy Eldridge, the seminal trumpeter, singer, and bandleader, bom in 1911, who had suffered a heart attack in 1980 and was under doctor's orders not to play his beloved horn any more. This illustrated the dual nature of what rightly has come to be known as "The Nation's Highest Honor in Jazz.'' It is both a recognition of outstanding achievement and — though this is fortunately no longer as relevant as during the program's earlier days — a reminder that even great artists are not always adequately rewarded in the marketplace. That first triumvirate of NEA Jazz Masters was an NEA Jazz Masters Paquito D 'Rivera (standing) and Joe Wilder (seated) relaxing between events. PHOTO BY TOM PICH impressive beginning, for it made clear that the honor would be awarded on the basis of merit alone, and not influenced by popularity or limited artistic vision. The combination of Roy Edridge and Dizzy Gillespie illuminated the generational connectivity of the music — Edridge being the greatest formative influence on Gillespie, who asked an early leader to time the band's sets to fit the intermissions in a manner enabling him to catch Edridge on the radio. They later became good friends and loved to play together. If Edridge was the essence of swing trumpet, Gillespie was a key creator of bebop. The third man. Sun Ra, represented the avant- garde, though this unique Arkestra leader was in effect unclassifiable, as a musician and guru. It is fitting that this first crop of NEA Jazz Masters was selected by a panel representative of a gradually emerging majority of musicians: a quartet of saxophonists, Frank Foster, Chico Freeman, Jackie McLean, and Archie Shepp; trumpeter Donald Byrd; and record producer Orrin Keepnews — the latter famed for his championing of Thelonious Monk, who would have been among the first recipients, but unfortunately died before the announcement. (There are no posthumous awards.) NEA jazz MaSTERS aT30 4 NEA Jazz Master Cecil Taylor (left) with poet (and former NEA deputy chauman) A. B. Spellman at the NEA Jazz Masters luncheon. PHOTO BY TOMPICH The program continued in that same spirit, recognizing both iconic figures such as Count Basie, Benny Carter, Teddy Wilson, Dave Brubeck, and Milt Hinton (who himself had been a very active early panelist; the great Benny Carter also served) and then- still-controversial innovators like Ornette Coleman and Cedi Taylor. Great ladies of song (Ella Fitzgerald— the first female artist recognized, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Anita O'Day, Shirley Horn, Annie Ross, and the younger Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, and Nancy Wilson) were inducted; but there was also a place for women instrumentalists Melba Liston, Marian McPartland, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. The latter is among the foreign- bom NEA Jazz Masters (U.S. dtizenship or permanent residency is required), which also include Toots Thielemans and two Cuban-born greats, Candido Camera and Paquito D'Rivera. For the first 22 years of NEA Jazz Masters, induction was of course a great honor, but not a public one (though often recognized during International Assodation of Jazz Educators (IAJE) conferences since 1991). But beginning in 2004, Chairman Dana Gioia introduced the public era of the program with earlier honorees and the media invited, and the first group photo produced. In that same year, the chairman expanded the number of inductees from three to five, and introduced a new category— that of Jazz Advocacy, with veteran writer and producer Nat Hentoff as the first redpient— for a total of six awards. The following year, there were seven redpients, the Jazz Advocacy Fellowship was named in honor of A.B. Spellman, poet, jazz writer, and former NEA deputy chairman, and the ceremony expanded to include a hosted luncheon, a panel of the year's inductees, and a concert, at which the incoming NEA Jazz Masters were introduced by fellow awardees and performed (or had their music performed), with the introductions including spedally produced biographical documentaries. All but the luncheon were open to the public, and produced in collaboration with the late, lamented International Association of Jazz Educators. Following the last IAJE event in Toronto in 2008, the NEA Jazz Masters ceremony was held in New York City with a new partner for the public events. Jazz at Lincoln Center, while BMI hosted the luncheon. By then, the number of alumni in attendance had grown, and there was added a "sorial" evening for alumni, family, and friends at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. But in addition to such happy social overtones, the NEA Jazz Masters program had been reaching out in other exponential ways (aside from raising the monetary award to $25,000 in 2004). There was now the NEA Jazz Masters on Tour program, and, in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center, an NEA Jazz in the Schools curriculum was created, celebrating the jazz story in a format suitable not only for music classes, but also for civics, social studies, and history, all of which the story of this great music illuminates. In 2005, another innovation was a partnership with National Public Radio for a series of 14 hour-long documentaries profiling honorees. And 2006 brought the Legends of Jazz telecasts of that year's NEA Jazz Masters. In 2008, the number of NEA Jazz Masters reached 100. Under current NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, the class of 2010 expanded to eight, while the following year's inductees included the entire Marsalis jazz family, father Ellis and sons Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason, joining Hubert Laws, David Liebman, Johnny Mandel, and advocate Orrin Keepnews. (It should be noted that only Elis Marsalis received the $25,000.) Again, the turnout of alumni and friends was grand, with only the posing for the official photograph a NEA Jazz Masters Tom McIntosh (left) and George Benson at an NEA Jazz Masters reception at Jazz at Lincoln Center imoog. PHOTO BYTOMPICH 5 NEA Tazz MaSTERS aT30 The first NEA Jazz Masters group photo in 2004 with Chairman Dana Gioia (far right). PHOTO BY TOM PICH long -established cause for grumbling, and occasion for mollifying jokes, at which David Baker is a past master. At this writing, it appears that the turnout of alumni for the 30th anniversary party will be spectacular, though our oldest member, John Levy, class of '06, who will turn 100 come April 12, may not venture from Los Angeles to chilly New York. Counting the incoming crop, the total number of NEA Jazz Masters has reached 128, of whom 73 are still among the living. Back in the Age of Aquarius the slogan was that you can't trust anyone over 30. That definitely does not apply to the NEA Jazz Masters program. To this honoree, it has been one of the most rewarding life experiences. This will surely be a celebration to remember — thank you, L.B.J.! Dan Morgenstem is a jazz historian, archivist, author, editor, and director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. . .and NEA Jazz Master. His full biography is found on page 102. jacKDejoHnerre von ireeman CHarneHaDen SHeiLajoroan jimmy owens 201 2 1 nea jazz masTers 1 2012 NEA Jazz Master ChaiiieHaden (right) with trumpeter Nicholas Payton. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER NOTES: Names in bold in biographies denote NEA Jazz Masters awardees. All recordings listed in Selected Discography are under the artist's name unless otherwise noted. Years listed under recordings in Selected Discography denote the years the recordings were made. DRUMMER KEYBOARDIST COMPOSER THE DeJOHNETTE COMPLEX Milestone/OJC, 1 968 SPECIAL EDITION ECM, 1979 THE JACK DeJOHNETTE PIANO ALBUM Landmark, 1 985 Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette MY FOOLISH HEABT ECM, 2001 MUSIC WE ARE Golden Beams, 2008 8 2013 TOP17 DejoHneTre Bom August 9, 1942 in Chicago, IL W idely regarded as one of the great drummers in modern jazz, Jack DeJohnette has a wide-ranging style that makes him a dynamic sideman and bandleader. He has played with virtually every major jazz figure from the 1960s on, including NEA Jazz Masters Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, and Abbey Lincoln. His versatility on the drums is accented by DeJohnette's additional accomplishments as a keyboardist: he studied classical piano for ten years before taking up drums. In his early years on the Chicago scene, DeJohnette was active with the premiere musician organization, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, whose members included Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, and Joseph Jarman. In 1966, he drummed alongside Rashied Ah in the John Coltrane Quintet. However, he became more widely known as a member of Charles Lloyd's band, where he first began playing with pianist Keith Jarrett. In 1968, he recorded his first album as a leader, The DeJohnette Complex, on which DeJohnette doubled on melodica. The second major association of DeJohnette's early career spanned the years 1969-72, when he performed with Miles Davis' first fusion band. Davis gave a nod to DeJohnette in his autobiography, Miles: "Jack DeJohnette gave me a deep groove that I just loved to play over." Besides allowing him to play alongside such stellar musicians as Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and John McLaughlin, the Davis years also increased DeJohnette's session work. DeJohnette began leading several groups in the early 1970s, including Compost, Directions, New Directions, and Special Edition, featuring a diverse gathering of musicians such as David Murray, Eddie Gomez, Chico Freeman, John Abercrombie, and Lester Bowie. Since the 1980s, while continuing to lead his own projects and bands, DeJohnette has also been a member of the highly acclaimed Keith Jarrett/ Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette trio. DeJohnette has continued to record and perform on keyboards, releasing albums such as Zebra, a mesmerizing synthesizer/ trumpet duo with Lester Bowie featuring African music influences. He further explored his interest in African music in a 2005 duet with noted Gambian kora player Foday Musa Suso. In 2005, DeJohnette launched Golden Beams Productions, an independent record label "as an outlet for the broad range of creative projects." The label garnered DeJohnette a Grammy Award for Peace Time, on which he is both featured artist and co-producer. He has composed soundtracks for both television and video, and has received numerous awards including the French Grand Prix du Disque in 1979. In 1991, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the Berklee College of Music. DeJohnette is the winner of numerous DownBeat magazine "Drummer of the Year" critics' and readers' polls, and JazzTimes magazine's reader polls for "Best Drummer." PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN 2 , 012 , saxophonist Frank Catalano, as well as with his own son Chico, who has himself achieved acclaim as a jazz musician. In 1982, he and Chico teamed up to record the Columbia album, Fathers and Sons, with pianist Ellis Marsalis and his sons Wynton and Branford. Later recordings, such as The Great Divide and Good Forever, featured drummer Jimmy Cobb, pianist Richard Wyands, and bassist John Webber. Freeman has a regular Tuesday night set and jam session at the New Apartment Lounge on Chicago's South Side, and can be heard on select weekends at Andy's Jazz Club. During recent years. Freeman has received acclaim in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands. In June 2010, the University of Chicago awarded Freeman the Rosenberger Medal to "recognize achievement through research, in authorship, in invention, for discovery, for unusual public service or for anything deemed to be on great benefit to humanity." Bom October^, igz3 in Chicago, IL A lthough not as well- known outside the Windy City as he should be, Earle Lavon "Von" Freeman, Sr. is considered a founder of the "Chicago School" of jazz tenorists, a distinction shared with Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, and Clifford Jordan. With his individual sound, at once husky and melodic, he makes every song his own. As the Chicago Tribune has written of him, "For technical brilliance, musical intellect, harmonic sophistication, and improvisatory freedom. Von Freeman has few bebop-era peers." Freeman was surrounded by music in his childhood: his mother sang in the church choir, his father played jazz albums on an early Victrola — on which Freeman first heard the tenor sax — and his maternal grandfather and uncle were guitarists. Initially self- taught, he played saxophone at DuSable High School, landing his first gig with Horace Henderson's Orchestra at the age of 16. Drafted during World War II, he performed with a Navy band while in service. Once back in Chicago, he played with his brothers George (guitar) and Edridge "Bruz" (drums) in the house band at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom, where jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie would stop and sit in when passing through. In the 1950s, Freeman associated himself with various artists, mostly in the Chicago region, including Sun Ra, Andrew Hill, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Al Smith. In the 1960s, he played with Milt Trenier. But it wasn't until 1972 that Freeman recorded an album under his own name. Doin' It Right Now, produced by jazz great Roland Kirk. Since then, Freeman has continued to record, occasionally alongside Chicago artists such as DOIN’ IT RIGHT NOW Koch, 1972 LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE: 75TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Half Note Records, 1 998 Von Freeman/Frank Catalano YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?! Delmark, 1 999 VONSKI SPEAKS Nessa, 2002 THE GREAT DIVIDE Premonition, 2003 9 2 , 012 , BASSIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR CHanie HaDen Bom August 6, lffi in Shenandoah, IA LIBERATION MUSIC ORCHESTRA Impulse!, 1969 Charlie Haden Quartet West HAUNTED HEART Verve, 1991 Charlie Haden/Hank Jones STEALAWAY Verve, 1 994 Charlie Haden/Pat Metheny BEYOND THE MISSOURI SKY Verve, 1996 Charlie Haden Quartet West SOPHISTICATED LADIES Emarcy, 201 0 10 M usician, composer, bandleader, educator, producer, activist, Charlie Haden has created a powerful collection of work during his long and productive career. Lyrical and expressive on the bass, he has embraced a variety of musical genres, ranging from jazz to country to world music. His work as an educator led to the creation of the Jazz Studies program at California Institute of the Arts in 1982 where he focuses on the spirituality of improvisation. Haden began his musical life at the age of 22 months, when he sang on his parents' country-western radio show. He began playing bass in his early teens and in 1957 moved to Los Angeles, where he met and shared the stage with such legends as Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Paul Bley, and Dexter Gordon. It was there that Haden first met Ornette Coleman, eventually joining the saxophonist's innovative quartet with trumpeter Don Cherry and drummer Billy Higgins. His work with the group and on their influential recordings (from 1959's The Shape of Jazz to Come to 1961's This Is Our Music) helped move the bassist from an accompanying position to one of innovation and more direct improvisatory participation. In 1969, Haden made his first individual musical statement by forming a revolutionary large ensemble called the Liberation Music Orchestra, and released an album of the same name. Commissioning noted pianist/composer Carla Bley as arranger, Haden blended experimental big band jazz with the folk songs of the Spanish Civil War to create a powerfully original work. From 1967 to 1976, Haden worked with Keith Jarrett's trio and quartet, which included Paul Motian and Dewey Redman. In 1986 he formed Quartet West, an ensemble he established to play more mainstream, bop- oriented material, with which he continues to perform and record. Over the years, his love of the duet format teamed him with musicians such as Hank Jones, Kenny Barron, Alice Coltrane, Pat Metheny, and, most recently, Keith Jarrett for their album Jasmine. Haden shared a 1997 Grammy Award with Metheny for their Beyond the Missouri Sky album, one of three Grammys that Haden has received. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN Haden's love of world music has resulted in collaborations with international players such as Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti, Argentinean bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Portuguese guitar giant Carlos Paredes. He has also returned to his roots, releasing an unexpected album of Americana music in 2008, Rambling Boy. He has earned numerous national and international honors and awards, including the Los Angeles Jazz Society prize for "Jazz Educator of the Year;" France's Grand Prix Du Bisque Award; Japan's Swing Journal magazine's Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards; the Montreal Jazz Festival's Miles Davis Award; a Guggenheim Fellowship; and four NEA grants for composition. VOCALIST EDUCATOR 2012 SHeiia joroan Bom November 18 , ic)z 8 in Detroit, MI S heila Jordan is not only one of the premier singers in jazz, but she is known for her stimulating vocal workshops as well. A superb scat singer, she can just as easily reach the emotional depths of a ballad. Whether singing well-known standards or original material, she makes it all sound like no one else. Jordan, nee Dawson, grew up in Pennsylvania's coal mining country with her grandparents, singing in school and on amateur radio shows. In the early 1940s, she returned to live with her mother in Detroit, where she became interested in jazz after hearing a Charlie Parker recording. She met some of Detroit's young musicians during that time, such as Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, and Barry Harris. She then joined a vocal trio, Skeeter, Mitch, and Jean, which performed versions of Parker's and others' bebop solos in a manner akin to later vocal jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Upon moving to New York City in the early '50s, Jordan sang in clubs and at jam sessions with some of the city's jazz giants, including Charles Mingus, Herbie Nichols, and Parker. She also studied with the renowned Lennie Tristano. In 1952, she married Parker's pianist, Duke Jordan. Ten years later, she made her acclaimed first recording, showing her vocal finesse on a ten- plus minute version of "You Are My Sunshine" on George Russell's album The Outer View. Thanks to Russell, she released her first album, Portrait of Sheila, on Blue Note, the first female vocalist to record for the label. In the mid-1960s, Jordan's work encompassed jazz liturgies sung in churches and extensive club performances. After touring and recording with trombonist Roswell Rudd in the 1970s, Jordan became a member of the Steve Kuhn Quartet alongside bassist Harvie S and drummer Bob Moses. By the late '70s, jazz audiences began to understand her uncompromising style and her popularity increased. Her preference for bass and voice led to several collaborations with bassists, including Arild Andersen, Harvie S, and Cameron Brown. Jordan is the pioneer in bass/voice duo in jazz, starting in the early 1950s and continuing to the present. In 1978, she began teaching at the City College of New York and has continued teaching jazz vocal workshops there until 2005. She is also a faculty member for Jazz in July at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro, Vermont, and conducts workshops internationally as well. The singer has received several honors, including the 2008 Mary Lou Williams Award for a Lifetime of Service to Jazz. Jordan still travels extensively— nationally and abroad — performing with her quartet and as a duo with Brown. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER PORTRAIT OF SHEIIA Blue Note, 1962 JAZZ CHILD High Note, 1998 LITTLE SONG High Note, 2002 Sheila Jordan/Cameron Brown CELEBRATION: LIVE AT THE TRIAD High Note, 2004 WINTER SUNSHINE: LIVE AT UPSTAIRS Justin Time, 2008 EDUCATOR TRUMPETER FLUGELHORNIST COMPOSER ARRANGER 201 ? Jimmy owens a.b. speixman NEAjazz MasTers AwarD For jazz ADVOCaCY Jimmy Owens-Kenny Barron Quintet YOU HAD BETTER LISTEN Collectibles, 1968 Archie Shepp THE WAY AHEAD Impulse!, 1968 Billy Taylor JAZZMOBILE ALLSTARS Taylor Made Entertainment, 1 989 PEACEFUL WALKING Jay-Oh Jazz Recordings, 2007 THE MONK PROJECT IPO Recordings, 201 1 12 Bom December 9 , 794,3 in New York, NY PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN J immy Owens wears many hats. He is a jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, and music education consultant. His involvement as an advocate regarding the rights of jazz artists led to the founding of the Jazz Musician's Emergency Fund, a program of the Jazz Foundation of America. Owens attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City, and studied composition with Henry Bryant and trumpet with Donald Byrd. Since sitting in with Miles Davis at age 15, Owens has performed with many jazz legends, including Kenny Barron, Count Basie, Kenny Burrell, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Billy Taylor, and Gerald Wilson. Between 1969 and 1972, he worked on the David Frost television program, whose musical director was Billy Taylor. At the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival, he was the youngest of a group of trumpet players to participate in a tribute to Louis Armstrong. In 1972, he played at the inaugural Ellington Fellowship Concert at Yale. Owens was one of the original members of the Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra, and in 1974 was musical director of the New York Jazz Repertory Company. Owens also is a well- regarded composer. His works have been performed nationally by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and internationally by the Metropole Orchestra (Netherlands) and the Hanover Radio Philharmonic (Germany). Performances with his band Jimmy Owens Plus have taken him to Asia, South and Central America, the Middle East, and across Europe. As an educator, Owens has conducted workshops, seminars, lectures, and concerts at major colleges and universities throughout the world. He helped found Collective Black Artists, a not-for-profit jazz education and performing organization, in 1969. He was closely involved with the Jazzmobile program as well. He serves on the board of the Jazz Foundation of America and is a past board member of New York City's American Federation of Musicians, Local 802 from 1998 to 2009. He has been on music panels for the New York Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Owens is active as an advocate for jazz artists rights and a proponent of jazz music's recognition in America's culture. His expertise and knowledge is often called upon for issues relating to health and pension benefits for jazz artists. One of his major accomplishments in this area is his stewardship in founding the Jazz Musician's Emergency Fund, a program to help individual musicians with medical, financial, and housing assistance. In 2008, Owens received the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award at Howard University in Washington, DC. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN NEA Jazz Masters (right to left) Danny Barker, Buck Clayton, and Clark Terry at the 1991 ceremony. IQ82—2OII s nea jazz masTers NOTES: Names in bold in biographies denote NEA Jazz Masters awardees. All recordings listed in Selected Discography are under the artist's name unless otherwise noted. Years listed under recordings in Selected Discography denote the years the recordings were made. PIANIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR LEVELS AND DEGREES OF LIGHT Delmark, 1967 SPIRAL LIVE AT MONTREUX 1978 Novus, 1 978 REJOICING WITH THE LIGHT Black Saint, 1983 UMO Jazz Orchestra PLAYS THE MUSIC OF MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS Slam, 1 988 STREAMING Pi, 2005 14 2010 MUHai RICHaiD ABrams Bom, September ip, ip3o in Chicago, IL M uhal Richard Abrams — pianist, composer, administrator, and educator— is predominately a self-taught musician. He is highly respected by critics and musical peers as both a pianist and composer in a variety of musical styles, including jazz, extended forms of improvisation, and classical music. In the 1950s, Abrams wrote arrangements for pianist King Reming's Jazz Orchestra. From 1957-59, he played hard bop in Walter Perkins' group MJT + 3 (Modem Jazz Two Plus Three) and accompanied leading jazz performers during their visits to Chicago, including Kenny Durham, Art Farmer, Hank Mobley, Ray Nance, Max Roach, and Sonny Stitt. In 1961, Abrams began his foray into extended forms of composition and improvisation in his Experimental Band, which included musicians such as saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman. Abrams is a co-founder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in 1965, founder of the AACM School of Music, and currently president of the AACM New York Chapter. AACM, which has played a crucial role in the development of original approaches to extended forms of composition and improvisation, has produced such distinguished members as Anthony Braxton, Kalaparush Ahra Difda, Leroy Jenkins, Steve McCall, Amina Claudine Myers, Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Threadgill, and members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Abrams first traveled to Europe in 1973 while still residing in Chicago. After relocating to New York in 1977, he traveled extensively to Europe and Japan, gradually acquiring a greater international reputation. In 1990 he became the first recipient of the prestigious Danish JAZZPAR Award, and almost a decade later Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley issued a proclamation declaring April 11, 1999, to be Muhal Richard Abrams Day. In 2008, he was chosen by United States Artists to be a Prudential Fellow in the field of music. In 2010, he was selected for the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN Abrams' compositional prowess is evident even beyond jazz. His Tranversion Op. 6 was performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and his String Quartet No. 2 was performed by renowned chamber ensemble Kronos Quartet. During the last 30 years, Abrams has taught jazz composition and improvisational classes at Columbia University, Syracuse University, Stanford University, Mills College, University of California in San Diego, the New England Conservatory in Boston, and the BMI Composers Workshop in New York City. He also taught internationally in Finland, Canada, and Italy. Abrams' current activities include composing for various types of instrumental combinations, performing solo piano concerts, and touring throughout the world with various ensembles. 2007 XNDLEADER PIANIST COMPOSER ARRANGER TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI Bom Decembers, u)?g in Dairen, Manchuria O ver the course of a six-decade career, pianist, band-leader, and composer- arranger Toshiko Akiyoshi has made a unique and vital contribution to the art of big band jazz. Born in Manchuria, where she began playing the piano at age six, Akiyoshi moved back to Japan with her parents at the end of World War n. Her family, enduring the hardships of the period, could not provide her with an instrument, and so, just to touch a piano, she took her first job as a musician playing in a dance-hall band. She was not exposed to real jazz until a Japanese record collector introduced her to the work of Teddy Wilson, whose music immediately impressed her. In 1952, pianist Oscar Peterson discovered Akiyoshi while he was on a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Japan and recommended that producer Norman Granz record her. Thanks to this opportunity, she came to the United States in 1956 to study at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. She moved to New York in 1959, playing at Birdland, the Village Gate, the Five Spot, and the Half Note; but despite a brief attempt in the 1960s to showcase her talents as a composer and arranger for large ensembles, she did not have the opportunity to form a big band until she moved to Los Angeles in 1972 with her husband, saxophonist/ flutist Lew Tabackin. The following year, the couple formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra featuring Lew Tabackin. In 1976, the band placed first in the DownBeat critics' poll, and Akiyoshi's album Long Yellow Road was named best jazz album of the year by Stereo Review. In the 1970s, Akiyoshi began exploring Japanese themes in her compositions and arrangements, mixing them with the strong jazz base in her music. In 1982, the couple returned to New York, where Akiyoshi re-formed her band with New York musicians. The band enjoyed a critically successful debut at Carnegie Hall as part of the 1983 Kool Jazz Festival. Akiyoshi has recorded 22 albums to date with the orchestra. Her recording Four Seasons ofMorita Village was awarded the 1996 Swing Journal Silver Award, and her big band albums have received 14 Grammy Award nominations. Akiyoshi is the first woman ever to place first in the Best Arranger and Composer category in the DownBeat readers' poll. In 1995, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra was invited to play in China, and in 1996 Akiyoshi completed her autobiography Life With Jazz, which is now in its fifth printing in Japanese. Among the many honors she has received are the Shijahosho (1999, from the Emperor of Japan); the Japan Foundation Award, Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosetta (2004, from the Emperor of Japan); and the Asahi Award (2005, from the Asahi Shimbun newspaper). PHOTO BY LEE TANNER LONG YELLOW ROAD RCA, 1974-75 CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT Columbia, 1991 FOUR SEASONS OF MORITA VILLAGE BMG, 1996 HIROSHIMA: RISING FROM THE ABYSS True Life, 2001 Toshiko Akiyoshi and the SWR Band LET FREEDOM SWING Hanssler 2007 2010 PRODUCER MANAGER CRITIC JAZZ HISTORIAN EDUCATOR GeorGe Avaxian a.b. speLLman nea jazz MasTers AwarD For jazz ADVOCaCY Louis Armstrong PLAYS W.C. HANDY Columbia, 1 954 Duke Ellington ELLINGTON AT NEWPORT Columbia, 1 956 Miles Davis and Gil Evans MILES AHEAD Columbia, 1 957 Benny Goodman IN MOSCOW RCA Victor, 1962 Sonny Rollins OUR MAN IN JAZZ RCA Victor, 1962-63 16 Bom March rj, i gig in Armavir, Russia G eorge Avakian is a record producer and industry executive known particularly for his production of jazz and popular albums at Columbia Records, including the first regular series of reissues of jazz albums. In 1948, he helped establish the 33 1/3-rpm LP as the primary format for popular music. Avakian was bom in Russia to Armenian parents, who moved the family to New York City in the early 1920s. In his teens he became enamored of jazz through radio programs such as Let's Dance with Benny Goodman. While a student at Yale University, Avakian convinced Decca Records to let him produce a 78-rpm record of the 1920s jazz scene in Chicago. Entitled Chicago Jazz, the recordings marked the first time jazz songs were produced in an album format rather than as singles. In 1940, he was asked by Columbia to produce the industry's first annotated reissue album series, called Hot Jazz Classics, which included seminal out-of-print selections from Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson, and Duke Ellington. He included the first-ever unreleased and alternate takes in the series. In effect, he had created the first history of jazz on records. After service in the U.S. Army during World War H, Avakian began his 12-year tenure as a Columbia Records executive, eventually presiding over its Popular Music and International Divisions. At the same time, he was acquiring a reputation as a jazz researcher and critic of some renown, having pieces printed in Tempo, DownBeat, Metronome, Mademoiselle, Pic, and the New York Times. Concerned about the lack of jazz education, in 1946 Avakian started a course in jazz history at the university level at New York University. In 1948, Avakian introduced the LP record format created by Columbia engineers and produced the industry's first 100 long-playing discs of popular music and jazz. Two years later, he released the original 1938 recording of Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert — one of the first jazz albums to sell more than a million copies. This inspired him to use the long-play format for something new — the Uve recording. From 1959 onward, Avakian served as producer at Warner Brothers, World Pacific, RCA Victor, and Atlantic, among others. During the early 1960s, Avakian branched out, becoming the manager of Charles Lloyd and later of Keith Jarrett. He has received a knighthood from the Knights of Malta (1984); the former Soviet Union's highest decoration (the Order of Lenin (1990)); a Lifetime Achievement Award from DownBeat magazine (2000); and Europe's prestigious jazz award, the Django d' Or (2006). In 2008, France bestowed on him the rank of Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, and in 2009 he received the Trustees Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences for contributions to the music industry worldwide. TROMBONIST CELLIST COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR '7 in Indianapolis, IN PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES A true jazz renaissance man, David Baker has been active in the jazz community as musician, composer, educator, conductor, and author. Of all the NEA Jazz Masters, he is one of the most active as a college and university educator. Baker's music career began on the trombone in the early 1950s as he worked with local groups, as well as Lionel Hampton, while working on his doctorate at Indiana University. He lived in California in 1956-57, playing in the bands of Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson, and returned to Indiana in 1958, leading his own big band for two years. He then attended the School of Jazz in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1959- 60, joining a stellar class of musicians that included members of the Ornette Coleman Quartet. Shortly thereafter he worked with the George Russell band, playing on some of his influential early albums. In Russell's band. Baker's trombone playing displayed exceptional technique, utilizing avant-garde effects to accent the songs. An accident to his jaw eventually forced Baker to abandon his promising career as a trombonist. He switched to the cello in 1962, concentrating on composition. As a composer he has contributed a broad range of works, from small ensemble to orchestral, often straddling the fence between jazz and chamber music. He has also worked on purely chamber and orchestral works. By the early 1970s, he had returned to the trombone— playing on Bill Evans' 1972 album Living Time, with George Russell arranging— while continuing to play the cello as well. Although a strong player on both instruments, he is most renowned for his compositions. Baker became a distinguished professor of music at Indiana University and chairman of the Jazz Department in 1966. He has published in numerous scholarly journals and has written several musical treatises as well as having more than 2,000 compositions, 500 commissions, 65 recordings, and 70 books on jazz and African-American music to his credit. Since 1991, Baker has been the artistic and musical director of the acclaimed Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has received numerous awards and citations, including being nominated for a Fhilitzer Prize in 1973 for his composition Levels, a concerto for bass, jazz band, woodwinds, and strings; and receiving an Emmy Award for his musical score of the PBS documentary For Gold and Glory. He has served as a member of the NEA's National Council on the Arts, was founding president of the National Jazz Service Organization, and is former president of the International Association for Jazz Education. George Russell STRATUSPHUNK Original Jazz Classics, 1 960 THE HARLEM PIPES Liscio, 1985-86, 2003 Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra TRIBUTE TO A GENERATION Smithsonian Folkways, 1992-1998 STEPPIN’ OUT Liscio, 1 998 Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra BASICALLY BAKER GM recordings, 2004 GUITARIST BANJOIST VOCALIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR Blue Lu Barker 1938-39 Classics, 1938-39 Blue Lu Barker 1946-49 Classics, 1946-49 SAVE THE BONES Orleans, 1 988 Blue Lu Barker LIVE AT NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FESTIVAL Orleans, 1 989 Dirty Dozen Brass Band JELLY Columbia, 1993 18 1991 DannY BarKer Bom January i3 , 1 909 in New Orleans, LA Died March i3. J 994 U pholder of the New Orleans tradition of jazz and blues, this master guitar and banjo player was as well known for his humor and storytelling as for his playing. Many of the younger New Orleans musicians also credit him with providing invaluable information, instruction, and mentoring. He started his musical training on the clarinet, instructed by the great Barney Bigard, and moved on to the drums, taught by his uncle, Paul Barbarin. These instances of musical guidance and instruction available in New Orleans would inspire him to carry on the tradition of mentoring younger musicians. He later took up the ukulele and the banjo, and began finding work with jazz and blues artists such as the Boozan Kings and Little Brother Montgomery. In 1930 he moved to New York, where he met his wife, vocalist Blue Lu Barker, with whom he frequently recorded. He also wrote many of the songs she performed, such as "Don't You Feel My Leg." By then he had switched from banjo to guitar and found work with Sidney Bechet, James P. Johnson, Albert Nicholas, Fess Williams, and Henry "Red" Allen. He spent the rest of the 1930s working with the big bands of Lucky Millinder, Benny Carter, and Cab Calloway, with whom he stayed for seven years. In the late 1940s he traveled as a freelance musician, making recordings in Los Angeles and New Orleans. In 1947, Barker appeared on the This Is Jazz radio series, and began playing banjo again. He returned to New York in 1949, working with trombonists Wilbur De Paris and Conrad Janis, and accompanied his wife on gigs. In the early 1960s, he led his own band at Jimmy Ryan's on 52nd Street, then returned to the Crescent City in 1965. Barker continued playing up to the end of his life, even appearing on the Dirty Dozen Brass Band's 1993 recording, Jelly. A number of his compositions have been widely interpreted, such as "Save the Bones for Henry Jones." Just as important as his performing career were his educational activities. When he returned home to New Orleans in 1965, he worked for 10 years as an assistant curator for the New Orleans Jazz Museum, helping to continue interest in the culture and tradition of the music. He also mentored young musicians through his leadership of the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band. Barker was a writer as well, co-authoring with Jack Buerkle a study on New Orleans music, Bourbon Street Black, and writing his memoirs, A Life in Jazz. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER 2006 BEY BarreiTo Bom April 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, NY Died, February 17 , 2006 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER T he most widely recorded conguero in jazz, Ray Barretto grew up listening to the music of Puerto Rico and the swing bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Barretto credited Dizzy Gillespie's recording of "Manteca," featuring conguero Chano Pozo, with his decision to become a professional musician. He first sat in on jam sessions at the Orlando, a G.I. jazz club in Munich. In 1949, after military service, he returned to Harlem and taught himself to play the drums, getting his first regular job with Eddie Bonnemere's Latin Jazz Combo. Barretto then played for four years with Cuban bandleader/pianist Jose Curbelo. In 1957, he replaced Mongo Santamaria in Tito Puente's band, with which he recorded his first album. Dance Mania. After four years with Puente, he was one of the most sought-after percussionists in New York, attending jam sessions with artists including Max Roach and Art Blakey and recording with Sonny Stitt, Lou Donaldson, Red Garland, Gene Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, and Dizzy Gillespie. Barretto was so much in demand that in 1960 he was a house musician for the Prestige, Blue Note, and Riverside record labels. Barretto's first job as a bandleader came in 1961, when Riverside producer Orrin Keepnews asked him to form a charanga for a recording, Pachanga With Barretto. His next album, Charanga Modema, featured "H Watusi," which became the first Latin number to penetrate Billboard's Top-20 chart. In 1963, "El Watusi" went gold. In 1975 and 1976, Barretto earned back-to-back Grammy nominations for his albums Barretto (with the prize-winning hit "Guarere") and Barretto Live. . .Tomorrow. His 1979 album for Fania, Rican/ Struction, considered a classic of salsa, was named Best Album (1980) by Latin N.Y. magazine, and Barretto was named Conga Player of the Year. He won a Grammy Award in 1990 for the song "Ritmo en el Corazon" with Celia Cruz. Barretto was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1999. He was voted Jazz Percussionist of 2004 by the Jazz Journalists Association and won the DownBeat critics' poll for percussion in 2005. His recording Time Was, Time Is was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award. CHABANGA MODERNA Tico, 1962 HARD HANDS Fania, 1 968 RICAN/ STRUCTION Fania, 1979 ANCESTRAL MESSAGES Concord Picante, 1 992 HOMAGE TO ART BLAKEY AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS Sunnyside, 2002 19 5010 PIANIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR PERUVIAN BLETE 32 Jazz, 1974 Sphere FOUR IN ONE Elektra, 1 982 WANTON SPIRIT Verve, 1 994 CANTA BRASIL Sunnyside, 2002 THE TRAVELER Sunnyside, 2007 20 KennY Barron Bom June g, igp3 in Philadelphia , IM W ith more than 40 albums to his name, and scores more that he has appeared on, Kenny Barron's imprint on jazz is large. The pianist has been recognized the world over as a master of performance and composition. Barron started playing professionally in Philadelphia as a teenager with Mel Melvin's orchestra, which also featured Barron's brother Bill on tenor saxophone. At age 19, Barron moved to New York City and was hired by James Moody after the tenor saxophonist heard him play at the Five Spot. In 1962, he joined Dizzy Gillespie's band, an association that developed his appreciation for Latin and Caribbean rhythms. After five years with Gillespie, Barron began to perform with Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Buddy Rich, and Stanley Turrentine. In 1971, he joined Yusef Lateefs band, an experience that Barron acknowledges as having been a key influence on his improvisational skills. Three years later, Barron recorded Sunset to Dawn, his first album as a leader. Throughout the 1980s, Barron collaborated with the great tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, touring with his quartet and recording several albums, one of which was nominated for a Grammy Award ( People Time). In 1982, he co-founded the quartet Sphere, which was dedicated to Thelonious Monk's music and inspiration. Sphere comprised Barron, Buster Williams, and Monk band alumni Ben Riley and Charlie Rouse. After Rouse's passing in 1988, the band took a hiatus before reuniting in 1998 (with alto saxophonist Gary Bartz replacing Rouse) and releasing a recording for Verve Records. Barron's own recordings have earned him numerous Grammy nominations, among them Spirit Song, Sambao, Night and the City (a duet recording with Charlie Haden), and Wanton Spirit (a trio recording with Roy Haynes and Haden). He has won numerous jazz critics and readers' polls from DownBeat, JazzTimes, and Jazziz magazines; and is a seven-time recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association's "Best Pianist" honors. As a composer, Barron's works have been featured in film and documentaries, and he most recently scored the film Another Harvest Moon. In 2009 he was named a Living Legacy by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 2005. As a long-standing professor of music at Rutgers University (1974-2000), Barron mentored many of today's established jazz talents, including David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard, and Regina Bell. He continues to tour internationally solo and with his trio. WDLEAOER PIANIST ORGANIST COMPOSER ARRANGER 1983 counT Basie Bom August 31, 1904 in Red. Bank, NJ Died April ?6, iy8p T hough a pianist and occasional organist, William "Count" Basie's fame stems mainly from his history as one of the great bandleaders. Basie's arrangements made good use of soloists, allowing musicians such as Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Sweets Edison, and Frank Foster to create some of their best work. Although his strength was as a bandleader, Basie's sparse piano style often delighted audiences with its swinging simplicity. Basie's first teacher was his mother, who taught him piano. Later, the informal organ lessons from his mentor Fats Waller helped him find work in a theater accompanying silent films. In 1927, Basie found himself in Kansas City, playing with two of the most famous bands in the city: Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Bennie Moten band. In 1935, Basie started his own Kansas City band, engaging the core of the Moten band. They performed nightly radio broadcasts, which caught the attention of music producer John Hammond. In 1936, Hammond brought the Basie band to New York, where it opened at the Roseland Ballroom. By the next PHOTO BY LEE TANNER year, the band was a fixture on 52nd Street, in residence at the Famous Door. During this time the key to Basie's band was what became known as the "All-American Rhythm Section"— Freddie Green on guitar, Walter Page on bass, and Jo Jones on drums. The horns were also quite potent, including Lester Young, Earl Warren, and Herschel Evans on saxophones; Buck Clayton and Sweets Edison on trumpets; and Benny Morton and Dicky Wells on trombones. With a swinging rhythm section and top- notch soloists in the horn section, Basie's band became one of the most popular between 1937-49, scoring such swing hits as "One O'clock Jump" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside." Lester Young's tenor saxophone playing during this period, in particular on such recordings as "Lester Leaps In" and "Taxi War Dance," influenced jazz musicians for years to come. In addition, Basie's use of great singers such as Helen Humes and Jimmy Rushing enhanced his band's sound and popularity. Economics forced Basie to pare down to a septet in 1950. By 1952 he had returned to his big band sound, organizing what became euphemistically known as his "New Testament" band, which began a residency at Birdland in New York. The new band retained the same high standards of musicianship as the earlier version, with such standouts as Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Eddie "Lockjaw" Smith, Thad Jones, and Joe Williams. Foster's composition "Shiny Stockings" and Williams' rendition of "Every Day" brought Basie a couple of much-needed hits in the mid-1950s. In addition to achieving success with his own singers, he also enjoyed acclaim for records backing such stars as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Tony Bennett. Basie continued to perform and record until his death in 1984. THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN DECCA RECORDINGS MCA, 1937-39 APRIL IN PARIS Verve, 1 956 THE COMPLETE ATOMIC BASIE Roulette, 1957 COUNT BASIE AND THE KANSAS CITY 7 Impulse!, 1962 THE BASIE BIG BAND Pablo, 1975 21 '994 DRUMMER COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER EDUCATOR LIVE IN STEREO AT THE FLAMINGO HOTEL, VOL. 1 Jazz Hour, 1959 DYNAMITE! Concord, 1979 EAST SIDE SUITE Musicmasters, 1987 LIVE FROM NEW YORK Telarc, 1 993 THE SACRED MUSIC OF LOUIE BELLSON Percussion Power, 2005 22 Louie BeLison Bom July 6 , i 924 in Rock Falls, IL Died February 14, 2009 R eferred to by Duke Ellington as "not only the world's greatest drummer... [but also] the world's greatest musician," Louie Bellson had expressed himself on drums since age three. At 15, he pioneered the double bass drum set-up, and two years later he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Gene Krupa drumming contest. Bellson performed on more than 200 albums as one of the most sought-after big band drummers, working with such greats as Duke Ellington (who recorded many of Bellson's compositions), Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Woody Herman, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Armstrong, and Lionel Hampton. He toured with Norman Granz's all-star Jazz at the Philharmonic, and worked with many vocalists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, and his wife, Pearl Bailey, for whom he served as musical director. He also appeared in several films in the 1940s, including The Power Girl The Gang's All Here, and A Song is Bom. A prolific composer, Bellson had more than 1,000 compositions and arrangements to his name, embracing jazz, swing, orchestral suites, symphonic works, and ballets. As an author, he published more than a dozen books on drums and percussion, and was a six-time Grammy Award nominee. In 1998, he was hailed — along with Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, and Max Roach— as one of four "Living Legends of Music" when he received the American Drummers Achievement Award from the Zildjian Company. Bellson also was a highly sought-after educator, giving music and drum workshops and clinics, teaching not only his dynamic drumming technique but also jazz heritage. He was awarded four honorary doctoral degrees from Northern Illinois University, Denison University, Augustana College, and DePaul University. In 2003, a historical landmark was dedicated at his birthplace in Rock Falls, Illinois, inaugurating an annual three-day celebration there in his honor. His 2005 recording. The Sacred Music of Louie Bellson, showcased his prowess for blending orchestral music, choir, and big band. In 2007, Bellson was one of 36 musicians receiving the Living Jazz Legend Award from the Kennedy Center and one of three honored as ASCAP Jazz Living Legends by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER ?oo6 Tony BenneiT VOCALIST Bom August 3 , 1926 in Queens , NY C alled "the best singer in the business" by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett was bom as Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926 in the Astoria section of Queens, New York. By age 10, he had attracted such notice that he was tapped to sing at the opening ceremony for the Triborough Bridge. He attended the High School of Industrial Arts, worked as a singing waiter, and then performed with military bands during his Army service in World War n. After the war, he continued his vocal studies formally at the American Theatre Wing school and informally in the 52nd Street jazz clubs. His break came in 1949, when Bob Hope saw him working in a Greenwich Village club with Pearl Bailey, invited him to join his show at the Paramount, and changed his stage name to Tony Bennett. Bennett's recording career began in 1950, when he signed with the Columbia label, with the number one hit "Because of You," followed by his cover of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." With a string of hits to his credit, Bennett was able to exert greater artistic influence over his recordings, allowing him to express his interest in jazz, notably The Beat of My Heart, on which he was accompanied primarily with jazz percussionists, and his work with Count Basie, In Person with Count Basie and His Orchestra. In 1962, Bennett recorded "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," the song that would become his signature, and for which he won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Solo Male Vocal Performance. Over PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES the next years, while putting out singles and albums that were consistently among the most popular in the country, he continued to infuse his singing with the spontaneity of jazz and to record and tour with bands composed almost exclusively of jazz musicians. In the 1970s, Bennett formed his own record company and made albums including two duet recording with pianist Bill Evans. His 1992 release. Perfectly Frank, a tribute to Frank Sinatra, and 1993 Steppin' Out, a tribute to Fred Astaire, went gold and won him back- to-back Grammy Awards. Bennett received Grammy's highest award, Album of the Year, in 1994 for his live recording, MTV Unplugged, and was honored with the academy's lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Also in 2001, he founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (named for his friend) in Queens, a public school dedicated to teaching the performing arts. THE BEAT OF MY HEART Columbia, 1957 IN PERSON WITH COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA Columbia, 1 958 THE TONY BENNETT BILL EVANS ALBUM Columbia, 1975 ON HOLIDAY: A TRIBITE TO BILLIE HOLIDAY Columbia, 1 996 DUETS II Sony Music, 201 1 23 * 3009 GeorGe GUITARIST VOCALIST Bom March 2?, in Pittsburgh, PA THE NEW BOSS GUITAR OF GEORGE BENSON Prestige/OJC, 1 964 THE OTHER SIDE OF ABBEY ROAD A&M, 1969 WEEKEND IN LA. Warner Brothers, 1 977 TENDERLY Warner Brothers, 1 989 GUITAR MAN Concord Jazz, 201 1 24 A ppreciated as both a musician and performer, George Benson plays the dual role of expert improviser and vibrant entertainer. Rounding out his singular approach with a strong sense of swing, he is considered one of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Benson began his career as a guitarist working the comer pubs of his native Pittsburgh. Legendary jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery came across Benson early on, complimenting him and urging him to continue his already impressive work. In the early 1960s, Benson apprenticed with organist Brother Jack McDuff; he found the organist's gritty swing a fertile ground for the sly, confident, and adventurous guitar lines that earned him an early reputation as a master. By the time legendary talent scout John Hammond signed Benson to Columbia, the guitarist's name was becoming known throughout the industry. In the late 1960s he sat in on Miles Davis' Miles in the Sky sessions, and also put a personal spin on the tunes from the Beatles' Abbey Road. Joining the CTI label in 1970, Benson was united with many of jazz's finest instrumentalists — including Stanley Turrentine, Ron Carter, and Freddie Hubbard — and released classic albums, such as Beyond the Blue Horizon. Despite his success, Benson's desire to combine his singing and guitar playing was blocked until he worked with music producer Tommy LiPuma. The result was Breezin', the first jazz record to attain platinum sales. The 1976 blockbuster, his first in a long association with Warner Brothers Records, brought Benson to the attention of the general public with such hits as his soulful rendition of Leon Russell's "This Masquerade," which featured the guitarist scatting along with his solo break. He followed up with many pop hits, including a sultry version of "On Broadway" and the irresistible "Give Me the Night" (produced by Quincy Jones). In the mid-1990s Benson followed LiPuma to the GRP label where they released three well-received albums highlighting Benson's vocal and guitar prowess. In 2006, Benson and vocalist/songwriter Al Jarreau released Givin' It Up with Benson's current label. Concord Music Group. Benson has won ten Grammy Awards, thrilling many crowds around the world with his performances, including appearances at Malaysia's 50th Merdeka celebration and the Mawazine Festival in Morocco. ATT BLaKeY that was more hard-driving and blues-oriented. The Messengers made a concerted effort at rekindling the black audience for jazz that had begun to erode when the ballroom era of jazz declined. Blakey powered his bands with a distinctive, take-no- prisoners style of drumming that recalled the thunderous and communicative drum traditions of Africa. Though his drumming became among the most easily recognized sounds in jazz, Blakey always played for the band, prodding on his immensely talented colleagues' solos. From the first Jazz Messengers band he formed, Blakey has welcomed generations of exceptional young musicians who have evolved into prominent bandleaders and contributors themselves. That list, reading like a Who's Who of jazz, includes Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Johnny Griffin, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Woody Shaw, Joanne Brackeen, Bobby Watson, James Williams, and three of the Marsalis brothers (Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo). His mentoring of these musicians, helping them to hone their skills and preparing them to lead their own bands, has helped keep the jazz tradition alive and thriving. For the remainder of his career, Blakey continued to take the Jazz Messengers message across the globe. A NIGHT AT BIRDLAND, VOLS. 1-2 Blue Note, 1954 ART BLAKEY’S JAZZ MESSENGERS WITH THELONIOUS MONK Atlantic, 1957 MOANIN’ Blue Note, 1 958 BUHAINA’S DELIGHT Blue Note, 1 961 KEYSTONE 3 Concord, 1 982 A rt Blakey's Jazz Messengers not only supplied consistently exciting and innovative music for nearly 40 years, but also provided the experience and i mentoring for young musicians to learn their trade. Though self-taught, Blakey was already leading his own dance band by age 14. Blakey's first noted sideman job came in 1942 with Mary Lou Williams, whom he joined for a club engagement at Kelly's Stables in New York. The following year he joined the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, where he stayed until joining Billy Eckstine's modern jazz big band in 1944. A subsequent trip to Africa, ostensibly to immerse himself in Islam, revealed to him that jazz was truly an American music, which he preached from the bandstand thereafter. He adopted the Muslim name of Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, but continued to record under Art Blakey. In the early 1950s, he worked with such greats as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Horace Silver, and Clifford Brown. The latter two became members of the Jazz Messengers, which was originally a cooperative unit. Brown, then Silver, left to form their own bands and Blakey became the leader of the Jazz Messengers. The Messengers went on to play in a style that critics called hard bop, a logical progression on the bebop style 25 ?oo6 TROMBONIST PIANIST COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR Gerry Mulligan Quartet AT STORYVILLE Pacific Jazz, 1 956 THE BLUES HOT AND COLD Verve, 1 960 BACKAGAIN Sonet, 1978 PARIS SUITE Challenge, 1 993 STANDARDS ArtistShare, 201 1 26 BOB BrooKmeYer Bom December 19,1 929 in Kansas City, MO Died December 15 , 30 1 1 B ob Brookmeyer was an innovative composer and gifted arranger for both small and large ensembles, as well as an outstanding performer on valve trombone and piano. A professional performer with dance bands since the age of 14, he studied composition for three years at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he won the Carl Busch Prize for Choral Composition. In the early 1950s, he traveled to New York as a pianist with Tex Benecke and Mel Lewis and stayed on to freelance with artists including Pee Wee Russell, Ben Webster, and Coleman Hawkins. After a period with Claude Thornhill, Brookmeyer joined Stan Getz in late 1952, an association that took him to California, where Gerry Mulligan asked him to join his quartet. Brookmeyer gained renown as a member of that group (1954-57) and as a member of the experimental Jimmy Giuffre 3 (1957-58), comprising Giuffre's reeds, Jim Hall's guitar, and Brookmeyer's valve trombone. His long association with Mulligan included work with the Concert Jazz Band, which Brookmeyer helped to form and maintain, and for which he wrote arrangements. In 1961, Brookmeyer and Clark Terry formed their legendary quintet, which lasted until 1968. Brookmeyer was also busy during this time as lead trombonist and arranger-composer for the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, formed in 1965. After a decade spent in California as a studio musician, Brookmeyer returned to New York in 1978 to play with Stan Getz and Jim Hall, and then in 1979 rejoined the Mel Lewis Orchestra, becoming its musical director after the departure of Thad Jones. From 1981 to 1991, Brookmeyer was busy as a composer and performer in Europe, working in both classical and jazz idioms. He began teaching at the Manhattan School of Music in 1985 and directed the BMI Composers Workshop from 1989 to 1991. He served as musical director of the Schlewsig-Holstein Musik Festival Big Band/New Art Orchestra, the Stanley Knowles Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, and director of the New England Conservatory's Jazz Composers' Workshop Orchestra. A composer whose work has been widely published, studied, and performed, Brookmeyer received grants in composition from the National Endowment for the Arts and nominations from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences for composing and performing, and he was commissioned by the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic to write a piece for an EMI disc featuring trumpet player Till Broenner. A concert- length piece for the New Art Orchestra, Spirit Music, was released in 2007. i 9 8? CLeo _ Brown VOCALIST Bom December 8, igog in Meridian, MS Died April 15 , 7995 PHOTO COURTESY OF RAY AVERY PHOTO ARCHIVES/CTSIMAGES C leo Brown bears the distinction of being the first woman instrumentalist honored with the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship. Her family moved to Chicago in 1919 and four years later, at age 14, she started working professionally with a vaudeville show. Her brother Everett, who worked with "Pine Top" Smith, taught her the boogie woogie piano style that became her trademark. Brown performed in the Chicago area during the late 1920s. In 1935, she replaced Fats Waller on his New York radio series on WABC, and soon began recording. Her version of "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" was influential on pianists that came after her, and she is credited with being an early influence on Dave Brubeck, who played during the intermissions of her shows, and Marian McPartland, among others. Through the 1950s she worked frequently at that city's Three Deuces club, establishing a reputation as a two-fisted, driving pianist. Brown began to gain international renown for her work, and she continued to perform regularly in New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco until 1953, making records for Capitol Records and performing with the Decca All-Stars, among others. Brown then dropped out of the music business completely and took up full-time nursing. After retiring from nursing in 1973, she returned to music, spending her latter years as a church musician in her Seventh Day Adventist Church in Denver, Colorado. In 1987, Marian McPartland sought out Brown as a guest on her long-running radio series, Piano Jazz. A recording of the program was released as Living in the Afterglow, Brown's last recording. Although all the numbers are gospel songs (many are originals by Brown), they are played in the same rollicking style as her 1930s recordings. Various Artists BOOGIE WOOGIE STOMP ASV/Living Era, 1 930s-40s THE LEGENDARY CLEO BROWN President, 1 930s HERE COMES CLEO Hep, 1935-36 1935-1951 Classics, 1 935-51 LIVING IN THE AFTERGLOW Audiophile, 1 987 27 *995 BASSIST EDUCATOR Oscar Peterson THE ULTIMATE OSCAR PETERSON Verve, 1956-64 MUCH IN COMMON Verve, 1962-65 SUMMER WIND: LIVE AT THE LOA Concord, 1988 SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE.... THE SAX PLAYERS Telarc, 1995 Ray Brown with John Clayton and Christian McBride SUPER BASS 2 Telarc, 2001 Ray Brown Bom October i 3 , 1926 in Pittsburgh, PA Died July 2, 2002 R ay Brown's dexterity and rich sound on the bass made him one of the most popular and prolific musicians in jazz for more than 50 years. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD notes that Brown is the most cited musician in the first edition of the guide, both for his own small ensemble work and as a sideman, testifying to his productivity. Brown started on piano at age eight and began playing the bass at 17, performing his first professional job at a Pittsburgh club in 1943. His first significant tour was with bandleader Snookum Russell in 1944; he moved to New York the following year. By 1946 he was working in Dizzy Gillespie's band, and in 1948 he formed a trio with Hank Jones and Charlie Smith. In 1948, he married Ella Fitzgerald and became musical director on her solo and Jazz at the Philharmonic tours until their breakup in 1952. In 1951, he began a stint with the Oscar Peterson Trio that lasted until 1966. It was in Peterson's group that Brown's prowess on the bass began getting attention, anchoring the trio's sound in both the piano-guitar and piano-drums configurations. In the mid-1960s, Brown co-led a quintet with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, with whom he had worked in the 1940s as part of Dizzy Gillespie's rhythm section and later as a member of the Milt Jackson Quartet, the precursor to the Modem Jazz Quartet. In the late 1970s, Brown formed his first full-time trio, which was to become his favored touring and performance unit over the next couple of decades. He utilized a variety of up- and-coming musicians in his bands, including pianists Gene Harris, Monty Alexander, Benny Green, and Geoff Keezer and drummers Jeff Hamilton, Lewis Nash, Gregory Hutchinson, and Kariem Riggins. Brown was also involved in jazz education, including authoring the Ray Brown Bass Book 1, an instructional volume. He served as mentor to numerous young musicians, including those who have passed through his groups and special guests he invited to play on a series of 1990s recordings for the Telarc label titled PHOTO BY LEE TANNER Some of My Best Friends are.... These have included pianists, saxophonists, trumpeters, and vocalists. Some of the great younger bassists, such as John Clayton and Christian McBride, count him as a major influence on their sound. In 2003, Brown was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. 28 PIANIST OMPOSER *999 DAVE BRUBECK Bom December 6, 1920 in Concord, CA D ave Brubeck, declared a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, continues to be one of the most active and popular jazz musicians in the world today. His experiments with odd time signatures, improvised counterpoint, and a distinctive harmonic approach are the hallmarks of his unique musical style. Born into a musically inclined family— his two older brothers were professional musicians — he began taking piano lessons from his mother, a classical pianist, at age four. After graduating from College of the Pacific in 1942, he enlisted in the Army, and while serving in Europe led an integrated G.I. jazz band. At the end of World War H, he studied composition at Mills College with French classical composer Darius Milhaud, who encouraged him to introduce jazz elements into his classical compositions. This experimentation with mixed genres led to the formation of the Dave Brubeck Octet that included Paul Desmond, Bill Smith, and Cal Tjader. In 1949, Brubeck formed an award-winning trio with Cal Tjader PHOTO BY TOM PICH and Ron Crotty, and in 1951 expanded the band to include Desmond. Brubeck became the first jazz artist to make the cover of Time magazine, in 1954, and in 1958 performed in Europe and the Middle East for the U.S. State Department, leading to the introduction of music from other cultures into his repertoire. In 1959, the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded an experiment in time signatures, Time Out. The album sold more than a million copies, and Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk," based on a Turkish folk rhythm, and Desmond's "Take Five" appeared on jukeboxes throughout the world. Throughout his career, Brubeck has continued to experiment with integrating jazz and classical music. In 1959, he premiered and recorded his brother Howard's Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein. In 1960, he composed Points on Jazz for the American Ballet Theatre, and in later decades composed for and performed with the Murray Louis Dance Co. His musical theater piece, The Real Ambassadors starring Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae, was also written and recorded in 1960 and performed to great acclaim at the 1962 Monterey Jazz Festival. The classic Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello was dissolved in December 1967 and Brubeck's first of many oratorios. The Light in the Wilderness, premiered in 1968. He has received many honors in the U.S. and abroad for his contribution to jazz, including the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Austrian Medal of the Arts. In 2008, Brubeck received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy from the U.S. State Department for "introducing the language, the sounds, and the spirit of jazz to new generations around the world." JAZZ AT OBERLIN Original Jazz Classics, 1953 TIME OUT Columbia, 1959 THE REAL AMBASSADORS Columbia/Legacy, 1 961 CLASSICAL BRUBECK Telarc, 2002 LONDON FLAT, LONDON SHARP Telarc, 2004 29 2005 GUITARIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR KENNY BURRELL &JOHN COLTRANE Prestige/OJC, 1 958 MIDNIGHT BLUE Blue Note, 1963 GUITAR FORMS Verve, 1964 Kenny Burrell &the Boys Choir of Harlem LOVE IS THE ANSWER Concord Jazz, 1 997 75TH BIRTHDAY BASH LIVE! Blue Note, 2006 KENNY BURRELL Bom July 3i, ic/3i in Detroit, MI K enny Burrell pioneered the guitar-led trio with bass and drums in the late 1950s. Known for his harmonic creativity, lush tones, and lyricism on the guitar, he is also a prolific and highly regarded composer. Bom in Detroit in 1931, he found musical colleagues at an early age among Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Foster, Yusef Lateef, and the brothers Thad, Hank, and Elvin Jones. While still a student at Wayne State University, he made his first major recording in 1951 with Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Percy Heath, and Milt Jackson. After graduation, he toured for six months with the Oscar Peterson Trio and then moved to New York, where he performed in Broadway pit bands, on pop and R&B studio sessions (with Lena Home, Tony Bennett, and James Brown), in jazz venues, and on jazz recordings. He went on to work and/or record with such artists as Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, and Jimmy Smith. As a leader, he has recorded more than 90 albums and is a featured guitarist on more than 200 jazz recordings, including ones with Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, and Quincy Jones. Burrell's compositions have been recorded by artists including Ray Brown, June Christy, Grover Washington, Jr., Frank Wess, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His extended composition for the Boys Choir of Harlem was premiered at New York's Lincoln Center, and his "Dear Ella," performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater, won a 1998 Grammy Award. In addition to performing and recording, he is a professor of music and ethnomusicology at the University of California at Los Angeles. A recognized authority on the music of Duke Ellington, he developed the first regular college course ever taught in the United States on Ellington in 1978. In 1997, he was appointed director of the jazz studies program at UCLA, where he has enlisted such faculty members as George Bohanon, Billy Childs, Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Bobby Rodriguez, and Gerald Wilson. Kenny Burrell is the author of two books, Jazz Guitar and Jazz Guitar Solos. In 2004, he received a Jazz Educator of the Year Award from DownBeat. He is a founder of the Jazz Heritage Foundation and the Friends of Jazz at UCLA and is recognized as an international ambassador for jazz and its promotion as an art form. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER UMPETER LHORNIST EDUCATOR 2,000 DonaiD BYTD Bom December 9 , iy3? in Detroit, MI A pioneer jazz educator on African- American college and university campuses, as well as general colleges and universities, Donald Byrd has also been 1 a leading improviser on trumpet. Raised in the home of a Methodist minister and musician, he learned music in the then highly regarded music education system in the Detroit high schools. Byrd went on to earn degrees from Wayne State University and the Manhattan School of Music, eventually earning a doctorate from the University of Colorado School of Education. He studied music with the famed teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1963. Byrd played in the Air Force band during 1951-52, then relocated to New York. Some of his earliest gigs in New York were with the George Wallington group at Cafe Bohemia. He joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in December 1955. Following his Messengers experience, he worked in a variety of bands with Max Roach, John Coltrane, Red Garland, and Gigi Gryce, refining his playing skills. In 1958 he co-led a band with fellow Detroiter Pepper Adams, which continued for the next three years. In the early 1960s, he became a bandleader of his own touring quintet. During 1965-66 he was a house arranger for the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. It was also at this time that he became more active as an educator, teaching at New York's Music & Art High School. He held clinics for the National Stage Band Camps, giving private lessons and instruction. Among the college and university teaching appointments that followed were Rutgers University, Hampton University, Howard University, North Carolina Central University, North Texas State, and Delaware State University. He also earned a law degree between teaching appointments. At Howard University, where he was chairman of the Black Music Department, he brought together a group of talented students to form Donald Byrd & the Blackbyrds, a pop-jazz band that had a hit record for Blue Note, and continued to record — sans Byrd— for the Fantasy label. His recorded innovations included the use of a vocal chorus, which resulted in his popular recording of "Cristo Redemptor," as well as his engagements of gospel texts. FIRST FLIGHT Denmark, 1955 AT THE HALF NOTE CAFE, VOL. 1 + 2 Blue Note, 1 960 ELECTRIC BYRD Blue Note, 1 970 BLACK BYRD Blue Note, 1 974 A CITY CALLED HEAVEN Landmark, 1991 2oo8 canoiDO camera PERCUSSIONIST Bom April 22, 1921 in Havana, Cuba TAYLOR TRIO WITH CANDIDO Prestige/OJC, 1 954 CANDIDO Verve, 1 956 RRUJERIAS DE CANDIDO: CANDIDO’S LATIN MCGUFFA’S DUST Tico, 1971 Candido Camero/Carlos Valdes/Giovanni Hidalgo CONGA KINGS Chesky, 1999 S o well known and respected, his first name alone— Candido— is all that is necessary for jazz aficionados to know who he is. Credited with being the first percussionist to bring conga drumming to jazz, Candido Camera is also known for his contributions to the development of mambo and Afro-Cuban jazz. Bom in Havana, Cuba, in 1921, Camera first began making music as a young child, beating rhythms on empty condensed milk cans in place of bongos. He worked for six years with the CMQ Radio Orchestra and at the famed Cabaret Tropicana. He came to the United States in 1946 with the dance team Carmen and Rolando, and very soon after was playing with Billy Taylor, who wrote in 1954, "I have not heard anyone who even approaches the wonderful balance between jazz and Cuban elements that Candido demonstrates." By the early 1950s, Camera was a featured soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, with whom he toured the U.S. playing three congas (at a time when other PHOTO BY TOM PICH congueros were playing only one) in addition to a cowbell and guiro (a fluted gourd played with strokes from a stick). He created another unique playing style by tuning his congas to specific pitches so that he could play melodies like a pianist. He became one of the best known congueros in the country, appearing on such television shows as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jackie Gleason Show. He has recorded and performed with seemingly everybody in the jazz field, including such luminaries as Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Slide Hampton, Charles Mingus, Wes Montgomery, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, and Clark Terry. Among his many awards are the Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award (2001) and a special achievement award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as a "Legend of Jazz" (2005). The subject of the 2006 documentary, Candido: Hands of Fire, Camera (entering his 90s) continues to perform throughout the world. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER BennY carrer Bom August 8 , 7907 in New York, NY Died July 12, 20o3 ALL OF ME Bluebird, 1934-59 JAZZ GIANT Original Jazz Classics, 1957-58 FURTHER DEFINITIONS Impulse!, 1961-66 I B enny Carter made memorable impressions as a great bandleader and improviser with a highly influential style. Largely self- taught, Carter's first instrument was the trumpet, although the alto saxophone eventually became his principal instrument. Some of his earliest professional jobs were with bands led by cornetist June Clark and pianist Earl Hines, where his unusual ability to play both trumpet and saxophone was highly regarded. In 1930-31 he spent a year with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, then for a short time he succeeded Don Redman as musical director of McKinney's Cotton Pickers. During the early 1930s, he also made his first recordings with the Chocolate Dandies, which included Coleman Hawkins. In 1932, Carter formed his own big band. At various times the band included such significant players as Ben Webster, Chu Berry, Teddy Wilson, Dicky Wells, Bill Coleman, and Sid Catlett. In 1934, Carter dissolved his band, migrating to Europe the next year, where he served as a staff arranger for the BBC Orchestra in London until 1938. His work in Europe took on an ambassadorial tint: he freelanced with musicians in England and France and led a multiethnic band in Scandinavia in 1937. Growing restless, Carter returned to the U.S. in 1938 and assembled a new big band, which became the house band at the Savoy Ballroom through 1940. In 1942, with another new band in tow, he settled in Los Angeles, his longtime home base. With lucrative film studios calling. Carter began scoring films and television. He became one of the first African Americans to be employed in the field, easing the way for other black composers. His first film work was in 1943 on Stormy Weather. Starting in 1946, with his composing and arranging skills in constant demand. Carter disbanded his orchestra and became largely a freelance player. He participated in tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic and wrote arrangements for major singers such as Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, and Louis Armstrong. Many of his subsequent recordings, such as the widely hailed Further Definitions, were evidence of the depth of his composing and arranging mastery. Carter has received numerous awards during his long lifetime, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, a DownBeat international critics' poll in the Arranger's category in 1988, Jazz Artist of the Year in both DownBeat and JazzTimes international critics' polls in 1990, and the National Medal of Arts in 2000. In 1996, a documentary on Carter, Symphony in Riffs, was released. HARLEM RENAISSANCE MusicMasters, 1 992 Benny Carter and Phil Woods ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE Evening Star 1 996 33 VOCALIST BANDLEADER EDUCATOR BcTTY carTer Bom May 1 6, u) 3 o in Hint , MI Died September 36, 199S I CANT HELP IT Impulse!, 1958-60 AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD Verve, 1 970 THE AUDIENCE WITH BETTY CARTER Verve, 1 979 LOOK WHAT I GOT Verve, 1988 FEED THE FIRE Verve, 1993 B etty Carter developed a legendary reputation, along with Art Blakey, as one of the great mentors for young jazz musicians. Equally legendary was her singing prowess, creating a distinctive style of improvisation that could transcend any song. Carter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory, a skill that served her well later in her career in writing original songs. Growing up in Detroit, she was exposed to numerous jazz greats who passed through town, even getting a golden opportunity as a teenager to sit in with Charlie Parker. Carter's big break came in 1948, when she was asked to join the Lionel Hampton band. Developing her vocal improvisations during the three years with the band led to her singular singing style. Hampton, impressed with her saxophone-like improvisatory vocals, dubbed her "Betty Bebop." After leaving Hampton's band, she worked variously with such greats as Miles Davis, Ray Charles, and Sonny Rollins before creating her own band. Although she recorded for major record labels early in her career, Carter became increasingly frustrated with record company dealings and disparities and formed her own label Bet-Car in 1971, one of the first jazz artists to do so. Selling her own recordings through various distributors, she was able to sustain her performing career. Carter was uncomfortable with studio recordings, but live recordings, like The Audience with Betty Carter, demonstrate her remarkably inventive singing and her ability to drive the band. Carter's bands served a dual purpose: to create her own great music and to help young musicians develop their craft. Many of the musicians who passed through her groups went on to lead their own groups, such as Geri Allen, Stephen Scott, Don Braden, and Christian McBride. She also developed a mentoring program called Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead through links with organizations such as the International Association for Jazz Education, 651 Arts, and the Kennedy Center. The program was a one- to two-week teaching seminar where nationally selected promising young jazz musicians learned from Carter and other seasoned musicians, culminating in a final concert of instructors and students together. Jazz Ahead was one of Carter's proudest achievements, and she worked with the program up until her death. She received the National Medal of Arts in 1997. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER BASSIST CELLIST lOMPOSER EDUCATOR non carrer Bom. May 4 , ig3yinFemdale, MI PHOTO BY LEE TANNER R on Carter's dexterity and harmonic sophistication on the bass have few rivals in the history of jazz. In 1 addition to the bass, he has also employed both the cello and the piccolo bass (a downsized bass pitched somewhere between cello and contrabass), one of the first musicians to use those instruments in jazz settings. His pursuit of music began with the cello, at age 10. One of the many students aspiring to be musicians in the Detroit public schools, he switched to the bass at Cass Tech High School. He studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and eventually made his way to New York City, where he earned his master's degree in Music from the Manhattan School of Music in 1961. He began freelancing, playing with a host of jazz greats, such as Chico Hamilton, Randy Weston, Bobby Timmons, Thelonious Monk, and Art Farmer. Carter cut three substantial albums with the great saxophonist Eric Dolphy, two under Dolphy's name and one under his own. Carter's Where ? and Dolphy's Out There were groundbreaking in that Carter played cello against George Duviviehs bass, creating a rich lower texture against which Dolphy could contrast his playing. In 1963, he joined Miles Davis in what would become the trumpeter's second great quintet that included Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock. Davis even recorded some of Carter's compositions— notably "R.J.," "Mood," and "Eighty- One"— and the rhythm section of Carter, Williams, and Hancock powered the horn section to greater heights. He remained with Davis from 1963-68, whereupon he grew tired of the rigors of the road, preferring to freelance, lead his own groups, and teach. Among the cooperative bands he performed with during the remainder of the 1960s were the New York Jazz Sextet and the New York Bass Choir. Throughout the 1970s, he was a recording studio bassist in high demand, though he never stopped gigging with a variety of artists and bands, including several touring all-star units such as the CTI All-Stars, V.S.O.R (ostensibly a reunion of the Davis band minus the leader), and the Milestone Jazzstars, which included Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Al Foster on drums. His freelance work has continued throughout his career, including chamber and orchestral work, film and television soundtracks, and even some hip hop recordings. Carter continues to record with young musicians such as Stephen Scott and Lewis Nash, and his college and university teaching career has also been quite active. He is distinguished professor of music, emeritus of the City College of New York, and has received honorary doctorate degrees from the Berklee School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the New England Conservatory in Boston. He has also written several books on playing the bass, including Building A Jazz Bass Line. Miles Davis E.S.P. Columbia, 1 965 LIVE AT VILLAGE WEST Concord, 1982 EIGHT PLUS Dreyfus, 1990 BRANDENBLTRG CONCERTO Blue Note, 1 995 DEAR MILES EMI 2006 35 □ RUMMER BANDLEADER Modern Jazz Quartet THE ARTISTRY OF THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET Prestige, 1 952-55 BOHEMIA AFTER DARK Savoy, 1 955 DISCOVERIES Savoy, 1 955 KENNY CLARKE MEETS THE DETROIT JAZZMEN Savoy, 1956 CLARKE- BOLAND BIG BAND RTE.1968 36 PHOTO BY HERMAN LEONARD PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/CTSIMAGES Bom January q , 1914 in Pi ttsburgh, PA Died January 26, 1985 K enny Clarke, known among musicians as "Klook" for one of his characteristic drum licks, is truly a jazz pioneer. He was a leader in the rhythmic advances that signaled the beginning of the modem jazz era, his drum style becoming the sound of bebop and influencing drummers such as Art Blakey and Max Roach. Clarke studied music broadly while in high school, including piano, trombone, drums, vibraphone, and theory. Such versatility of knowledge would later serve him well as a bandleader. Clarke moved to New York in late 1935, where he first began developing his unique approach to the drums, one with a wider rhythmic palette than that of the swing band dmmmers. Instead of marking the count with the top cymbal, Clarke used counter-rhythms to accent the beat, what became known as "dropping of bombs." He found a kindred spirit in Dizzy Gillespie when they hooked up in Teddy Hill's band in 1939. A key opportunity to further expand his drum language came in late 1940 when he landed a gig in the house band (with Thelonious Monk on piano, and Nick Fenton on bass) at Minton's Playhouse. It was this trio that welcomed such fellow travelers as guitarist Charlie Christian, Gillespie, and a host of others to its nightly jam sessions. These sessions became the primary laboratory for their brand of jazz, which came to be called bebop. A stint in the Army from 1943-46 introduced him to pianist John Lewis. After their discharge he and Lewis joined Gillespie's bebop big band, which gave Clarke his first taste of Paris during a European tour. After returning to New York, he joined the Milt Jackson Quartet, which metamorphosed into the Modem Jazz Quartet in 1952. Though he and Lewis remained friends, Clarke chafed at what he felt was the too-staid atmosphere of the MJQ. In 1956, he migrated to Paris, which became his home for nearly 30 years, working with Jacques Helian's band and backing up visiting U.S. jazz artists. During the years 1960-73, he co-led the major Europe-based jazz big band with Belgian pianist Francy Boland, the Clarke-Boland Big Band. The band featured the best of Europe's jazz soloists, including a number of exceptional U.S. expatriate musicians living in Europe. Among these were saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Sahib Shihab, and trumpeter Idrees Sulieman. After the disbanding of his big band, Clarke found numerous opportunities both on the bandstand and teaching in the classroom. He remained quite active as a freelancer, often working with visiting U.S. jazz musicians, until his death in 1985. In 1988, Clarke was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. ■ RUMPETER COMPOSER XRRANGER ENDLEADER EDUCATOR 199 1 BUCK CLaYTon Bom November 12, lynm Parsons, KS Died December 8, 1991 A valued member of a variety of classic big bands, Wilbur "Buck" Clayton was versatile enough to thrive as a bandleader, session man, and trumpet 1 soloist. Clayton first studied piano with his father beginning at age six, taking up the trumpet at age 17. He played in his church's orchestra until 1932 when he moved to California, taking various band jobs. In 1934, Clayton assembled his own band and took it to China for two years. He joined Count Basie's band in Kansas City in 1936 at the height of its popularity, playing his first prominent solo on "Fiesta in Blue." He wrote several arrangements for Basie, including "Taps Miller" and "Red Bank Boogie," before joining the Army in 1943. Following his discharge, he performed around New York through the end of the decade. Jazz at the Philharmonic tours took him overseas, and he made record sessions with artists like Jimmy Rushing and wrote charts for Duke Ellington and Harry James. In the early 1950s, he partnered with pianist Joe Bushkin in the first of the influential Embers quartets. Other artists he worked with include Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Eddie Condon, Sidney Bechet, and Humphrey Littleton. His ability to improvise in a variety of styles made him much in demand for sessions, especially with vocalists such as Billie Holiday. Physical issues with his embouchure — how the mouth forms against the mouthpiece of the instrument — caused him to relinquish the trumpet from 1972 until late in the decade, when he was able to resume playing for a U.S. State Department-sponsored tour of Africa. By 1979, however, he stopped playing permanently. While he was unable to perform, Clayton wrote arrangements for various bands. That skill was fully exercised when he put together his own big band in the mid-1980s, playing almost exclusively his own compositions and arrangements. He also became an educator, teaching at Hunter College in the 1980s. He continued to freelance for the remainder of his career, spending much of his last two decades teaching, lecturing, and arranging. His autobiography, Buck Clayton's Jazz World, co-authored with Nancy M. Eliot, was published in 1987. BUCK CLAYTON Original Jazz Classics, 1 946 BUCK SPECIAL Vogue, 1949-53 JAM SESSIONS FBOM THE VAULTS Columbia, 1953-56 BUCKAND BUDDY Original Jazz Classics, 1960 A SWINGIN’ DREAM Slash, 1988 3009 JimMY DRUMMER EDUCATOR Bom January 20 , 1929 in Washington, DC KIND OF BLUE Columbia, 1 959 Wes Montgomery SMOKIN’ AT THE HALF NOTE Verve, 1 965 Joe Henderson FOUR! Verve, 1 968 MARSALIS MUSIC HONOR SERIES Marsalis Music/ Rounder, 2005 COBB’S CORNER Chesky, 2006 38 A n accomplished accompanist and soloist, Jimmy Cobb is best known for being a key part of Miles Davis' first great quintet in the late 1950s. 1 Largely self-taught, Cobb spent his younger days in his hometown of Washington, DC, playing engagements with Charlie Rouse, Frank Wess, and Billie Hobday, among others. He left DC in 1950, joining Earl Bostic, with whom he cut his first recordings, before finding work with Dinah Washington, Pearl Bailey, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and Cannonball Adderley. In 1957, Cobb began playing with Miles Davis, eventually becoming part of a formidable rhythm section that included Paul Chambers on bass and Wynton Kelly on piano. Between 1957 and 1963, Cobb played (along with saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley) on some of Davis' most noted records: Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Someday My Prince Will Come, Live at Carnegie Hall, Live at the Blackhawk, and Porgy and Bess, among others. In 1963, Cobb left the Davis band to continue working as a trio with Chambers and Kelly. The trio disbanded in the late 1960s, and Cobb worked with singer Sarah Vaughan for nine years. He then freelanced for the next 20 years with artists such as Sonny Stitt, Nat Adderley, Ricky Ford, Hank Jones, Ron Carter, George Coleman, David "Fathead" Newman, and Nancy Wilson. Cobb released his first CD (and music video) for the A&E network in 1986; it featured Freddie Hubbard, Gregory Hines, and Bill Cosby. In 2006, Cobb was produced by Branford Marsalis for the Marsalis Music Honor Series, recorded around Cobb's 75th birthday. In the last few years, he has released several albums as a leader — New York Time, Cobb's Comer, and West of 5th— playing with stalwart musicians such as pianists Cedar Walton and Hank Jones and relative newcomers such as bassist Christian McBride and trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Jimmy Cobb continues to play music in New York City, where he lives with his wife and two children. He now leads the Jimmy Cobb "So What" Band, celebrating 50 years of Kind of Blue and the music of Miles Davis, and travels the international circuit. Cobb currently teaches master classes at Stanford University's Jazz Workshop and has taught at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, the University of Greensboro in North Carolina, the International Center for the Arts at San Francisco State University in California, and international educational institutions. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER 1984 wtOPHONIST RUMPETER VIOLINIST COMPOSER omerre coLeman Bom March 9 , iq3oinFt. Worth, TX O rnette Coleman is one of the true jazz innovators, whose sound is instantly recognizable and unquestionably unique. Coleman's work has ranged from dissonance and atonality to liberal use of electronic accompaniment in his ensembles, as well as the engagement of various ethnic influences and elements from around the globe. While experimenting with time and tone, his strong blues roots are always evident. For the most part, Coleman has been self-taught, beginning on the alto saxophone at age 14. Coleman's earliest performing experiences were mostly with local rhythm-and-blues bands. Coleman settled in Los Angeles in 1952. His search for a different sound and approach, a means of escaping traditional chord patterns and progressions, led some critics to suggest PHOTO BY LEE TANNER that he did not know how to play his instrument. In reality, he was studying harmony and theory zealously from books while supporting himself as an elevator operator. His performances in clubs and jam sessions were often met with derision if not outright rejection and anger from his fellow musicians and critics. Coleman soldiered on, honing his sound with like- minded musicians, including trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Billy Higgins, and bassist Charlie Haden. The year 1959 was an important one for Coleman and his band: he signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records, recording the first album to really present his new sound, Tomorrow Is The Question!; his quartet was invited to participate in what became a historic session at the Lenox School of Jazz in Massachusetts, being championed by John Lewis and Gunther Schuller; and the band began an extended engagement at the Five Spot Cafe in New York. Meanwhile, Ornette Coleman was developing an approach to his music that he was to dub "harmolodics." Coleman's albums for Atlantic were quite controversial at the time. Perhaps the most controversial of this series of albums was Free Jazz, recorded with a double quartet as essentially one continuous collective improvisation, which influenced avant-garde recordings in the 1960s and 1970s. After that recording, Coleman took time off from playing and recording to study trumpet and violin. Since that time Coleman has expanded his compositional outlook. His writing includes works for wind ensembles, strings, and symphony orchestra (notably his symphony Skies of America, recorded with the London Philharmonic). Coleman's ongoing experiments have taken him to Northern Africa to work with the Master Musicians of Joujouka, and he has performed with an electric ensemble he calls Prime Time. He is a recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships for composition, a MacArthur grant, and the prestigious Gish Prize in 2004. In 2007, he received the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his recording Sound Grammar and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME Atlantic, 1 959-60 FREE JAZZ Atlantic, i960 AT THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, STOCKHOLM, VOL. 1-2 Blue Note, 1 965 IN ALL LANGUAGES Verve/Harmolodic, 1987 SOUND GRAMMAR Sound Grammar, 2005 39 2oo6 KEYBOARDIST COMPOSER ARRANGER CHICK corea Bom June 1 z 1941 in Chelsea, MA NOW HE SINGS, NOW HE SOBS Blue Note, 1 968 RETURN TO FOREVER ECM, 1972 LIVE IN MONTREUX Stretch, 1981 RENDEZVOUS IN NEW YORK Stretch, 2001 Chick Corea and Gary Burton THE NEW CRYSTAL SILENCE Concord, 2007 40 A groundbreaking artist both as a keyboardist (piano, electric piano, synthesizer) and as a composer-arranger, 1 Chick Corea has moved fluidly among jazz, fusion, and classical music throughout a four-decade career, winning national and international honors including 16 Grammy Awards. He ranks with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett as one of the leading piano stylists to emerge after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, and he has composed such notable jazz standards as "Spain," "La Fiesta," and "Windows." Corea began playing piano and drums at an early age and enjoyed a childhood home filled with the music of Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lester Young, as well as Mozart and Beethoven. From 1962 to 1966 he gained experience playing with the bands of Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo, Blue Mitchell, Herbie Mann, and Stan Getz. He made his recording debut as a leader with Tones For Joan's Bones PHOTO BY LEE TANNER (1966) and in 1968 recorded the classic trio album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs with Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes. Following a short period with Sarah Vaughan, Corea then joined Miles Davis' group, gradually replacing Herbie Hancock. Davis persuaded Corea to play electric piano on the influential albums Filles de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and Miles Davis at the Fillmore. In 1971, Corea formed the ensemble Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke on bass, Hora Purim on vocals, her husband Airto Moreira on drums, and Joe Farrell on reeds. Within a year, the samba-flavored group had become an innovative, high-energy electric fusion band, incorporating the firepower of drummer Lenny White and guitarist Al DiMeola. Spearheaded by Corea's distinctive style on Moog synthesizer. Return to Forever led the mid-1970s fusion movement with albums such as Where Have I Known You Before, Romantic Warrior, and the Grammy Award-winning No Mystery. In 1985, Corea formed a new fusion group. The Elektric Band, and a few years later he formed The Akoustic Band. In 1992, he established his own record label, Stretch Records. On the occasion of his 60th birthday in 2001, Corea put together an unprecedented musical gathering at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City. The three- week event resulted in a double CD, Rendezvous in New York, and a two-hour film of the same name. In 2008, he reunited the classic Return to Forever band and embarked on a world tour. In 2010, he was selected for the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. He continues to create projects in multifaceted settings for listeners around the world. 1984 1UMPETER ICLHORNIST OMPOSER i/IDLEADER MILeS Bom May 35 , 1926 in Alton, IL Died September 28, 1991 M iles Davis was arguably the most influential jazz musician in the post-World War II period, being at the forefront of changes in the genre for more than 40 years. Bom into a middle-class family, Davis started on the trumpet at age 13. His first professional music job came when he joined the Eddie Randall band in St. Louis in 1941. In the fall of 1944 Davis took a scholarship to attend the Juilliard School, a convenient passport to New York. It didn't take him long to immerse himself in the New York scene and he began working 52nd Street gigs alongside Charlie Parker in 1945. Soon, Davis found work with Coleman Hawkins and the big bands of Billy Eckstine and Benny Carter. During the late 1940s, a number of musical contemporaries began to meet and jam regularly at the small apartment of arranger-pianist Gil Evans. Among them were saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, and pianist John Lewis. Out of this group of musicians, Davis formed the nonet to record his first major musical statement, Birth of the Cool. In addition to the standard piano, bass, and drums rhythm section, Davis' nonet horn section used French horn and tuba along with trombone and alto and baritone saxophones, lending the band a unique harmonic sound. In 1955, Davis assembled his first important band with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, adding Cannonball Adderley in 1958. By this time Davis, influenced by George Russell's theories, had begun playing in modes rather than standard chord changes, which led to his most famous album (and the all-time biggest-selling jazz album), Kind of Blue, in 1959. Davis also continued an important musical partnership with Gil Evans, recording four releases in five years: Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, and Quiet Nights. In 1964, Davis assembled a new band of younger musicians, which became known as his second great quintet. This included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Wayne Shorter. By this time, the * Miles Davis Quintet was recording mostly originals, with all the band members contributing memorable tunes. Davis' hom playing also changed, increasing the spacing of notes to create more suspense in the music. In 1968, Davis again changed direction, leading the way for electric jazz with the release of In a Silent Way. By the 1969 release of Bitches Brew, as he deepened the electronic elements and rock rhythms of his music, the transformation was complete. By the mid-1970s, following the debilitating effects of a 1972 auto accident, Davis went into semi-retirement. He returned to the scene in 1980 and resumed touring in 1981, attracting newer fans. From then to 1991, Davis remained vital and popular, receiving the Grammy Lifetime Acheivement Award in 1990. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER BIRTH OF THE COOL Capitol, 1949-50 KIND OF BLUE Columbia, 1959 THE COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL Columbia, 1965 BITCHES BREW Columbia, 1969 AMANDLA Warner Brothers, 1989 41 CLARINETIST EDUCATOR COOKING THE BLUES Verve, 1955 BLUES BAG Affinity, 1964 HARK Pablo/OJC, 1985 COOKIN' THE BOOKS Arbors Jazz, 2003 CHARLIE CAT 2 Arbors Jazz, 2006 42 2006 BUDDY Deiranco Bom February 1 7 , ujz3 in Camden, NJ A brilliant improviser and prodigious technician who has bridged the swing and bebop eras, Buddy DeFranco was bom in Camden, New Jersey, and raised in 1 South Philadelphia. He began playing the clarinet at age nine; at 14, he won a national Tommy Dorsey Swing Contest and appeared on the Saturday Night Swing Club with Gene Krupa. Johnny "Scat" Davis soon tapped him for his big band, inaugurating DeFranco's road career in 1939. DeFranco subsequently played in the bands of Gene Krupa (1941) and Charlie Barnet (1942-43) and in 1944 became a featured soloist with Tommy Dorsey. Meanwhile, the modem jazz revolution was in progress, led by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Excited by the improvisatory freedom of their music, DeFranco became the first jazz clarinetist to make his mark in the new idiom of bebop. In 1950, DeFranco joined the famous Count Basie Septet. He toured Europe with Billie Holiday in 1954, led a quartet for three years with Art Blakey, Kenny Drew, and Eugene Wright, and then joined with Tommy Gumina in a quartet that explored polytonal music, further solidifying his reputation as a "musician's musician." His other notable concert and recording appearances have included dates with Art Tatum, Nat "King" Cole, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Lenny Tristano, Billy Eckstine, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Mel Torme, Louie Bellson, Oscar Peterson, and the John Pizzarelli Trio, as well as several Metronome All- Star sessions. He was a featured artist in numerous Jazz at the Philharmonic tours of Europe, Australia, and East Asia. In 1966, he became the leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, a post he maintained until 1974. Since the mid-1970s, DeFranco has combined a busy teaching career with extensive touring and recording. His numerous television performances have included appearances on The Tonight Show with both Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He was a featured soloist on Stars of Jazz ; had his own program on public television, The Buddy DeFranco Jazz Forum ; and with his long-time musical colleague, vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, shared the spotlight on a segment of the PBS series Club Date. DeFranco has played at concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, and Argentina. To date, he has recorded more than 160 albums, has won the DownBeat All Stars award 20 times, and the Metronome poll 12 times. The University of Montana, Missoula, now hosts the Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival each April. * 99 * PIANIST VOCALIST iDUCATOR DOrOTHY Donecan Bom April 6, 1924 in Chicago, IL Died May 19, 1998 B lessed with an enormous orchestral capacity at the keyboard, Dorothy Donegan was fluent in several styles of jazz as well as with European classical music. Underrated by some due to her proclivity towards showy flamboyance and her penchant for entertaining an audience, she was nonetheless an exceptional pianist with a rich harmonic sense. Given her virtuosity, it's no wonder her earliest influence and one of her champions was the peerless master of the piano, Art Tatum. Encouraged by her mother to be a professional musician, Donegan was playing piano for a dollar a night at Chicago's South Side bars when she was only 14. She subsequently attended the Chicago Conservatory, Chicago Music College, and the University of Southern California, where she studied classical piano. In 1943, Donegan gave a concert at the Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the first African-American performer to do so. This created publicity that led to some work in film ( Sensations of 1945) and theater ( Star Time). Her PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN playing career was largely centered around nightclub engagements, as Donegan was more comfortable in a live setting than a studio. In the 1950s, she developed her flamboyant performance style, which at times tended to obscure her extraordinary piano playing, deep sense of swing, and wide-ranging repertoire. She would often spice her performances with uncanny impressions of other pianists and singers. She spent the bulk of her career performing in trios with bass and drums. Her appearance at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in 1980 broke all previous attendance records. In 1983, she appeared on Marian McPartland's NPR radio program. Piano Jazz. Despite her many years of performing, she didn't appear at the legendary jazz club Village Vanguard in New York City until 1987. The New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson wrote at the time: "Miss Donegan has never let her show-business surface interfere with her virtuosity or her sensitivity as a pianist. No one since Art Tatum has brought together a flow of running lines, breaks, changes of tempo and key, oblique references and rhythmic intensity as skillfully as Miss Donegan does." In the early 1990s, her show- stopping appearances on Hank O'Neal's Floating Jazz cruises brought her talents to the attention of another generation of jazz fans. She also lectured at several colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northeastern, and the Manhattan School of Music, and received an honorary doctoral degree from Roosevelt University in 1994. Donegan performed at the White House in 1993 and gave her last major performance at the Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival in 1997. DOROTHY ROMPS: A PIANO RETROSPECTIVE Rosetta, 1 953-79 MAKIN’ WHOOPEE Blacks Blue, 1979 THE EXPLOSIVE DOROTHY DONEGAN Progressive, 1 980 LIVE AT THE 1990 FLOATING JAZZ FESTIVAL Chiaroscuro, 1 990 LIVE AT THE FLOATING JAZZ FESTIVAL 1992 Chiaroscuro, 1992 2005 SAXOPHONIST CLARINETIST FLUTIST COMPOSER ARRANGER PaQUITO D’Rivera Bom June 4, 1948 in Havana, Cuba B LOWIN’ Columbia, 1981 Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra LIVE AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL Enja, 1989 PORTRAITS OF CUBA Chesky, 1 996 BRAZILIAN DREAMS MCGJazz, 2001 FUNK TANGO Sunnyside, 2006 T he winner of several Grammy Awards, Paquito D'Rivera is celebrated both for his artistry in Latin jazz and his achievements as a classical composer. Bom in Havana, Cuba, he performed at age 10 with the National Theater Orchestra, studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and, at 17, became a featured soloist with the Cuban National Symphony. D'Rivera co-founded the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Modema and served as the band's conductor for two years. In 1973, he was co-director of Irakere, a highly popular ensemble whose explosive mixture of jazz, rock, classical, and traditional Cuban music had never before been heard. The band toured extensively and in 1979 was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Ensemble. In 1981, while on tour in Spain, D'Rivera sought asylum in the United States embassy. Since then he has toured the world with his ensembles— the Paquito D'Rivera Big Band, the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet, and the Chamber Jazz Ensemble. His numerous recordings include more than 30 solo albums. In 1988, he was a founding member of the United Nation Orchestra, a 15-piece ensemble organized by Dizzy Gillespie to showcase the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz. In 1991, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Carnegie Hall for his contributions to Latin music. That same year, as part of the band Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra, he was featured with James Moody, Slide Hampton, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Arturo Sandoval, Steve Turre, and others on the Grammy Award-winning recording, Live at the Royal Festival Hall He has appeared at, or written commissions for, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the National Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Symphonic Orchestra, and Montreal's Gerald Danovich Saxophone Quartet. He serves as artistic director of jazz programming at the New Jersey PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN Chamber Music Society and is artistic director of the Festival Intemacional de Jazz en el Tambo (Punt a del Este, Uruguay) and the Duke Ellington Festival in Washington, DC. His memoir, My Sax Life, was released in 2005. He has become the consummate multinational ambassador, creating and promoting a cross-culture of music that moves effortlessly among jazz, Latin, and classical. D'Rivera received the National Medal of Arts in 2005. 44 i 9 9? sweers EDISOn 1 UMPETER Bom October 10, 1915m Columbus, OH Died July 27, 7999 ■ nown in the jazz world as "Sweets," for both his disposition and his playing ability, Harry Edison was a consummate big band section trumpeter and skilled soloist whose ability to enhance a piece without overpowering it was renowned. A self-taught musician, his earliest gig came in high school with the Earl Hood band. From 1933-1935, he played in the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra, a prominent territory band of the time. He moved to New York in 1937, spending six months with Lucky Millinder's band before joining Count Basie. It was with Basie that he truly began to distinguish himself, not only as a strong member of the trumpet section, but also as a distinctive soloist. His warm sound, using repeated notes that he would bend and ripple, was a welcome contrast to the usual high-note, piercing solos of most trumpet players. Edison stayed with the Basie band until it disbanded in 1950. Rarely a bandleader under his own name, he spent the bulk of his career working with singers and with big bands on the road and in the recording studio. Edison's work with Billie Holiday and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra backing Frank Sinatra during the 1950s— accenting the vocals and setting up the mood of the songs— is some of his finest. His echoing trumpet on Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers, for example, helped set the pace of the songs, playing off Sinatra's phrasing of the lyrics. Edison provided some of the bright moments in Hobday's output in the 1950s on albums such as Songs for Distingue Lovers. His tasteful playing created a great demand from singers for his services, and besides Sinatra and Hobday, Edison played behind Ella Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker, Sarah Vaughan, and Nat "King" Cole. Edison was also a welcome addition to the big bands he worked with, including Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, and Quincy Jones. Although he left the Basie band as a full-time member in 1950, he rejoined the band on many subsequent occasions for the rest of his career. He worked as musical director for such artists as Redd Foxx and Joe Williams, and collaborated with other soloists, such as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Oscar Peterson. Valued for his superb sense of dynamics, he carved out a beautiful trumpet style noted for its simphcity and good taste. He also found a home in film and television soundtrack work. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER Frank Sinatra SONGS FOR SWINGIN' LOVERS Capitol, 1955-56 JAWBREAKERS Original Jazz Classics, 1962 EDISON’S LIGHTS Original Jazz Classics, 1976 SWING SUMMIT Candid, 1 990 LIVE AT THE IRIDIUM Telarc, 1997 45 198? TRUMPETER PIANIST VOCALIST ROY ELDriDGe Bom January 3 o, 797/ in Pittsburgh, PA Died February 2,6, /9S9 AFTER YOU’VE GONE GRP/Decca, 1 936-46 LITTLE JAZZ: THE BEST OF THE VERVE YEARS Verve, 1951-60 ROY AND DIZ Verve, 1954 JUST YOU 'JUST ME Stash, 1959 MONTREUX ’77 iginal Jazz Classics, 1977 46 A lso known as "Little Jazz," Roy Eldridge was a fiery, energetic trumpeter, the bridge between the towering trumpet stylists Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Some of the great rhythmic drive of Eldridge's later trumpet exploits could be traced to his beginnings on the drums, which he began playing at age six. Eldridge's older brother Joe, who played alto saxophone, was his first teacher. In 1930, Eldridge moved to New York, heading straight to Harlem where he gained work with a number of dance bands before joining the Teddy Hill band. By 1935, Eldridge and saxophonist Chu Berry (who would later join the Count Basie Orchestra) were Hill's principal soloists, and after gigs they would go around town on cutting contests, challenging musicians to see who could play the best; with his Ughtning speed and awesome range, Edridge rarely lost. After Hill's band, Edridge became the lead trumpeter in the Eetcher Henderson Orchestra, where his upper register abilities were highlighted. It didn't take long for Edridge to exert himself as a bandleader, forming his own octet in 1936 in Chicago, a band that included his brother Joe. By the end of the 1930s, after freelancing with a wide array of bands, Edridge gained notice as one of the swing bands' most potent soloists. In 1941, he joined drummer Gene Krupa's band. Not only did he provide trumpet fireworks for Krupa's outfit, he also sang, recording a memorable duet with the band's female singer, Anita O'Day, on the tune "Let Me Off Uptown" in 1941. Later, after Krupa's band disbanded in 1943 and a period of freelancing, he toured with the Artie Shaw band in 1944. Then Edridge led his own bands, usually small swing groups. In 1948, Norman Granz recruited Edridge for his Jazz at the Philharmonic, an ideal situation since Edridge was one of the ultimate jam session trumpeters. He toured briefly with Benny Goodman and took up residence in Paris in 1950, where he made some of his most successful recordings. He returned to New York in 1951 and continued freelancing with small bands, including work with Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, and Johnny Hodges. He made notable albums for Verve Records alongside Hawkins and continued freelancing and leading a house band at Jimmy Ryan's club in New York. In 1971, he was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. A stroke in 1980 stopped him from playing the trumpet, but Edridge continued to make music as a singer and pianist until his death in 1989. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER Bom Mayi 3 , igig in Toronto, Canada Died March 30, 1988 A s an arranger, Gil Evans has few peers in jazz history. His style is instantly recognizable, often using unusual brass colorations for jazz, such as combinations l of tuba and French hom. Arranging started early for Evans, leading his own band when he was 16 and taking piano gigs at local hotels. In junior college, he and Ned Briggs joined forces to lead a 10-piece band modeled after the popular Casa Loma Orchestra. The band was in residence as the house band at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach, California, for two years. In 1937, singer Skinny Ennis took over leadership of the band, retaining Evans as pianist and arranger as they moved to Hollywood, where they were regularly featured on the Bob Hope radio show. In 1941, Claude Thornhill, who had been associated with the Hope show, hired Evans as an arranger for his first orchestra, which lasted for seven years. Evans was influenced by Thornhill's unusual voicings, particularly for brass and woodwinds. Evans settled permanently in New York in 1947 and his unusual arrangements for Thornhill began to attract the attention of some of the nascent beboppers of the time, including Miles Davis, John Lewis, and Gerry Mulligan. It was around this time that Evans' apartment became a meeting ground for these and other PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES musicians seeking fresh approaches. These musical and conversational exchanges led to the recording of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool session for Capitol Records. That album was marked by cooler, less bustling tempos than were characteristic of bebop, the modem jazz of the day. Several Evans arrangements stood out, especially "Moondreams" and "Boplicity." Evans spent much of the 1950s as a freelance arranger, until 1957 when he began working with Davis on the first of their four collaborations. Miles Ahead, featuring Davis on flugelhom as the only soloist, an unusual arrangement in jazz at the time. Over the next few years, Evans and Davis worked together on Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, and Quiet Nights. In the 1960s, Evans began making his own recordings, displaying his unusual voicings and distinctive settings for some of the best soloists of the time, such as Steve Lacy, Wayne Shorter, and Eric Dolphy. In the 1970s, Evans began exploring the music of Jimi Hendrix and taking on some of the accoutrements usually associated with rock music, including guitars, synthesizers, and electric bass. In the 1980s, Evans would have occasional weekly shows at New York clubs such as the Village Vanguard and Sweet Basil, and wrote music for the movie soundtracks of Absolute Beginners and The Color of Money. OUT OF THE COOL Impulse!, 1960 THE INDIVIDUALISM OF GIL EVANS Verve, 1963-64 SVENGALI Atlantic, 1973 GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA PLAYS THE MUSIC OF JIMI HENDRIX Bluebird, 1974-75 RLTDAND RIRD Evidence, 1986 47 l 999 TRUMPETER FLUCELHORNIST FLUMPETER WHEN FARMER MET GRYCE Original Jazz Classics, 1 954-55 The Jazztet MEET THE JAZZTET MCAChess, 1960 LTVEATTHE HALF NOTE Atlantic, 1 963 BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH Contemporary, 1988 SILK ROAD Arabesque, 1 996 48 ATT Farmer Bom August 21. 1 928 in Council Bluffs. 1 A Died October 4 , 1999 O ne of the more lyrical of the post-bop musicians, Art Farmer helped to popularize the flugelhom in jazz. Later in his career, he switched to a hybrid instrument known as the flumpet, an instrument that combined the power of the trumpet with the warmth of the flugelhom. He and his twin brother, bassist Addison Farmer, were raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Farmer took up the piano, violin, and tuba before settling on the trumpet at 14. He later moved to Los Angeles and worked with Horace Henderson and Floyd Ray, eventually traveling east to New York with the Johnny Otis Revue in 1947. In New York, he studied with Maurice Gmpp and freelanced in the clubs. In 1948 he returned to the West Coast and found work with Benny Carter, Gerald Wilson, Roy Porter, Jay McShann, and Wardell Gray. He toured with Lionel Hampton in 1952-53, moving once again to New York after the tour. Between 1954-56, he intermittently co-led a band with Gigi Gryce, then joined Horace Silver from 1956-58. He played with Gerry Mulligan from 1958-59, with whom he appeared in two films: I Want to Live and The Subterraneans. Farmer's performances with the various groups earned him a reputation for being able to play in any style. Greater fame came in the flourishing of the Jazztet, the legendary sextet that he co-led with saxophonist Benny Golson from 1959 to 1962 and then again for several years starting in 1982. The Jazztet's tightly arranged music defined mainstream jazz for several years. In the early 1960s, Farmer switched to the flugelhom, finding a rounder, mellower sound with the instrument. He also co-led a band with guitarist Jim Hall until 1964. He worked in Europe from 1965-66, and when he returned stateside he again co-led a band, this time with Jimmy Heath. In 1968 Farmer moved to Vienna, joined the Austrian Radio Orchestra, and worked with such European outfits as the Clarke-Boland Big Band, and Peter Herbolzheimer. In the 1980s, Farmer formed a new quintet featuring Clifford Jordan, which performed regularly in New York and toured Japan. At the same time. Farmer continued to perform in Europe with his European band that included pianist Fritz Pauer. In 1991, he began using the flumpet especially designed for him by David Monette. In 1994, he was the recipient of the prestigious Austrian Gold Medal of Merit and, also, a Life Time Achievement Concert was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in his honor. In 1998 and 1999, he toured with his quintet in celebration of the Academy Award-nominated film A Great Day in Harlem. lanmversarY ! 9 8 5 F T T a FiTzceraLD ■vocalist Bom April 25, 1 pi i in Newport News, VA Died June ip ipp6 first song, "Love and Kisses," with Webb in June 1935. Three years of steady work later, she had her first major hit with her rendition of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket." That lightweight ditty remained a popular request throughout Fitzgerald's ensuing decades. When Webb died in 1939, Fitzgerald assumed leadership of the band for the next two years, beginning her solo career. In 1946 she began an enduring relationship with producer Norman Granz, becoming part of his Jazz at the Philharmonic concert tours. At the time her regular trio leader was bassist Ray Brown, to whom she was married from 1947 to 1953. By 1955, Granz had become her manager and had begun recording Fitzgerald for his Verve label. This affiliation led to her recording with numerous greats, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Oscar Peterson. Among the landmark recordings she made with Granz were her historic songbook treatments of the music of Ellington, Cole Porter, Jerome Kem, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, and Ira and George Gershwin. Fitzgerald's superb intonation and crystal clear voice was also blessed with a rhythmic flexibility to effortlessly swing. Though she came up in the swing era, Fitzgerald also could hang with the best of the beboppers. Her ability to scat with the most skilled instrumentalists served her well on such notable voice-as-instrument hits as "Lady Be Good," "Flying Home," and "How High The Moon." Each became enduring parts of her repertoire. She forged memorable partnerships with her piano accompanists, most notably Tommy Flanagan and Paul Smith. In 1987, she received the National Medal of Arts. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy Awards and sold more than 40 million albums. I t is quite apropos that Ella Fitzgerald was the first vocalist recipient of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, as she is considered by most people to be the quintessential jazz singer. The purity of her range and intonation, along with her peerless sense of pitch, made her a signature singer. In addition, her scat singing, using the technique of a master instrumental improviser, was her hallmark. These characteristics make her an enduring purveyor not only of jazz and the art of improvising, but also of the classic American songbook. Fitzgerald was raised in Yonkers, New York, and her first artistic proclivities were as a dancer, even though she sang with her school glee club. At 17, she entered the famous amateur show competition at the Apollo Theater, which led to her being hired as a singer for Chick Webb's orchestra. She soon became a popular attraction at the Savoy, and Fitzgerald recorded her PHOTO BY LEE TANNER 75TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION GRP, 1938-55 THE COMPLETE ELLA FITZGERALD & LOUIS ARMSTRONG ON VERVE Verve, 1956-57 SINGS THE DUKE ELLINGTON SONGBOOK Verve, 1956-57 THE COMPLETE ELLA IN BERLIN Verve, 1960-61 MONTREUX '77 Original Jazz Classics, 1977 m 6 PIANIST THELONTCA Enja, 1 982 BEYOND THE BLUEBIRD Timeless, 1 990 GIANT STEPS Enja, 1 992 LADY BE GOOD . . . FOR ELLA Verve, 1994 SUNSET AND THE MOCKINGBIRD: THE BIRTHDAY CONCERT Blue Note, 1997 50 Tn mmY FLanaGan Bom March 16,1 y3o in Detroit, MI • Died November! 6 , pool T ommy Flanagan was noted as both a stimulating accompanist and a superb small ensemble leader, playing with some of the biggest names in jazz. A product of a noteworthy arts education system in the Detroit public schools, he began his musical pursuits on clarinet at six years old, switching to the piano at age 11. At 15, he made his professional debut. Thereafter he performed with fellow Detroiters Milt Jackson, Rudy Rutherford, Billy Mitchell, Kenny Burrell, and Thad and Elvin Jones as part of the fertile Detroit jazz scene in the 1950s. Flanagan moved to New York in 1956, securing his first job as a replacement for Bud Powell at Birdland. Powell, along with Art Tatum and Nat "King" Cole, was a major influence on Flanagan's playing. Throughout the 1950s, he worked with many of the biggest names in jazz, including J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Jim Hall, and Tony Bennett, playing on some of the landmark recordings of that decade. One of his most significant recordings was with John Coltrane on the wildly influential recording. Giant Steps. His playing on the complex title track, using space between the notes to contrast Coltrane's rapid-fire attack, was especially inspired. He also met and began performing with Ella Fitzgerald, an association that lasted until the end of the 1970s. His trio toured exclusively with her from 1968-78. After leaving Fitzgerald in 1978, some of his best, most compelling work was in the trio format, with George Mraz on bass and Elvin Jones or Lewis Nash on drums. Influenced by the playing and arrangements of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, Hanagan's lyrical playing and harmonic sophistication placed him in the top echelon of jazz pianists. He was an especially tasteful interpreter of Billy Strayhom, Thad Jones, and Tadd Dameron's music. Flanagan was a multiple jazz poll winner, and in 1992 was recipient of the prestigious Danish JAZZPAR Prize. During his career, he also was nominated for four Grammy Awards. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER iiversaiY 2002 Frame m FOSTeF EDUCATOR Bom September ? 3 , 1928 in Cincinnati, OH Died July 26, 2011 PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES A lthough best known for his work in the Count Basie Orchestra (and as the composer of the Count Basie hit, "Shiny Stockings"), Frank Foster's saxophone 1 playing owed more to the bebop of Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt than the swing of Basie. Foster began playing clarinet at 11 years old before taking up the alto saxophone and eventually the tenor. By the time he was a senior in high school, he was leading and writing the arrangements for a 12 -piece band. Foster studied at Wilberforce University in Ohio before heading to Detroit in 1949 with trumpeter Snooky Young for six weeks, becoming captivated by its burgeoning music scene. Drafted into the Army, Foster left Detroit and headed off to basic training near San Francisco, where he would jam in the evenings at Jimbo's Bop City. After being discharged in 1953, two life-changing events happened to Foster: he sat in with Charlie Parker at Birdland and he was asked to join Count Basie's band, where he stayed until 1964. Foster's fiery solos contrasted nicely with Frank Wess' ballad work, providing Basie with an interesting saxophone combination. Foster, already an accomplished composer by this time, learned from Basie how to simplify arrangements to make the music swing. He soon was providing compositions and arrangements for the band ("Blues Backstage," "Down for the Count," the entire Easin' It album, just to name a few), with his most popular number being "Shiny Stockings." In the 1970s, Foster played with contemporary musicians such as Elvin Jones, George Coleman, and Joe Farrell and began expanding his compositions. He also was an extremely successful freelance writer, creating a large body of work for jazz, including works contributed to albums by singers Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra, and a commissioned work for the 1980 Winter Olympics, Lake Placid Suite, written for jazz orchestra. In 1983, Dizzy Gillespie commissioned Foster to orchestrate Gillespie's song "Con Alma" for a performance and recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Foster led his own band, the Loud Minority, until 1986 when he assumed leadership of the Count Basie Orchestra from Thad Jones. While playing the favorites, he also began introducing original material into the playlist. Foster resigned as the musical director of the orchestra in 1995 and began recording albums again. In addition to performing, he also served as a musical consultant in the New York City public schools and taught at Queens College and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Foster received four Grammy Awards. Count Basie VERVE JAZZ MASTERS Verve, 1 954-65 FEARLESS Original Jazz Classics, 1965 SHINY STOCKINGS Denon, 1977-78 LEO RISING Arabesque, 1996 Loud Minority Big Band WE DO IT DIFF’RENT Mapleshade 2002 51 TROMBONIST EDUCATOR BLUES-ETTE Savoy, 1 956 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers UGETSU Riverside/OJC, 1 963 CRANKIN’ MRL.1973 The Jazztet REALTIME Contemporary, 1 986 KEEP IT SIMPLE Savant, 2003 2007 cums FULLer Bom Decem ber 15. ig3p in Detroit, Ml A remarkably fluent trombonist, whose impeccable sense of time and ambitious 1 solos made him a mainstay of the hard-bop scene, Curtis Fuller was bom in Detroit, where he spent 10 years of his childhood in an orphanage. His interest in jazz was piqued when a nun at the orphanage took him to see Illinois Jacquet's band, which featured J.J. Johnson on trombone. He soon took up the instrument. A stint in an Army band (where he played with Cannonball Adderley) helped him mature into a professional with virtuoso skills. After working in Detroit with Kenny Burrell and Yusef Lateef, he moved to New York, where he made his recording debut as a leader on Transition in 1955. He also became a strong presence on the Blue Note label, working with Clifford Jordan, John Coltrane (on the classic Blue Train), and his own The Opener (with Hank Mobley). Always in demand — he also played on late- 1950s sessions for Prestige, United Artists, and Savoy — Fuller is the only trombonist to have recorded with Coltrane, Bud Powell, and Jimmy Smith. In 1959, he became a founding member of the Jazztet with Benny Golson and Art Farmer, then joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1961. For the next four years, working in a front line with Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard, Fuller helped make this edition of the Messengers one of the defining bands of the hard-bop era. In 1968, Fuller toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie's big band. During the 1970s, he experimented for a time playing hard bop arrangements in a band featuring electronic instruments, heading PHOTO BY LEE TANNER a group with guitarist Bill Washer and bassist Stanley Clarke. He concluded that phase with the 1973 album Crankin'. Fuller toured with the Count Basie band from 1975 to 1977; co-led the quintet Giant Bones with Kai Winding in 1979 and 1980; and played with Art Blakey, Cedar Walton, and Benny Golson in the late 1970s and early '80s. During the 1980s, Fuller toured Europe regularly with the Timeless All-Stars and performed and recorded with a reconvened Jazztet. In more recent years, Fuller has become known nationally and internationally as a master clinician in jazz studies programs, having worked with students and young professionals at institutions including Skidmore College, Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He holds an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. 52 ■ 1982 IUMPETER :omposer iRRANGER LMDLEADER DIZZY Giixespie Bom October 21, 1917 in Chermv. SC • Died January 6, u )()3 THE COMPLETE RCA VICTOR RECORDINGS 1937-1949 Bluebird, 1937-49 J ohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie's effect on jazz cannot be overstated: his trumpet playing influenced every player who came after him, his compositions have become part of the jazz canon, and his bands have included some of the most significant names in the business. He was also, along with Charlie Parker, one of the major leaders of the bebop movement. Gillespie's father was an amateur bandleader who, although dead by the time Gillespie was ten, had given his son some of his earliest grounding in music. Gillespie began playing trumpet at 14 after briefly trying the trombone, and his first formal musical training came at the Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina. Gillespie's earliest professional jobs were with the Frankie Fairfax band, where he reportedly picked up the nickname Dizzy because of his outlandish antics. His earliest influence was Roy Eldridge, whom he later replaced in Teddy Hill's band. From 1939-41, Gillespie was one of the principal soloists in Cab Calloway's band, until he was dismissed for a notorious bandstand prank. While with Calloway he met the Cuban trumpeter Mario Bauza, from whom he gained a great interest in Afro-Cuban rhythms. At this time he also befriended Charlie Parker, with whom he would begin to develop some of the ideas behind bebop while sitting in at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem. From 1941-43, Gillespie freelanced with a number of big bands, including that of Earl "Fatha" Hines. Hines' band contained several musicians Gillespie would interact with in the development of bebop, such as singer Billy Eckstine, who formed his own band featuring Gillespie on trumpet in 1944. The year 1945 was crucial for both bebop and Gillespie. He recorded with Parker many of his small ensemble hits, such as "Salt Peanuts," and formed his own bebop big band. Despite economic woes, he was able to keep this band together for four years. His trumpet playing was at a peak, with rapid-fire attacks of notes and an amazing harmonic range. A number of future greats performed with Gillespie's big band, including saxophonists Gene Ammons, Yusef Lateef, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, and John Coltrane. The rhythm section of John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, and Ray Brown became the original Modern Jazz Quartet. He took various bands on State Department tours around the world starting in 1956, the first time the U.S. government provided economic aid and recognition to jazz. Those excursions not only kept Gillespie working, they also stimulated his musical interests as he began incorporating different ethnic elements into his music, such as the Afro-Cuban rhythms he weaved into his big band arrangements. Never losing his thirst for collaboration, Gillespie worked with a variety of jazz stars as well as leading his own small groups on into the 1980s. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1989. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN DIZZY’S DIAMONDS Verve, 1 954-64 BIRK’S WORKS: VERVE BIG BAND SESSIONS Verve, 1956-57 GILLESPIANA/ CARNEGIE HALL CONCERT Verve, 1960-61 MAX + DIZZY, PARIS 1989 A&M.1989 J 99 6 SAXOPHONIST COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR BemiY GOLSOn Bom January 25, 1929 in Philadelphia, PA entered the jazz canon, including "Along Came Betty," "Blues March," "I Remember Clifford" (written upon the death of his friend Clifford Brown), "Killer Joe" (which later became a hit for Quincy Jones), and "Are You Real?" After leaving the Messengers, he and Art Farmer formed the hard bop quintet known as the Jazztet. The original incarnation of the Jazztet lasted from 1959-62. In 1963, he moved to California and began to concentrate on composing and arranging. He scored music for European and American television and films, and essentially discontinued touring until 1982, when he and Farmer revived the Jazztet briefly. Thereafter he played more frequently, working in all-star aggregations, and completing commissioned assignments, such as an original orchestral work for the 100th anniversary of the Juilliard School of Music in 2005. His soundtrack credits include M*A*S*H, Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, and Ironside. In 1987, Golson participated in a U.S. State Department tour of Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, and Singapore. As a tribute to Art Blakey, Golson organized the Art Blakey Legacy Band tour of the U.S., Europe, and Japan from 1998 to 2000. As an educator he has lectured, given clinics, and performed extended residencies at New York University, Stanford University, University of Pittsburgh, Cuyahoga Community College, Rutgers University, William Paterson College, and Berklee College of Music. Among his awards are a 1994 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2007 Mellon Living Legend Legacy Award. Currently, he is working on two books: a major college textbook and his autobiography. B enny Golson is as renowned for his distinctive compositions and arrangements as for his innovative tenor saxophone playing. Major cornerstones of his career have included not only notable additions to the jazz canon, but also his work in film and television studios, and his contributions to jazz education. Golson began on the piano at age nine, moving to the saxophone at age 14. He earned a degree from Howard University, then joined Bull Moose Jackson's band in 1951. Arranging and composing became a serious pursuit for him at the early encouragement of composer-arranger Tadd Dameron, whom he met in Jackson's band. Other early band affiliations included Lionel Hampton, Johnny Hodges, and Earl Bostic. He toured with the Dizzy Gillespie big band from 1956-58, then joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. His robust playing added extra kick to the band, and his solo on Bobby Timmons' song "Moanin'" is a classic. With the Messengers, Golson's writing skills blossomed as he contributed pieces for the band that have forever OPHONIST * 9 8 5 Dexrer Bom February 27 , 1 gz 3 in Los Angeles, CA Died April 25, iggo D exter Gordon was one of the leading bebop tenor saxophonists, with his near- vibratoless sound and prodigious ability to improvise. He was a strong influence on the tenor saxophonists who came after bebop, especially Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Gordon took up the clarinet at age 13, switching to the saxophone at 15. His first formal teacher was Lloyd Reese, who had other notable students, including Charles Mingus and Buddy Collette. Gordon left school in 1940 and joined a local band before taking a position with the Lionel Hampton band from 1940-43, cutting his first recordings with the band in 1942. Back home in Los Angeles, Gordon played with Lee Young (brother of Lester) and Jesse Price, and made a subsequent record with Nat "King" Cole at the piano. Gordon began to gamer attention when he moved to New York in 1944 to join the Billy Eckstine Orchestra. He recorded with Eckstine and made his own recordings for the Savoy label. Through the remainder of the 1940s, he played and recorded with the major figures in bebop, such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Tadd Dameron. Between 1947 and 1952, he locked horns with fellow tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray for a series of classic two- tenor duels, including their classic recording of "The Chase." Continuing to freelance throughout the 1950s, he began touring Europe as a soloist in the early 1960s to acclaim, eventually settling in Copenhagen in 1962. Gordon continued to play in Europe as a soloist, making a series of recordings for the Danish label Steeplechase. He added the soprano sax to his arsenal in the early 1970s. During a trip back to the States in 1976, he took a gig at the Village Vanguard and the response to his playing was overwhelming. He found willing partners in several musicians of a younger generation, including trumpeter Woody Shaw. The response prompted him to return permanently to the U.S., where he made a series of well-received records for the Columbia label. Included was a notable return to his two-tenor battle days, this time with fellow expatriate Johnny Griffin. In 1980, he was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. The culmination of the decade-long renewal of interest in Gordon was his starring role in the film Round Midnight, which garnered an Oscar nomination. Thereafter, until felled by ill health, he continued to tour with his own potent quartets and returned to his former record label, Blue Note, for a brief time following his film success. His last major concert appearance was with the New York Philharmonic, along with Ron Carter and Tommy Flanagan, performing Ellingtones, a concerto written for Gordon by David Baker. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER DEXTER GORDON ON DIAL: THE COMPLETE SESSIONS Spotlite, 1 947 DOIN’ ALRIGHT Blue Note, 1961 GO! Blue Note, 1 962 SOMETHING DIFFERENT Steeplechase, 1 975 GREAT ENCOUNTERS Columbia, 1978 55 Jimmy Giuffre 3 TRAV’LIN’ LIGHT Atlantic, 1 958 Sonny Rollins THE BRIDGE RCA, 1962 Ron Carter and Jim Hall LIVE AT VILLAGE WEST Concord, 1 982 SOMETHING SPECLAL Music Masters, 1993 Jim Hall and Bill Frisell HEMISPHERES ArtistShare, 2007-08 J azz guitarist Jim Hall's technique has been called subtle, his sound mellow, and his compositions understated; yet his recording and playing history is anything but modest. He has recorded with artists ranging from Bill Evans to Itzhak Perlman and performed alongside most of the jazz greats of the 20th century. The first of the modem jazz guitarists to receive an NEA Jazz Masters award, his prowess on the instrument puts him in the company of Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, and Django Reinhardt. After graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Hall became an original member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1955 and of the Jimmy Giuffre 3 the following year — both small but musically vital ensembles of the era. Hall continued to hone his craft on Ella Fitzgerald's South American tour in 1960, a fruitful time in which he was exposed to the bossa nova style that greatly influenced his subsequent work. He joined Sonny Rollins' quartet from 1961-62, and appears on The Bridge, Rollins' first recording in three years after a self-imposed retirement. The interplay between Rollins' fiery solos and Hall's classic guitar runs make this one of jazz's most essential recordings. Hall then co-led a quartet with Art Farmer, recorded a series of duets with noted saxophonist Paul Desmond, and performed as a session musician on numerous recordings. His extensive ensemble experience has produced a control of rhythm and harmony so that Hall's playing, while grounded in scholarly technique and science, sounds both rich and free. He eventually formed his own trio in 1965, which still performs and records today. Well-studied in classical composition. Hall has produced many original pieces for various jazz orchestral ensembles. His composition for jazz quartet, "Quartet Plus Four," earned him the JAZZPAR Prize in Denmark. In 2004, Towson University in Maryland commissioned a work by Hall for the First World Guitar Congress, Peace Movement, a concerto for guitar and orchestra performed by Hall and the Baltimore Symphony. His influence on jazz guitarists, including such disparate ones as Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, is immense. Hall continues to explore new avenues of music, even appearing on saxophonist Greg Osby's 2000 recording. Invisible Hand, with legendary pianist Andrew Hill. He also has worked in smaller settings as well, often in duets with jazz greats such as pianists Bill Evans and Red Mitchell, and bassists Ron Carter and Charlie Haden. In addition to numerous Grammy nominations. Hall has been awarded the New York Jazz Critics Circle Award for Best Jazz Composer/ Arranger. 2004 Bom September gi , ig?i m Los Angeles, CA years, including a tour of Europe. During this time, he also became an original member of the legendary Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which included Mulligan, Chet Baker, and Bob Whitlock. Successfully recording with them for three years (1952-55) on the Pacific Jazz label, Hamilton got his first shot as bandleader. In 1955, he formed the Chico Hamilton Quintet, utilizing an unusual combination of instruments: cello, flute, guitar, bass, and drums. One of the important West Coast bands, the Hamilton group made their film debut in the movie The Sweet Smell of Success, as well as highlighting Jazz on a Summer's Day, the film about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. His second great band started in 1962 with Albert Stinson on bass, Gabor Szabo on guitar, Charles Lloyd on tenor sax and flute, and George Bohanon on trombone, bringing a fresh, new sound to jazz once again. Over the years, Hamilton's bands have had various personnel, but the quality of the musicianship has remained high. Some of the players Hamilton nurtured in his bands include Jim Hall, Eric Dolphy, Ron Carter, Arthur Blythe, Larry Coryell, and John Abercrombie. During the 1960s, Hamilton formed a company to score feature films and commercials for television and radio. In 1987, Hamilton was on the originating faculty at Parsons New School of Jazz in New York. During the same year, he formed a new quartet called Euphoria, and began touring in Europe. The quartet met with great popularity, and in 1992, their album Arroyo placed in the Jazz Album of the Year category in the DownBeat readers' poll. In 1995, a documentary of Hamilton's extraordinary life and career, Dancing to a Different Drummer, directed by Julian Benedikt, was presented twice on the French-German Arts Network, ARTE. In June 1999, Hamilton received a Beacons of Jazz award from the Mannes College of Music at the New School University in New York City, where he is currently teaching. Never one to rest on his laurels, Hamilton released four new albums in 2006 in celebration of his 85th birthday. In 2007, he was a member of the NEA's National Council on the Arts. F oreststom "Chico" Hamilton is not only a subtle, creative drummer, but also a skillful bandleader who continually discovers talented newcomers. As a teenager growing up in Los Angeles, Hamilton started playing regularly for the first time with a band that included classmates Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, and Illinois Jacquet. He made his recording debut with Slim Gaillard, and studied drumming with jazz great Jo Jones during his military service from 1942-46. After working briefly with Jimmy Mundy, Count Basie, and Lester Young, Hamilton joined Lena Home's band in 1948, staying with her on and off for six SSIONIST DLEADER OMPOSER DUCATOR CHICO HamiLTon COMPLETE PACIFIC JAZZ RECORDINGS OF THE CHICO HAMILTON QUINTET Mosaic, 1 955-59 MAN FROM TWO WORLDS Impulse!, 1962 DANCING TO A DIFFERENT DRUMMER Soul Note, 1993 FORESTSTORN Koch, 2000-01 TWELVE TONES OF LOVE Joyous Shout!, 2008 57 VIBRAPHONIST DRUMMER PIANIST VOCALIST BANDLEADER THE COMPLETE LIONEL HAMPTON Bluebird, 1937-39 HAMP: THE LEGENDARY DECCA RECORDINGS Decca, 1942-63 HAMP AND GETZ Verve, 1 956 REUNION AT NEWPORT Bluebird, 1967 MADE IN JAPAN Timeless, 1982 58 1988 iioneL HaiHPTon Bom April 20, 1 go 8 in Louisville, KY Died September 3 o, 2002 eaturing outstanding sidemen and soloists, as well as his own swinging vibe playing, Lionel Hampton's bands during the 1940s and 1950s were among the most popular and most exciting in jazz. Hampton was raised in the Midwest, primarily in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he received his first musical training. His career began behind the drums; his first music job was in a newsboys' band sponsored by the Chicago Defender. In 1928, Hampton moved west to California, landing first in the Paul Howard Orchestra, later working with bandleaders Eddie Barefield and Les Hite. In 1929 he took up the vibraphone with the Hite band, which at the time was led by Louis Armstrong, becoming a pioneering figure in the use of vibes in a jazz band. Hampton made his recorded debut on an Armstrong version of "Memories of You" in 1930. By 1934, Hampton had become leader of his own band, performing at Sebastian's Cotton Club in Los Angeles. Benny Goodman saw Hampton perform at one of his gigs and recruited him to augment his trio, with Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa, for a 1936 recording date. Hampton remained in Goodman's band through 1940, occasionally replacing Krupa on the drums. Hampton became well known with the Goodman band, and PHOTO BY JAN PERSSON/CTSIMAGES started his own big band. He achieved his biggest recorded hit with "Hying Home" in May 1942, driven by Illinois Jacquet's unforgettable tenor saxophone solo. Hampton's popular big band boasted such potent musicians as Dexter Gordon, Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, Johnny Griffin, Charles Mingus, Art Farmer, Clark Terry, Cat Anderson, Wes Montgomery, and singers Dinah Washington, Joe Williams, Betty Carter, and Aretha Franklin. He toured the globe and continued to nurture young talent, often providing some of the earliest band experiences to musicians who went on to become leaders in their own right. His band became the longest established orchestra in jazz history. Lionel Hampton received numerous awards of merit, including several honorary doctoral degrees, the National Medal of Arts, and the Kennedy Center Honors. His diligent work with the jazz festival at the University of Idaho in Moscow led to it being renamed the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival in 1985. The university's music department shortly followed suit and became the Lionel Hampton School of Music. Winner of numerous polls, Hampton was an honored soloist into the 1990s, performing in numerous festivals as part of all-star assemblages. In 2001, he donated his vibraphone to the Smithsonian Institution. ■ 1 OMBONIST lOMPOSER iRRANCER EDUCATOR 2005 QT TT)P HantPTon Bom April ?/, u)3? in Jeannette, PA PHOTO BY LEE TANNER S lide Hampton's distinguished career spans decades in the evolution of jazz. At the age of 12 he was already touring the Midwest with the Indianapolis-based Hampton Band, led by his father and comprising other members of his musical family. During these tours, Hampton encountered jazz musicians such as J.J. Johnson and Wes Montgomery, who became early influences. By 1952, at the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton band. He then joined Maynard Ferguson's band, playing trombone and providing exciting charts on such popular tunes as "The Fugue," "Three Little Foxes," and "Slide's Derangement." As his reputation grew, he soon began working with bands led by Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach, again contributing both original compositions and arrangements. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, which included stellar horn players Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and George Coleman. The band toured the U.S. and Europe and recorded on several labels. From 1964 to 1967, he served as music director for various orchestras and artists. Then, following a 1968 tour with Woody Herman, he elected to stay in Europe, performing with other expatriates such as Benny Bailey, Kenny Clarke, Kenny Drew, Art Fanner, and Dexter Gordon. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1977, he began a series of master classes at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, De Paul University in Chicago, and Indiana University. During this period he formed the illustrious World of Trombones: an ensemble of nine trombones and a rhythm section. In 1989, with Paquito D'Rivera, he was musical director of Dizzy's Diamond Jubilee, a year-long series of celebrations honoring Dizzy Gillespie's 75th birthday. Hampton's countless collaborations with the most prominent musicians of jazz were acknowledged by the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Arrangement with a Vocalist for Dee Dee Bridgewater's recording "Cotton Tail." Most recently, he has served as musical advisor to the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. A charismatic figure, master arranger, and formidable trombonist, Hampton holds a place of distinction in the jazz tradition. SLIDE HAMPTON AND HIS HORN OF PLENTY Strand, 1959 WORLD OF TROMBONES 1201 Music, 1979 ROOTS Crisscross, 1985 DEDICATED TODIZ Telarc, 1993 SPIRIT OF THE HORN MCG Jazz, 2003 59 KEYBOARDIST COMPOSER i 1 THE COMPLETE BLUE NOTE SIXTIES SESSIONS Blue Note, 1962-69 HEAD HUNTERS Columbia, 1973 V.S.O.P. Columbia, 1977 VILLAGE LIFE Columbia, 1985 RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS Universal, 2007 5004 Bom April 1 ?, 194,0 in Chicago, IL V.S.O.P. and they toured extensively. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated stunning artistic versatility. In 1983, "Rockit," a single that resulted from a collaborative effort with the rock band Material, became a hit on MTV. Hancock then switched gears completely, partnering with Gambian kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso on two albums, Village Life and Jazz Africa. He also has written scores for several films, including Blow-Up in 1966, Death Wish in 1974, and Round Midnight, for which he won an Academy Award in 1987. Hancock has won 14 Grammy Awards in the past two decades, and continues to work as a producer and in both the electric and acoustic spheres of jazz. In 2008, he won the Grammy Album of the Year for River: The Joni Letters, the first jazz album to win that award in 43 years. H erbie Hancock's talent as a pianist was evident when, at age 11, he performed Mozart's D Major Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He began playing jazz in high school, initially influenced by Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans. Also at this time, a passion for electronic science began to develop, so Hancock studied both electrical engineering and music composition at Grinnell College in Iowa. His love of electronics led Hancock to be a pioneer in the use of electric piano, clavinet, and synthesizer in jazz. In 1961, trumpeter Donald Byrd asked the young pianist to join his group in New York, leading to Blue Note offering him a recording contract. His first album as leader, Takin' Off, which included the hit single "Watermelon Man," demonstrated a gift for composition and improvisation. His talent impressed Miles Davis enough to ask Hancock to join his band in 1963. In the five years he worked with Davis, who became a mentor as well as an employer, Hancock established his standing as one of the greatest pianists of all time. Along with Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums), Hancock altered the role of the rhythm section in jazz to include expanded solos and spontaneous changes in mood and tempo. He also composed a number of pieces for the band as well as for his outstanding solo recordings with Blue Note. It was toward the end of his tenure with Davis that he began to use electric piano. After leaving the band in 1968, Hancock continued to explore the use of electronic instruments in his music. In 1973, he formed a quartet whose first recording. Head Hunters, launched him into jazz stardom and became a best-selling jazz album. In the late 1970s, Hancock revived the old Miles Davis band (Freddie Hubbard stood in for Davis) under the name HerBie HancocK 1989 BarrY sHams EDUCATOR Bom December 15, lyzy in Detroit, MI B arry Harris is part of an exceptional crew of Detroit-bred jazz musicians, including Tommy Flanagan and Donald Byrd, who rose through the extraordinary arts education program in the public school system during the 1930s and 1940s. Harris' earliest musical mentor was a church piano-playing mother who exposed him to piano lessons at age four. He became seriously immersed in jazz in the mid-1940s and fell under the spell of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. As a professional, he would become a key translator of Monk's music. Detroit was blessed with a high-energy jazz scene during the 1940s, and Harris was house pianist at one of the hottest spots, the Blue Bird Lounge. At the Blue Bird and later at the Rouge, he backed such traveling soloists as Miles Davis, Wardell Gray, Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, and Lester Young. Displaying an early interest in passing the torch through education, Harris began teaching his bebop theories as early as 1956, tutoring young talent such as Joe Henderson. It is a tradition he has carried on throughout his life. At the urging of Cannonball Adderley, Harris left Detroit in 1960 and moved to New York. In addition to Adderley, Harris found work in the 1960s and 1970s with Yusef Lateef, Charles McPherson, and Coleman Hawkins. In addition to sideman work, Harris led various trios and duos at piano bars and restaurants around New York. He also began to get work as an arranger and composer, showing a particular adeptness for his treatment of strings. A consummate freelancer, he found work in a variety of diverse settings, inaugurating the Lincoln Center's Penthouse piano series in 1997. By the early 1980s, Harris' acumen as a teacher and mentor to developing pianists had become legendary. He was able to expand these interests when he opened the Jazz Cultural Center in 1982 on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The center served as workshop, educational facility, and performance space for Harris and his affiliated artists, but unfortunately only lasted until 1987. Harris soldiered on, though, continuing to teach and mentor young musicians, holding weekly workshop sessions in New York City for aspiring performers. He also continues to present and produce annual multimedia concert spectaculars at places like Symphony Space and the Manhattan Center in New York. CHASIN’ THE BIRD Original Jazz Classics, 1962 BARRY HARRIS PLAYS TADD DAMERON Classics, 1 975 FOR THE MOMENT Uptown, 1 984 LIVE AT MAYBECK RECITAL HALL, VOL. 1 & 2 Concord, 1990 LIVE FROM NEW YORK, VOL 1 Lineage, 2004 DRUMMER ROY Hames WE THREE Original Jazz Classics, 1 958 OUT OF THE AFTERNOON Impulse!, 1962 TEVOU! Dreyfus, 1995 THE ROY HAYNES TRIO Verve, 2000 ROY-ALTY Dreyfus Jazz, 201 1 62 Bom March i3, ig^mRoxbuiy, MA PHOTO BY VANCE JACOBS S eemingly ageless, Roy Haynes has played the drums from the bebop days of the 1940s to the present day with the same restless energy. Haynes has remained fresh in his outlook and in his thirst for collaborating with younger artists and those who play in challenging styles, as is shown in his work with such disparate artists as Roland Kirk, Danilo Perez, and Pat Metheny. He also has been a favorite sideman for any number of artists because of his crisply distinctive drumming style. Thelonious Monk once described Haynes' drumming as "an eight ball right in the side pocket." Haynes became interested in music through his father, a church organist. In his earliest professional playing years in the mid- 1940s, he worked in Boston with Sabby Lewis, Frankie Newton, and Pete Brown. In 1945, he joined the Luis Russell band, remaining until 1947, whereupon he joined Lester Young's band. In the late 1940s to mid-1950s, he worked with such greats as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Kai Winding. He later played in Monk's band at the Five Spot Cafe before forming his own band in 1958. Some of his most noted work in the early 1960s came when he subbed for Elvin Jones in the John Coltrane Quartet, both on gigs and on records. His drumming style was a marked change for Coltrane from Elvin Jones' approach — lighter, less aggressive — and it gave the quartet a different sound. Among his other affiliations during the late 1950s to early 1960s were George Shearing, Kenny Burrell, Lennie Tristano, and Stan Getz. In addition, his style of drumming was an ideal accompaniment to singers, accenting the vocals without overpowering them, and he worked with Sarah Vaughan, and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. He later joined vibist Gary Burton, who had been a member of Getz's band. After Burton's band, which was one of the precursors of the jazz-rock movement, Haynes formed the Hip Ensemble, featuring such musicians as George Adams and Hannibal Marvin Peterson. The band had a decidedly contemporary flavor, often employing various guitarists. He also has enjoyed an occasional playing relationship with Chick Corea, dating back to their Stan Getz days. He joined Corea's Trio Music band in 1981. While periodically leading his own bands, he has also worked with artists such as Billy Taylor, Hank Jones, and Ted Curson, and as an innovative drummer in a variety of settings. His bands have included some of the more exceptional young musicians on the scene, ranging from his Hip Ensemble to his various quartets. Haynes received the prestigious Danish award, the JAZZPAR Prize, in 1994, and he continues to influence the next generation of drummers with his distinctive sound. / OPHONIST FLUTIST lOMPOSER GRANGER EDUCATOR 2003 REALLY BIG! Riverside/OJC, 1960 ON THE TRAIL Riverside/OJC, 1 964 LITTLE MAN, BIG BAND Verve, 1992 PHOTO BY TOM PICH Heath Brothers T he second of the illustrious Heath Brothers to receive an NEA Jazz Master Fellowship (bassist Percy received the award in 2002), Jimmy was the first Heath to choose music as a career path. Starting on alto saxophone (and acquiring the nickname "Little Bird" due to the influence Charlie "Yardbird" Parker had on his style), one of his first professional jobs came in 1945-46 in the Midwest territory band led by Nat Towles, out of Omaha, Nebraska. Returning to Philadelphia, he briefly led his own big band with a saxophone section that included John Coltrane and Benny Golson— also products of the city's jazz scene. Gigs followed with Howard McGhee in 1948 and with Dizzy Gillespie's big band from 1949-50. In the early 1950s, Heath switched to tenor sax, playing with Miles Davis in 1953 and then again briefly in 1959, among other gigs. In the 1960s, he began his own recordings as a leader, and frequently teamed up with Milt Jackson and Art Farmer. By that time he had honed his talent as a composer and arranger, creating such widely performed compositions as "Gingerbread Boy" and "C.T.A." By combining his versatile style of performing and his outstanding writing and arranging abilities, he has set a high standard of accomplishment in the jazz field. He has made more than 100 recordings and composed more than 100 original works. As an educator, Heath has taught at Jazzmobile, Housatonic Community College, City College of New York, and Queens College, where he retired from full- time teaching in 1998. He holds honorary degrees from Sojoumer-Douglass College and the Juilliard School, and has a chair endowed in his name at Queens College. He continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Since the mid-1970s, Jimmy had been teaming up with brothers Percy and Albert "Tootie" as the Heath Brothers, a band which also at times included contributions from Jimmy's son, the noted percussionist, composer, and rhythm-and-blues producer, Mtume. In addition, he has performed with other jazz greats, such as Slide Hampton and Wynton Marsalis, and indulged in his continuing interest in the dynamics of arranging for big band. In 2010, his memoir, I Walked with Giants, was published. He remains active as an educator, saxophonist, and composer. JAZZ FAMILY Concord, 1 998 TURN UP THE HEATH Planet Arts, 2006 63 BASSIST CELLIST Bom April 3 o, iy ?3 in Wilmington, NC Died April 28. 2005 Modern Jazz Quartet THE ARTISTRY OF THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET Prestige, 1 952-55 Jimmy Heath REALLY BIG! Original Jazz Classics, 1 960 Heath Brothers MARCHIN’ ON! Strata East, 1 976 Heath Brothers BROTHERLY LOVE Antilles, 1 991 Modern Jazz Quartet CELEBRATION Atlantic, 1 992 64 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER P ercy Heath was the backbone of the popular jazz group Modem Jazz Quartet, and a superb bassist so sought after that he appeared on more than 200 jazz albums. Heath was a member of one of the great families of jazz (along with the Joneses and Marsalises), with brothers Jimmy (on saxophone) and Albert "Tootie" (on drums) also being stellar jazz musicians. Heath started on the violin in his school orchestra but began to seriously study music at the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia after his service in the Air Force. In 1947, he joined his brother Jimmy in Howard McGhee's band, ending up in New York where he performed regularly with jazz greats such as Miles Davis, JJ. Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Fats Navarro, and Charlie Parker. Heath joined Dizzy Gillespie's sextet from 1950-52, where he met the other members of the soon-to-be Modem Jazz Quartet (MJQ): John Lewis, Milt Jackson, and Kenny Clarke. Heath stayed with MJQ, off and on, from its beginning in 1952 for more than 40 years. Lewis' arrangements brought the bass into greater prominence, prompting Heath to greater heights with his performances. During his time with MJQ, Heath performed on film soundtracks and with symphony orchestras and string quartets, always exhibiting style and poise in every setting. During the break from the MJQ in 1975-82, Heath worked with Sarah Vaughan and began performing— sometimes playing cello instead of bass— with the Heath Brothers band, which included Jimmy and Tootie. The Heath Brothers were featured in Danny Setter's 2006 documentary, Brotherly Love. His talents on bass were much in demand as the house bass player for both Prestige and Blue Note record labels, providing a confident, straight-ahead style of playing reminiscent of the great Ray Brown. Heath received many honors in his career, such as the Maria Fischer Award, France's Cross of Officer of Arts and Letters, and an honorary doctoral degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition, Heath performed at the White House for Presidents Nixon and Clinton. b(OPHONIST Bom April 24, 1 9^7 in Lima, OH Died June 3 o, ?ooi O ne of the more distinctive tenor saxophone voices to have emerged during the 1960s, Joe Henderson's rich tone and strong sense of rhythm influenced scores of tenor saxophonists who followed him. In concert, his aggressive playing was often tempered by a melodic touch on ballads. Growing up in Lima, Ohio, he first played the drums, switching to tenor saxophone at age 13. After high school he studied at Kentucky State College, then Wayne State in Detroit from 1956-60, as well as under the private tutelage of pianist Barry Harris. One of his first jazz jobs was alongside saxophonist / \ Sonny Stitt. In 1960, he then led his own band in Detroit until entering the Army that year, playing in the Army band until 1962. After leaving the Army, Henderson eventually moved to New York, where he worked with organist Jack McDuff, then co-led a band with Kenny Dorham during 1962-63. His first recording as a leader in 1963, Page One, was one of the most popular releases for the Blue Note label, and led to one of his richest recording periods both as a leader and sideman. He played with Horace Silver in 1964-66, and Andrew Hill in 1965, both Blue Note artists. Lee Morgan's album The Sidewinder, contains some of his best solos of the period, especially on the hit title track. During the late 1960s, he was part of the cooperative band, the Jazz Communicators, with Freddie Hubbard and Louis Hayes. At the end of the decade he spent more than a year with the Herbie Hancock Sextet (1969-70), and joined the pop band Blood, Sweat & Tears for a short time in 1971. Thereafter he worked mainly as a leader and freelance saxophonist. His bands employed a number of outstanding musicians and, following his Blue Note years, he made a series of rewarding discs for the Milestone label. In the 1990s, Henderson experienced a resurgence in popularity with a series of well-received albums on the Verve label. His recordings of the music of Billy Strayhom, Miles Davis, and Antonio Carlos Jobim in inventive arrangements were inspired, and he showed a skill for big band arrangement with his 1996 release. Big Band. Henderson stopped performing in 1998 after suffering a stroke. o'- PAGE ONE Blue Note, 1 963 FOUR! Verve, 1 968 THE STATE OF THE TENOR, VOL. 1 & 2 Blue Note, 1985 LUSH LIFE: THE MUSIC OF BILLY STRAYHORN Verve, 1991 BIG BAND Verve, 1992-96 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER < \ I COMPOSER ARRANGER MUSICAL DIRECTOR PIANIST Sarah Vaughan NO COUNT SARAH Mercury, 1958 Eileen Farrell I GOT A RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES Columbia, 1960 Original Cast Recording AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' RCA, 1978 American Composers Orchestra FOUR SYMPHONIC WORKS BY DUKE ELLINGTON Music Masters, 1 989 Canadian Brass Quintet RED HOT JAZZ: THE DIXIELAND ALBUM Philips, 1993 66 2004 Bom March 14, u)u) in Kansas City, MO Died July 29, 2Qo3 W hen he was four, Luther Henderson moved to Harlem with his family and became neighbors with Duke Ellington. Ellington would become a major influence on Henderson's life, beginning in the late 1940s and early 1950s when he adapted and orchestrated some of Ellington's larger works, such as "Harlem — A Tone Parallel" and "Three Black Kings," for performance in a concerto grosso format by Henderson's orchestra and another symphony orchestra. Henderson's classical training at the Juilliard School and music study at New York University led Ellington to dub Henderson "his classical arm." His talents included composing, arranging, conducting, and performing, and he was hired by Ellington in 1946 to orchestrate his Broadway musical, Beggar's Holiday. Henderson worked on more than 50 Broadway productions in various capacities. For Ain't Misbehavin', he was the original pianist as well as orchestrator, arranger, and musical supervisor. For Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, he was the musical consultant and arranged several selections. He orchestrated such musicals as the Tony Award-winning Raisin, Play On!, and Jelly's Last Jam. As a dance arranger, A Henderson's credits included Flower Drum Song, jM Do Re Mi, Funny Girl, and No, No Nanette. His skill in bringing a jazz sensibility to musical theater was much in demand. For Jelly's Last Jam, he rearranged Jelly Roll Morton's jazz compositions and musical fragments into a hit musical; Ain't Misbehavin' used the music of jazz great Fats Waller as a base. Henderson's talents extended to the arena of television, where he held positions as musical director. orchestrator, arranger, and pianist for the Columbia Pictures television special Ain't Misbehavin' for which he received an Emmy nomination. Albums to his credit included several with the Canadian Brass Quintet and Eileen Farrell's I Got a Right to Sing the Blues, which was re-released in 1992. For Columbia Records, the Luther Henderson Orchestra recorded six albums. In addition, Henderson contributed to various albums recorded by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Andre Kostelanetz Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Mandy Patinkin, Polly Bergen, Anita Elis, and others. Henderson's composition "Ten Good Years," with lyricist Martin Chamin, was recorded by Nancy Wilson on her Coconut Grove album. Henderson died of cancer in 2003. His widow, Billie Allen-Henderson, created the Luther Henderson Scholarship Fund at the Juilliard School in New York in 2006 for students of color to pursue musical study. - % u PHOTO BY SARA KRULWICH/ THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX VOCALIST LYRICIST EDUCATOR G9 3 Bom September 1 6, 1921 Newark, OH PHOTO BY TOM PICH J on Hendricks helped create the singing style known as "vocalese," or crafting songs and lyrics out of the note sequences of famous jazz instrumental solos, as a member of the great jazz vocal ensemble Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. A gifted lyricist, he has added words to classics by Count Basie, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey, brilliantly mirroring the instrumental effects. He largely grew up in Toledo, Ohio, one of 17 children. His singing career began at age eight at parties and dinners. Later he sang on a radio show on which he was occasionally accompanied by another Toledoan, the great pianist Art Tatum. Returning home from service in the Army, he studied at the University of Toledo and taught himself to play drums. In 1952, he relocated to New York and found his initial work as a songwriter, working for such artists as Louis Jordan and King Pleasure. One of his earliest recordings came on a version of the Woody Herman band feature "Four Brothers." His collaboration with vocalist Dave Lambert began in 1957 when he re- recorded "Four Brothers," which led to their association with singer Annie Ross on a collection of Count Basie songs. Sing a Song of Basie, using innovative multitracked arrangement of vocals, became a hit when released in 1958 and gave birth to Lambert, Hendricks & Ross as a full-time act. They subsequently toured with the Basie band and were a top-selling act for nearly four years, until Ross left the band. Lambert and Hendricks continued for a while with new singer Yolande Bavan, eventually breaking up in 1964. Hendricks found work as a soloist, then moved to England in 1968. In the early 1970s he put together another trio, this time with wife Judith and daughter Michelle, an arrangement he has occasionally revisited over the years. Evolution of the Blues, an extended stage work Hendricks had first performed with Lambert and Ross at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1960, went on a five- year run at the Broadway Theatre in San Francisco in the 1970s. Thereafter he took a variety of university teaching positions in California, and continued to work with Judith, Michelle, and youngest daughter Aria, with occasional male singers such as Bobby McFerrin, Kevin Burke, and Miles Griffith. He has written for and played with the Manhattan Transfer, a jazz vocal group heavily influenced by Hendricks. Also, he was one of three singers in Wynton Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio, Blood on the Fields. He has written lyrics to a number of jazz standards, including "Four," "Hi Fly," "Along Came Betty," "Desifinado," and "No More Blues." In 2000, he was appointed distinguished professor of jazz studies at the University of Toledo in Ohio. A documentary about Hendricks' time in the military, Blues March: Soldier Jon Hendricks, was released in 2009. Lambert, Hendricks & Ross SING A SONG OF BASIE Verve, 1 957 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross EVERYBODY’S BOPPIN’ Columbia, 1959-61 LOVE Muse, 1981-82 FREDDIE FREELOADER Denon, 1989-90 Wynton Marsalis BLOOD ON THE FIELDS Columbia, 1 994 CRITIC JOURNALIST PRODUCER a.b. speLLman | nea jazz MasTers AwarDFor jazz ADVOCaCY I JAZZ COUNTRY Harper Collins, 1 965 THE JAZZ LIFE Harper Collins 1 975 JAZZ IS Random House, 1 976 BOSTON BOY: GROWING UP WITH JAZZ AND OTHER REBELLIOUS PASSIONS Random House, 1986 THE NAT HENTOFF READER DaCapo Press, 2001 2004 Nar HenTOFF Born June to, 1925 m Boston , MA O ne of the major voices in jazz literature, Nat Hentoff has written about and championed jazz for more than half a century, produced recording sessions for some of the biggest names in jazz, and written liner notes for many more. Through his work, he has helped to advance the appreciation and knowledge of jazz. It is fitting that he is the first to receive the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy. Hentoff began his education at Northeastern University in Boston, his hometown, and went on to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University. As a graduate student, he hosted a local radio show and became immersed in the Boston jazz scene. In 1953, after completing a Fulbright Fellowship at the Sorbonne in Paris, he spent four years as an associate editor at DownBeat magazine, where he laid the foundation for a truly remarkable career as a jazz journalist. Hentoff was co- editor of Jazz Review from 1958 to 1961, and worked for the Candid label as A&R director from 1960 to 1961, producing recording sessions by jazz icons such as Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, and Abbey Lincoln. His books on music include Jazz Country (1965), Jazz: New Perspectives on the History of Jazz by Twelve of the World's Foremost Jazz Critics and Scholars (with Albert J. McCarthy, 1974), Boston Boy: Growing Up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions (1986), Listen to the Stories: Nat Hentoff on Jazz and Country Music (1995), and American Music Is (2004). His work has appeared in such venerable publications as the New York Times, New Republic, JazzTimes, and New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. In addition to his status as a renowned jazz historian and critic, Hentoff also is an expert on First Amendment rights, criminal justice, and education and has written a number of books on these topics. In 1980, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in education as well as a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for his coverage of the law and criminal justice. Five years later, he was awarded an honorary degree from Northeastern University. The multidisciplinary body of work that Hentoff has produced represents an articulation of the interconnectedness of the ideals of constitutional rights and jazz music and is without a doubt a major contribution to the dialogue surrounding the uniquely American jazz tradition. Currently, Hentoff writes about music for the Wall Street Journal and has a column in the United Media syndicate, which distributes the column to 250 papers nationwide. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 68 Bom October n, icj 36 in Los Angeles, CA Died May 3 , 2001 K nown among musicians and fans as "Smiling Billy," Billy Higgins was first introduced to the broader jazz public when he came to the East Coast with the Ornette Coleman Quartet in 1959 for their extended engagement at the Five Spot Cafe. Although he does not have many records under his own name, Higgins was often in great demand as a sideman, providing sensitive accompaniment in a variety of settings. Higgins started on the drums at age 12. By the time he was 19, he was working in rhythm-and-blues bands, with musicians such as Amos Milbum and Bo Diddley. Other early affiliations included singers Brook Benton, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He also began working with jazz artists such as Dexter Gordon, Don Cherry, James Clay, and Walter Benton. He joined the Red Mitchell band in 1957, but soon left to join Ornette Coleman's new band, with which he worked steadily in 1958 and 1959. In the early 1960s, he worked with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins. By then he had become one of the most in-demand freelance drummers on the scene, particularly on many Blue Note sessions. His drumming was an important addition to many recordings, such as Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, Herbie Hancock's Takin' Off, and Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder, the last two being especially popular jazz albums. He would intermittently work with Coleman again in the 1960s and 1970s as well. Another frequent musical collaborator was Cedar Walton, an association that began in 1966 and continued into the 1990s, often in Walton's Eastern Rebellion band. In 1989, Higgins co-founded a cultural community center, the World Stage, in Los Angeles to advance the position of African-American music, literature, and art. In the 1990s his career was halted by kidney disease, leading to a subsequent kidney transplant. After resuming playing, he remained much in demand for record dates. During 1999-2001, he worked frequently with Charles Lloyd when not leading his own bands, recording some of his most inventive drumming while playing against Lloyd's saxophone. Ornette Coleman CHANGE OF THE CENTURY Atlantic, 1959 SOWETO Red, 1979 MR. RILLY HIGGINS Evidence, 1984 3/4 FOR PEACE Red, 1993 Charles Lloyd and Billy Higgins WHICH WAY IS EAST ECM, 2001 2oo8 PIANIST COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER EDUCATOR POINT OF DEPARTURE Blue Note, 1 964 PASSING SHIPS Blue Note, 1 969 LIVE AT MONTREUX Freedom, 1975 DUSK Palmetto, 1999 TIME LINES Blue Note, 2005 AtiDrew HILL Bom June3o, u)3i in Chicago, IL Died April 20 , 2007 R ecognized by Blue Note Records' founder Alfred Lion as his "last, great protege," pianist Andrew Hill spent 40 years composing, performing, recording, and mentoring young musicians. Bom in Chicago in 1931, Andrew Hill began teaching himself to play piano at age 10, and was later introduced to German composer and music theorist-in- exile Paul Hindemith. He started performing in 1952 with touring jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker, Dinah Washington, Coleman Hawkins, and Miles Davis. He moved to New York in 1961 and shortly thereafter was contracted by Alfred Lion at Blue Note Records as a leader and a sideman, producing his early classics for the label, such as Point of Departure and Black Fire. Hill's Blue Note sessions with acclaimed musicians such as Eric Dolphy, Kenny Dorham, John Gilmore, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, and Elvin Jones cemented his reputation as a musician and composer of some renown. Hill served as composer-in-residence at Colgate University of Hamilton from 1970-72. In California, he performed in concert and taught classes at public schools and social service institutions before becoming an associate professor of music at Portland State University, where he established the successful Summer Jazz Intensive. He also performed and taught at Harvard and Wesleyan universities among others. He returned to New York City in the 1990s, reestablishing himself as a pianist, ensemble leader, and composer. In 2000, Hill released Dusk, a song cycle loosely based on Jean Toomer's 1923 book Cane, with yet another phenomenal band. The album brought him to the attention of and garnered him acclaim from a larger jazz audience, claiming a place on best-album- of-the-year lists in Fortune Magazine, San Diego Union Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, JazzTimes, and DownBeat. The new attention led to reissues of his classic Blue Note recordings of the 1960s and new issues of PHOTO BY LEE TANNER some previously unreleased recordings from that time period. One of the most interesting was Passing Ships, a previously unknown nonet recording that prefaced his big band recording in 2002, A Beautiful Day, by more than 30 years. In 2003, he received the prestigious Danish award, the JAZZPAR Prize. After fighting lung cancer for many years. Hill succumbed to the disease in April 2007. He was notified of the NEA Jazz Masters award before his passing, and his wife accepted the award on his behalf. 70 BASSIST EDUCATOR (OGRAPHER I i 99 3 MILT Himm Bom June p 3 ,igioin Vicksburg, MS Died December ig, 2,000 the first African-American musicians welcomed into the TV studios. From 1956 on, Hinton was a much in-demand studio musician, adept at different styles of playing, from the pop of Paul Anka to the jazz of Teddy Wilson. He also was in demand in live settings, performing with Jimmy McPartland, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Sammy Davis, Jr., Judy Garland, and Harry Belafonte, among others. In the 1960s, he became a staff musician at ABC, working on The Dick Cavett Show. In the last decades of his life, Hinton continued to play and record, inspiring new generations of jazz musicians and fans. He received numerous honorary doctoral degrees and taught jazz at several colleges and universities, including Hunter College, Baruch College, Skidmore College, and Interlochen Music Camp. A 2003 documentary, Keeping Time: The Life, Music + Photographs of Milt Hinton, chronicled his career. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER Cab Calloway ARE YOU HEP TO THE JIVE? Columbia/Legacy, 1937-47 THE JUDGE AT HIS BEST Chiaroscuro, 1 973-95 BACK TO BASS-ICS Progressive, 1 984 Branford Marsalis TRIOJEEPY Columbia, 1988 LAUGHING AT LIFE Columbia, 1995 M ilt Hinton's career spanned the gamut of jazz generations, from the early swing days of the 1930s with Cab Calloway through the end of the millennium with the new guard of jazz, such as Branford Marsalis and Christian McBride. His ability to make a contribution in any setting allowed for his vast array of work. As a soloist, Hinton, nicknamed "The Judge," was adept at the early bass tradition of slapping the strings. In addition to his love of music, Hinton was a perceptive and widely exhibited photographer. Much of the history of jazz can be found in his photographs, which were published in several magazines and in two extraordinary coffee-table books. Like many African-American families in the early part of the 20th century, Hinton's family migrated north from Mississippi to Chicago, where he was raised. His mother was a church musician, playing organ and piano, and directing the choir. She bought him a violin for his 13th birthday, which he studied for four years from 1923-27. Later he picked up the bass horn and tuba while studying music at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. In 1928, he found his voice when he switched to string bass. One of his earliest professional affiliations was with violinist Eddie South, with whom he played intermittently between 1931-36. He also worked on sessions with Zutty Singleton, Erskine Tate, Art Tatum, and Jabbo Smith. Hinton's early career experience was centered around the Cab Calloway Orchestra, with which he worked from 1936-51. After leaving Calloway, he worked with the big bands of Joe Bushkin, Jackie Gleason, Phil Moore, and Count Basie. He played with Louis Armstrong between 1952-55, then became a staff musician for CBS, one of 2010 COMPOSER ARRANGER SAXOPHONIST THE FABULOUS BILL HOLMAN Coral, 1954-57 BILL HOLMAN’S GREAT BIG BAND Capitol, 1960 THE BILL HOLMAN BAND JVC, 1987 BRILLIANT CORNERS: THE MUSIC OF THELONIOUS MONK JVC, 1997 HOMMAGE Jazzed Media, 2005-06 BILL hot man Bom May v, 1927 in Olive, CA B ill Holman's unique and complex arrangements have long been appreciated by musicians and critics alike, although he is best known on the West Coast. He took up clarinet in junior high school and tenor saxophone in high school, by which time he was leading his own band. After serving in the U.S. Navy and studying engineering, Holman decided in the late 1940s that he wanted to write big band music and enrolled at the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles. He also studied composition privately with Russ Garcia and saxophone with Lloyd Reese. By 1949, Holman's career was well underway. After writing for Charlie Barnet, in 1952 he began his association with Stan Kenton, for whom he would compose (and perform) for many years to come. During the 1950s, he also was active in the West Coast jazz movement, playing in small bands led by Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne and co-leading a quintet with Mel Lewis. During the following decade, Holman expanded his writing efforts, working for bands led by jazz greats such as Louie Bellson, Count Basie, Bob Brookmeyer, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Gerry Mulligan, Doc Severinsen, and others. In addition, he wrote for high-profile vocalists such as Natalie Cole (including her Grammy Award-winning album Unforgettable), Tony Bennett, Carmen MacRae, Anita O'Day, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan. In 1975, Holman launched the Bill Holman Band but recording was elusive; the recording of The Bill Holman Band in 1987 was his first release as a leader in 27 years. Since 1980, Holman increasingly has become more active in Europe, including writing, conducting, and performing extended works for the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, Germany, and the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands. PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES To date, Holman has won three Grammy Awards: Best Instrumental Arrangement of "Take the 'A' Train" for Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show Orchestra (1987); Best Instrumental Composition for "A View from the Side" for the Bill Holman Band (1995); and Best Instrumental Arrangement of "Straight, No Chaser" for the Bill Holman Band (1997). He was voted "Best Arranger" in the JazzTimes readers' poll four times; and received the "Arranger of the Year" award three times in DownBeat magazine's readers' poll and critics' poll. In 2000, the Bill Holman Collection of scores and memorabilia became part of the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection in Washington, DC. In 2006, he was inducted into the Rutgers Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 2008, he was doubly honored: a Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers and a place in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Jazz Wall of Fame. 2005 smrieY VOCALIST PIANIST Horn Bom May 1 , i c$f in Washington , DC Died, October 20, 2005 S hirley Horn began leading her own group in the mid-1950s, and in 1960 recorded her first album, Embers and Ashes, which established her reputation as an exceptional and sensitive jazz vocalist. Bom in 1934 in Washington, DC, she studied classical piano as a teenager at Howard University's Junior School of Music. Under the influence of artists such as Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal, she then began a career as a jazz pianist and soon after discovered the great expressive power of her voice. When Miles Davis heard Embers and Ashes, he brought her to New York, where she began opening for him at the Village Vanguard. Soon she was performing in major venues throughout the United States and recording with Quincy Jones for the Mercury label. For some years she spent much of her time in Europe, then took a ten-year hiatus to raise her family in Washington. She continued to appear in and around the DC area, and in the 1980s she returned to the recording studio. The overwhelming critical success of her 1981 appearance at Holland's North Sea Jazz Festival reintroduced her to old fans, won her new followers, and revitalized her career, allowing her to take to the road with her trio and record more albums. Her association with the Verve label, which began in 1987, gave a new showcase to her inimitable style and cemented her reputation as a world-class jazz artist. Six of her more than 20 albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards, and she has collaborated with jazz artists including Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Buck Hill, Branford Marsalis, and Toots Thiele mans. In 1990, she collaborated with Miles Davis on her critically acclaimed album You Won't Forget Me. Her 1992 recording Here's to Life was that year's top- selling jazz album and earned a Grammy Award for arranger Johnny Mandel. In 1998, Horn paid tribute to her mentor with the brilliant recording I Remember Miles, winning the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Health problems in the early 2000s forced her to cut back on her appearances. EMBERS AND ASHES Stereo-Craft, 1 960 VIOLETS FOR YOUR FURS Steeple Chase, 1 981 YOU WON’T FORGET ME Verve, 1 990 I REMEMBER MILES Verve, 1 998 MAY THE MUSIC NEVER END Verve, 2003 2oo6 FTCDDie HUBBarD TRUMPETER Bom April 7 , u )38 in Indianapolis, IN Died December 29, 2008 READY FOR FREDDIE Blue Note, 1961 HUB-TONES Blue Note, 1 962 STRAIGHT LIFE Columbia, 1970 LIVE CLP, 1983 NEW COLORS Hip Bop Essence, 2000 O ne of the greatest trumpet virtuosos ever to play in the jazz idiom, and arguably one of the most influential, Freddie Hubbard played mellophone and then trumpet in his school band and studied at the Jordan Conservatory with the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. As a teenager, he worked with Wes and Monk Montgomery and eventually founded his own band, the Jazz Contemporaries, with bassist Larry Ridley and saxophonist James Spaulding. After moving to New York in 1958, he quickly astonished fans and critics alike with his depth and maturity, playing with veteran artists Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, J J. Johnson, Eric Dolphy, and Quincy Jones, with whom he toured Europe. In June 1960, on the recommendation of Miles Davis, he recorded his first solo album. Open Sesame, for Blue Note Records, just weeks after his 22nd birthday. Within the next 10 months, he recorded two more albums, Goin' Up and Hub Cap, and then in August 1961 made what many consider to be his masterpiece. Ready for Freddie, which was also his first Blue Note collaboration with Wayne Shorter. That same year, Hubbard joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, replacing Lee Morgan. By now, he had indisputably developed his own sound and had won the DownBeat "New Star" award on trumpet. Hubbard remained with the Jazz Messengers until 1964, when he left to form his own small group, which over the next years featured Kenny Barron and Louis Hayes. Throughout the 1960s, Hubbard also played in bands led by other legends, including Max Roach, and was a significant presence on the Blue Note recordings of Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Hank Mobley. Hubbard was also featured on four classic, groundbreaking 1960s sessions: Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz, Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, and John Coltrane's Ascension. In the 1970s, Hubbard achieved his greatest popular success with a series of crossover albums on Atlantic and CTI Records, including the Grammy Award-winning First Light. He returned to acoustic hard bop in 1977 when he toured with the V.S.O.P. quintet, which teamed him with the members of Miles Davis' 1960s ensemble: Shorter, Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. In the 1980s, Hubbard again led his own groups, often in the company of Joe Henderson, and he collaborated with fellow trumpet legend Woody Shaw on a series of albums for the Blue Note and Timeless labels. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER 2010 HAPHONIST MARIMBA PLAYER COMPOSER BOBBY HUTCHerson Bom January gy ig/fi inLosAngeles , CA PHOTO BY FRANCIS WOLFF © MOSAIC IMAGES B obby Hutcherson's sound and innovative style on the vibraphone helped revitalize the instrument in the 1960s, adding an adventurous new voice to the free jazz and post-bop eras. As a child, Hutcherson studied piano with his aunt, but his interest in becoming a professional musician was sparked after hearing vibraphonist Milt Jackson playing on a recording of the Thelonious Monk song "Bemsha Swing." Jackson's playing impressed him so much that he began working with his father (a brick mason) to save up money for a vibraphone. Studies under renowned vibraphonist Dave Pike followed, and soon Hutcherson played at local Los Angeles school dances in his friend Herbie Lewis' group. In 1960, Hutcherson joined an ensemble co-led by Al Grey and Billy Mitchell. A year later, the group performed at New York's legendary Birdland club and the vibraphonist made his first live appearance opposite bassist Charles Mingus. Hutcherson soon relocated to New York City and signed with the Blue Note label. According to Hutcherson's own account, he made 45 records as a bandleader and appeared on more than 250 records as a sideman during his years with Blue Note — working with jazz luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Jackie McLean, and McCoy Tyner, among others. His work on Eric Dolphy's recording Out to Lunch is considered one of his most masterful sideman performances, providing a vibrant texture to the piano-less quintet. In 1965, Blue Note released his astounding debut record as a bandleader. Dialogue. Hutcherson was accompanied on the album by some of the biggest names emerging in jazz at the time: drummer Joe Chambers, bassist Richard Davis, pianist Andrew Hill, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, and saxophonist Sam Rivers. In 1967, he returned to California and co- led a quintet with saxophonist Harold Land for several years. Hutcherson eventually settled in Montara, a small coastal town south of San Francisco, where he continues to live. Hutcherson is a founding member of the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star octet that debuted in 2004. In 2008, Hutcherson was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Sedona Jazz on the Rocks festival in Arizona. In addition to his own recordings and tours, Hutcherson also appears on other artists' records, including Tyner's Manhattan Moods (1993) and Hammond B-3 organist Joey DeFrancesco's Organic Vibes (2006). Hutcherson continues to perform at a masterful level on his instrument, playing with both his contemporaries and the new generation of jazz musicians. Eric Dolphy OUT TO LUNCH Blue Note, 1964 DIALOGUE Blue Note, 1965 SOLO/QUAETET Contemporary/OJC, 1981-82 SKYLINE Verve, 1 998 WISE ONE Kind of Blue, 2009 75 VIBRAPHONIST PIANIST BANDLEADER Modern Jazz Quartet MTQ Original Jazz Classics, 1954-56 PLENTY, PLENTY SOUL Atlantic, 1957 BAGS MEETS TRANE Atlantic, 1959 MILT JACKSON + COUNT BASIE + THE BIG BAND, VOL. 1 & 2 ginal Jazz Classics, 1978 SAVA BELLA Warner Brothers, 1 996 MILT Bom January u n)2-3 in Detroit, MI Died October 9, 1999 C haracterized by a slower vibrato than his predecessors, Milt Jackson's ability to swing and to create vocal-like inflections made his an instantly recognizable sound on the vibes. Another jazz musician whose earliest experience was in the church, he sang gospel duets with his brother and played the guitar. At age 11, he began playing the piano, moving to the xylophone and the vibes in his early teens. After studying music at Michigan State University, his musical career actually began with a touring gospel ensemble in the early 1940s. Upon hearing him in Detroit, Dizzy Gillespie arranged for Jackson, known by the nickname "Bags," to come to New York in 1945 to join his band. After leaving Gillespie's pioneering bebop big band in 1948, he went on to play with Howard McGhee, Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron, and Charlie Parker, applying the bebop sound to the vibes. He replaced Terry Gibbs in the Woody Herman band during 1949-50, returning to the Gillespie band from 1950-52. Thereafter he formed his own quartet, featuring John Lewis, Ray Brown, and Kenny Clarke. The Milt Jackson Quartet then became the Modem Jazz Quartet, with Percy Heath replacing Brown, and Connie Kay eventually replacing Clarke. The MJQ would become an enduring jazz institution for more than 40 years, with Jackson's blues-drenched solos being a crucial ingredient in their sound. When the MJQ wasn't touring, Jackson occasionally led bands featuring Jimmy Heath and Ray Brown and worked on recording sessions that included Cannonball Adderley and Ray Charles. He left the MJQ in 1974, leading his own groups or playing with all-star aggregations until 1981, when the MJQ reunited for a concert in Japan. Following that concert, the quartet made annual tours from 1982 through the early 1990s. For most of the remainder of his career he worked with his own groups, which often included such musicians as Mickey Roker, Bob Cranshaw, and Mike LeDonne. The winner of numerous jazz polls, Jackson's vibe- playing dominated the field for much of his career, leading to his induction into the Percussion Hall of Fame and DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, among other honors. 76 1994 PIANIST OMPOSER AHmaD jamaL Bom July p, u)3o in Pittsburgh, PA ne of the subtlest virtuosos of jazz piano, Ahmad Jamal's uncanny use of space in his playing and leadership of his small ensembles have been hallmarks of his influential career. Among those he has influenced is most notably Miles Davis. Davis made numerous and prominent mentions of Jamal's influence on his playing, particularly in his use of space, allowing the music to "breathe," and his choice of compositions. Several tunes that were in Jamal's playlist, such as the standard "Autumn Leaves" and Jamal's own "New Rhumba," began appearing in the playlist of Davis' 1950s bands. Jamal's textured rhythms on piano influenced Davis' piano players as well, from Wynton Kelly in the 1950s to Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. Jamal's piano studies began at age three, and by age 11, he was making his professional debut with a sound strongly influenced by Art Tatum and Erroll Gamer. Following graduation from Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School, he joined the George Hudson band in 1947. In 1949, he joined swing violinist Joe Kennedy's group Four Strings as pianist. This led to formation of his trio Three Strings in 1950-52, which debuted at Chicago's Blue Note club, and later became the Ahmad Jamal Trio. His 1958 album At the Pershing became a surprising smash hit, highlighted by his interpretation of "Poindana." With the popularity of the album and the advocacy of Davis, Jamal's trio was one of the most popular jazz acts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For the most part, Jamal has worked in piano- bass-drums trios, using the intricate relationship of the band to explore his sound, directing the trio through seemingly abrupt time and tempo shifts. His piano virtuosity has also been welcomed by a number of orchestras and his abilities as a composer are considerable. His approach has been described as being chamber-jazz-like, and he has experimented with strings and electric instruments in his compositions. Among his many awards are the Living Jazz Legend Award from the Kennedy Center and the Ojficier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France. AT THE PERSHING/BUT NOT FOR ME Chess, 1958 FREE FLIGHT Impulse!, 1971 BIG BYRD: THE ESSENCE, PART 2 Verve, 1 994-95 AFTER FAJR Birdology/Dreyfus Jazz, 2004 IT’S MAGIC Dreyfus Jazz, 2007 PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN THE EMINENT JAY JAY JOHNSON, YOL. 1 & 2 Blue Note, 1 953-55 STAN GETZ&J.J. JOHNSON AT THE OPERA HOUSE Verve, 1957 THE GREAT KAIANDJ.J. Impulse!, I960 LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD EmArcy, 1 988 TANGENCE 78 Bom January 22 , 1924 in Indianapolis, IN Died Febmaryp, 2001 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER O ften referred to as the "Charlie Parker of the trombone" due to his uncanny musical dexterity and fluency, James Louis "J J." Johnson dominated his instrument for more than 40 years. A potent composer and arranger, he was a perennial jazz magazine poll winner for his peerless trombone playing. Between ages nine and 11, he studied piano with his family's church organist, picking up the trombone at age 14. His first professional experience came with the bands of Clarence Love and Snookum Russell. It was in the Russell band that he met jazz trumpeter Fats Navarro, an early influence on the young trombonist. After leaving Russell, he spent three years with Benny Carter's band, then gigged with Count Basie in 1945-46. He worked briefly with Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman, then toured the Far East with Oscar Pettiford. The difficulty of making a living in the jazz field affected Johnson; from 1952-54 he held a day job as a blueprint reader. Then came one of his most significant early bands, a two-trombone group he co-led with Kai Winding — the Jay and Kai Quintet — from 1954- 56; after a period of freelancing and bandleading, he re-joined Winding in 1958. The group was instrumental in demonstrating the power and possibilities of the trombone in modem jazz. In the late 1950s, he began to gain recognition as a composer. Two of his extended works, "El Camino Real" and "Sketch for Trombone and Orchestra," were commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival. A commission from Dizzy Gillespie resulted in "Perceptions," a large-scale work for orchestra that was recorded for Verve Records. In addition to his work as a composer, he performed with groups led by Miles Davis, Clark Terry, and Sonny Stitt, then moved to California in 1970. There he immersed himself in lucrative television and film scoring. His scores can be heard on such television programs as Mayberry RFD, That Girl, Mod Squad, Six Million Dollar Man, and Starsky and Hutch. In 1987, he returned to his hometown Indianapolis and began playing, touring, and recording again. His awards include an honorary doctoral degree from Indiana University and the Indiana Governor's Arts Award in 1989. □RUMMER !OMPOSER ?oo3 ELvin rones Bom September^, 1927 in Pontiac, MI Died May 18 , 2004 After serving in the Army from 1946-49, he returned to Detroit, immersing himself in the fertile jazz scene there in the early 1950s, before heading to New York in 1955. After playing with Harry "Sweets" Edison, J.J. Johnson, and Sonny Rollins (at Rollins' famous Village Vanguard session), he joined the John Coltrane Quartet in 1960. His dynamic drumming pushed Coltrane's improvisations to new heights, and provided innovative accompaniment to the rest of the rhythm section: pianist McCoy Tyner and bassists Jimmy Garrison and Reggie Workman. In 1965, Jones left the Coltrane group and formed his own band, a trio with Garrison and reed player Joe Farrell, beginning a series of recordings for the Blue Note label. Since that time, Jones' trios and his latter day bands, known as the Jazz Machine, welcomed numerous adventurous players. These ranged from Steve Grossman, Sonny Fortune, and Roland Prince to such younger players as Delfeayo Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, David Sanchez, and John Coltrane's son Ravi. Jones frequently performed free for schools and other institutions, and at jazz clinics. Aside from music, he made his acting debut as Job Caine in the 1970 film Zachariah. He toured extensively with his group Jazz Machine and made later recordings with Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman, Dave Holland, and Bill Frisell. T he propulsive style of drummer Elvin Jones powered the John Coltrane Quartet during his six-year stint with the group and influenced countless percussionists that followed him over the past 40 years. As with fellow 2003 NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath, and a number of other jazz greats, Elvin Jones was the product of a musical family. His brothers include pianist Hank Jones and cometist Thad Jones. The youngest of ten siblings, Jones began learning the drums during his middle school years, studying the styles of Chick Webb, Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, and the beboppers that followed them, including Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. John Coltrane THE COMPLETE AFRICA/BRASS SESSIONS Impulse!, 1961 POLY- CURRENTS Blue Note, 1 969 David Murray SPECIAL QUARTET Columbia, 1990 IT DON’T MEAN A THING Enja, 1 993 Bill Frisell WITH DAVE HOLLAND AND ELVIN JONES Nonesuch, 2001 79 PIANIST HANK JONES Savoy, 1 955 UPON REFLECTION Verve, 1993 Charlie Haden/Hank Jones STEAL AWAY Verve, 1994 FOR MY FATHER Justin Time, 2004 WEST OF 5TH Chesky, 2006 Bom July 3i. 1918 in Vicksburg, MS Died May 16, 2010 H ank Jones, a member of the famous jazz family that includes brothers cometist Thad and drummer Elvin, served as a pianist in a vast array of settings, always lending a distinctive, swinging sensibility to the sessions. Although bom in Mississippi, Jones grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, listening to such performers as Earl Hines, Fats Waller, and Art Tatum. A performer by the time he was 13, Jones played with territory bands that toured Michigan and Ohio. In one such band he met saxophonist Lucky Thompson, who got him a job in the Hot Lips Page band in 1944, prompting Jones' move to New York. Once in New York, Jones became exposed to bebop, embracing the style in his playing and even recording with Charlie Parker. Meanwhile, he took jobs with such bandleaders as John Kirby, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, Billy Eckstine, and Howard McGhee. He toured with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic from 1947-51. As a result, he became Ella Fitzgerald's pianist, touring with her from 1948-53. These experiences served to broaden his musical palette and sophistication. A consummate freelancer, Jones found work with artists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Milt Jackson, and Cannonball Adderley. The versatility Jones acquired through such affiliations served him well when he joined the staff of CBS as a studio musician, where he remained for 17 years. Although his studio work found him working on productions like The Ed Sullivan Show, Jones continued his touring and recording experiences. His broad range and ability to fit in different settings also landed him in Broadway stage bands, where he served as pianist and conductor for such shows as Ain't Misbehavin’. In 1966, Jones was the first regular pianist in brother Thad's orchestra, co-led with Mel Lewis. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Jones continued to be much in demand for record dates and tours. Among his affiliations was the Great Jazz Trio, a cooperative unit with Ron Carter and Tony Williams, who were later supplanted by Buster Williams and Ben Riley. Jones has also experienced his share of piano duos, with the likes of Tommy Flanagan— with whom he became acquainted when both were starting out in the Detroit area — George Shearing, and John Lewis. In 2008, Jones received the National Medal of Arts and the following year the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. As a leader and valued sideman, Jones can be found on thousands of recordings. j 9 8 5 Bom July 10, lyu in Chicago. IL Died September 3 , 1985 PHOTO BY HERMAN LEONARD PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/CSTIMAGE5 J onathan "Jo" Jones was one of the most influential of the early swing band drummers. He had the ability to truly swing a band without ever overpowering it, and made an art form of the use of brushes on the drum kit. His uncanny way around the drums was only enhanced by his slick, smiling sense of showmanship. Jo Jones is credited with the transfer of the essential pulse of jazz music from the bass drum to the hi-hat cymbal, influencing such modem drummers as Max Roach. His technique was to leave the hi-hat cymbals just slightly apart, which produced a sound different from the relative staccato approach of his predecessors. Never one to engage in extended solos, his delight was in driving a band with his incomparable swing. Jones grew up in Alabama, touring with various shows and carnivals as a tap dancer and instrumentalist while still in his teens. His first major jazz job came when he joined the territory band known as Walter Page's Blue Devils in Oklahoma City in the late 1920s. Jones stayed in the Midwest for quite some time, working with trumpeter Lloyd Hunter and moving to Kansas City in 1933. In 1934 came the affiliation with which his artistry is forever identified: drumming with the Count Basie band, with which he worked on and off for more than 15 years. Jones' drumming was the final ingredient to what became known as the "All-American Rhythm Section.'' Besides Jones, this included guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Walter Page, and Basie on piano. They provided the irresistible pulse that drove the Count Basie band of the day to be called ''the swinging-est band in the land." Jones served two years in the Army from 1944-46, then returned to the Basie band, where he remained a full-time member until 1948. Thereafter, though frequently reuniting with Basie on special occasions, Jones became a freelance drummer. He played on tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic, and recorded with many of the jazz greats, including Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, Art Tatum, and Benny Goodman. Jones was constantly in demand for a variety of all-star swing sessions and made numerous recordings as a highly valued sideman. In 1979, Jones was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame for his contributions to Alabama's musical heritage. Count Basie THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN DECCA RECORDINGS MCA, 1937-39 THE ESSENTIAL TO JONES vanguard, 1 955 10 JONES TRIO : resn Sounds, 1959 I JO JONES SEXTET Fresn Sounds, 1 960 THE MAIN MAN Original Jazz Classics, 1 976 81 BANDLEADER TRUMPETER COMPOSER ARRANGER PRODUCER THIS IS HOW I FEEL ABOUT JAZZ Paramount, 1 956 BOSSANOVA Mercury, 1962 WALKING IN SPACE A&M.1969 Miles Davis/Quincy Jones LIVE AT MONTBEUX Warner Bros., 1991 Quincy Jones/ Sammy Nestico Orchestra BASIE & BEYOND Warner Bros., 2000 82 Bom March 14 . u)33 in Chicago, IL Q uincy Jones has distinguished himself in just about every aspect of music, including as a bandleader, record producer, musical composer and arranger, trumpeter, and record label executive. He has worked with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Count Basie to Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson. Bom in Chicago in 1933, Jones was brought up in Seattle. He began learning the trumpet as a teenager. He moved to New York City in the early 1950s, finding work as an arranger and musician with Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, and Lionel Hampton. In 1956, Dizzy Gillespie chose Jones to play in his big band, later having him put together a band and act as musical director on Gillespie's U.S. State Department tours of South America and the Middle East. The experience honed Jones' skills at leading a jazz orchestra. Jones moved to Paris, France, in 1957 and put together a jazz orchestra that toured throughout Europe and North America. Though critically acclaimed, the tour did not make money, and Jones disbanded the orchestra. He became music director for Mercury Records in 1960, rising to vice president four years later. Also in 1964, he composed his first film score for Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker. After the success of that film, he left Mercury Records for Los Angeles to pursue what became a highly successful career as a film score composer. To date he has written scores for more than 35 films, including In Cold Blood, In the Heat of the Night, and The Italian Job. In addition to his film scoring, he also continued to produce and arrange sessions in the 1960s, notably for Frank Sinatra on his albums with Count Basie, It Might As Well Be Swing in 1964 and Sinatra at the Sands in 1966. He later produced Sinatra's L.A. Is My Lady album in 1984. Returning to the studio with his own work, he recorded a series of Grammy Award-winning albums between 1969 and 1981, including Walking in Space and You've Got It Bad, Girl. Following recovery from a near-fatal cerebral aneurysm in 1974, he focused on producing albums, most successfully with Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Thriller, and the "We Are the World" sessions to raise money for the victims of PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES Ethiopia's famine in 1985. In 1991, he coaxed Miles Davis into revisiting his 1950s orchestral collaborations with Gil Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival, conducting the orchestra for Davis' last concert. Jones holds the record for the most Grammy Award nominations at 79, of which he won 27. In the 1980s and 1990s, Jones ventured into filmmaking, co-producing with Steven Spielberg The Color Purple, and managing his own record label Qwest Records. In 2010, he received the National Medal of Arts. 2011 ornn PRODUCER WRITER Keepnews Bom March z. 1 gp3 in New York, NY R ecognized as one of the out- standing record producers in the jazz world, Orrin Keepnews co-founded Riverside Records in the early 1950s, launching or furthering the careers of several of the most notable names in jazz, beginning with such significant artists as Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, and Cannonball Adderley. He has long been at the forefront of producing reissues of both traditional and modem jazz recordings, and is also known for his informative, incisive, and extensively detailed liner notes. Graduating from Columbia University in 1943 and then serving in the Air Force, Keepnews returned to Columbia for graduate studies in 1946. Two years later, he became editor of The Record Changer magazine, which was newly owned by his former college classmate and noted jazz record collector, Bill Grauer. In 1952, Grauer and Keepnews founded Riverside, which originally focused on reissues of traditional jazz and blues recordings. In 1954, they signed pianist Randy Weston, their first modem jazz artist. From that point on, the label began to focus on the burgeoning modem jazz scene, with Keepnews doing the producing. Promising new artists such as Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Heath were signed to the label, quickly making Riverside a major force among the New York-based independent labels. But at the end of 1963, the label folded after the death of Grauer. Keepnews launched Milestone Records in 1966 with a new partner, pianist Dick Katz, attracting such high quality artists as Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz, and McCoy Tyner. In 1972, he relocated to San Francisco, heading jazz activities at Fantasy Records (which had acquired the Riverside catalog). Keepnews oversaw the reissue of many of the albums he had produced earlier in his career at Riverside, frequently including unissued alternate performances. He left Fantasy at the end of 1980 to concentrate on independent production and after a few years founded another label, Landmark Records. Among its first releases were two unique albums, one of PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RECORDING ACADEMY a.b. speLLman nea jazz MasTers Awa'rD fop jazz ADVOCaCY Thelonious Monk BRILLIANT CORNERS Riverside Records, 1 956 Bill Evans EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS Riverside Records, 1 958 Cannonball Adderley THE CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET IN SAN FRANCISCO Riverside Records, 1 959 Wes Montgomery THE INCREDIBLE JAZZ GUITAR OF WES MONTGOMERY Riverside Records, 1 960 compositions by Bill Evans and the other primarily involving Thelonious Monk material, both performed by the Kronos Quartet. He sold the company in 1993, but remains active in the recording industry, primarily by working on reissue and remastering compilations on compact disc. A substantial collection of his essays, album notes, reviews, and other commentaries was published in book form in 1988 as The View from Within: Jazz Writings, 1948-87. Keepnews has won four Grammy Awards: Best Album Notes for Bill Evans' The Interplay Sessions (1983); Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album for Thelonious Monk's The Complete Riverside Recordings (1987); and Best Historical Album for The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927- 1973) (1999). In 2004, he was awarded a NARAS Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement. McCoy Tyner FLYWITH THE WIND Milestone Records, 1976 83 l 99 1 ATIDY BANDLEADER SAXOPHONIST Bom May 28. 1898m Newport. KY • Died December 11,1 992 1936-1937 Classics, 1936-37 KANSAS CITY BOUNCE Black and Blue, 1939-40 1940-1942 Classics, 1940-42 CLOUDS FROM THE SOUTHWEST RCA, 1956 A ndy Kirk, though virtually unknown nowadays outside of jazz circles, led one of the hottest swing bands in the country during the 1930s, rivaling Basie's. His 1 band, the Clouds of Joy, also introduced some of the biggest names in jazz, most notably Mary Lou Williams. Kirk grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he came under the musical tutelage of Paul Whiteman's father, Wilberforce Whiteman. His first job, as bass saxophonist and tuba player, came with the George Morrison Orchestra in 1918. In 1925 he relocated to Dallas and joined Terence Holder's Dark Clouds of Joy. He took over the band in 1929, changing the name to the Clouds of Joy (sometimes known as the Twelve Clouds of Joy, depending on the number of musicians in the band). He moved the band to Kansas City, where they made their first recordings in 1929-30, including Mary Lou Williams' "Froggy Bottom," which has been covered countless times since. Kirk's band was highly popular, becoming — along with the Count Basie band, the Benny Mo ten Orchestra, and Jay McShann's band — one of the purveyors of the Kansas City swing sound. Particularly popular was their recording of "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" in 1936. Although the leader of the band, Kirk usually was not a soloist, and instead chose to spotlight the talent in his band instead. His genius lay in realizing how best to make use of his band members' skills. Realizing the awesome writing and arranging aptitude of Mary Lou Williams, for example, he made her the chief composer and arranger for the Clouds of Joy from 1929-42. Other notable band members who Kirk highlighted as soloists included Shorty Baker, Don Byas, Kenny Kersey, Howard McGhee, Fats Navarro, and Dick Wilson. The band continued to tour and record until disbanding in 1948. Kirk led another band in California in the early 1950s, then went into other professions. In the 1970s he led pickup bands on occasion, and spent the remainder of his life working for his Jehovah's Witness church. PHOTO COURTESY OF RAY AVERY PHOTO ARCHIVES/CTSIMAGES 3009 (OPHONIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR KOniTZ Bom October i3, / 927 m Chicago, IL In 1947, Konitz played with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra, where he met Gil Evans, who was then arranging for Thornhill. Evans brought Konitz along to participate in Miles Davis' nonet performances and recordings ( Birth of the Cool, 1948-50), considered the beginning point for what came to be called "cool jazz." Konitz went on to play with Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker's influential band and worked from 1952-53 in Stan Kenton's big band. From then on, he mainly led his own small groups, occasionally touring abroad. In the early 1960s, as opportunities for performances declined, Konitz withdrew from the music business and took on day work. He continued to develop his unique sound, however, occasionally working with such musicians as Paul Bley, Martial Solal, Charlie Haden, and Brad Mehldau. He also worked as a private teacher, conducting lessons by tape with students worldwide. Konitz joined with Wame Marsh, his fellow sideman from early Tristano sessions, to tour Europe and record in 1975-76; he also founded his own nonet and performed regularly during the 1980s. In 1992, Konitz won the prestigious Danish JAZZPAR Prize. With his insatiable musical curiosity, Konitz records in a variety of different settings. His later albums include French impressionist music with a string quartet ( Lee Konitz & The Axis String Quartet Play French Impressionist Music from the 20th Century), work with the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos ( Portology ), and an album with the big band Mark Masters Ensemble (One Day with Lee). Konitz divides his time between residences in the United States and Germany and continues to travel and perform around the globe. L ee Konitz is one of the more distinctive alto saxophonists in jazz since Charlie Parker (and one of the few that did not outright copy Parker's style), pairing his individual style and voice with a strong sense of innovation. Bom to an Austrian father and a Russian mother in Chicago, Konitz as a youth studied clarinet, then alto saxophone with various teachers. In the early 1940s, Konitz met noted pianist Lennie Tristano, under whose influence and tutelage Konitz's mature style in jazz began to emerge. His recordings with Tristano include the 1949 releases "Intuition" and "Digression" — precursors to the "free jazz" movement of the 1960s. SUBCONSCIOUS FEE Prestige/OJC, 1949-50 THE LEE KONITZ DUETS Mitestone/OJC, 1967 THE NEW YORK ALBUM Soul Note, 1 987 NEW NONET Omnitone, 2006 Lee Konitz-Ohad Talmor Big Band PORTOLOGY Omnitone, 2007 85 ■ 3010 SAXOPHONIST FLUTIST OBOIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR YUSeF LareeF Born October cj, <920 in Ch attanooga, TN EASTERN SOUNDS Prestige/OJC, 1961 LIVE AT PEP’S Impulse!, 1964 THE DOCTOR IS IN. . .AND OUT Atlantic, 1976 THE AFRICAN- AMERICAN EPIC SUITE Act, 1993 Yusef Lateef and Adam Rudolph IN THE GARDEN Meta/YAL, 2003 86 A virtuoso on the traditional jazz instruments of saxophone and flute, Yusef Lateef also brings a broad spectrum of sounds to his music through his 1 mastery of such Middle Eastern and Asian reed instruments as the bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, argol, sarewa, and taiwan koto. A major force on the international musical scene for more than six decades, he was one of the first to bring a world music approach to traditional jazz. Lateef was bom William Emanuel Huddleston in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and moved with his family to Detroit in 1925. In Detroit's fertile musical environment, Lateef established personal and musical relationships with such jazz legends as Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Milt Jackson, Barry Harris, the Jones brothers (Hank, Thad and Elvin), and Lucky Thompson. By the time he was 18 years old, he was touring professionally with swing bands led by Lucky Millinder, Roy Eldridge, Hot Lips Page, and Ernie Fields, performing under the name Bill Evans. In 1949, he was invited to perform with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra. At that time he converted to Islam and took the name by which he is now known: Yusef Lateef. From 1955-59 he led a quintet in Detroit that included Ernie Farrell, Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes, and Hugh Lawson. During that time, he began recording under his own name for Savoy Records. In 1960, he moved to New York City and joined Charles Mingus' band. He then performed and recorded with Cannonball Adderley from 1962-64. His albums as leader on Impulse! (1962-66) and Atlantic (1967-76) are considered some of his most exciting and diverse recordings. As a composer, Lateef has compiled a body of work for soloists, small ensembles, chamber and symphony orchestras, stage bands, and choirs. His extended works have been performed by orchestras in Germany and the United States— including the Atlanta, Augusta, and Detroit symphony orchestras — and the Symphony of the New World. In 1987, he won a Grammy Award for his recording Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony, on which Lateef played all the instruments. Lateef holds a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in music education from the Manhattan School of Music. From 1987 to 2002, he was a professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, from which he was awarded a doctorate in education. Lateef has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and Africa. His touring ensembles have included master musicians such as Kenny Barron, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Cedi McBee. 3011 HUBerr Laws AFRO-CLASSIC Mosaic Contemporary, 1 970 IN THE BEGINNING Columbia, 1974 PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN H ubert Laws is one of the very few to specialize on the flute in jazz, using it as his primary axe, and in doing so he has become the premier musician on the instrument. In three decades of playing, he has also mastered pop, rhythm-and-blues, and classical genres. Laws grew up in a musical family, with his grandfather playing the harmonica and his mother the piano (which influenced his siblings as well as Laws — his brother Ronnie is a well-regarded saxophonist and Eloise, Debra, and Johnnie are vocalists). Laws started on flute for his high school orchestra, initially to play the William Tell Overture. He also became enamored with jazz at this time, and began playing regularly with a Houston group that eventually became known as the Crusaders. Laws won a classical scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City, studying with master flutist Julius Baker. At the same time, he was gigging at night, playing with jazz and Latin musicians such as Mongo Santamaria, Lloyd Price, and John Lewis, as well as with classical orchestras such as Orchestra USA and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. In 1964, he began recording as a bandleader, amassing more than 20 albums to his name. Laws is also an accomplished session musician, and has worked on recordings with Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Sarah Vaughan, and Stevie Wonder, among others. He also worked on film scores for The Wiz and The Color Purple and collaborated on him soundtracks with Quincy Jones, Bob James, and Claude Bolling for California Suite and with Earl Klugh and Pat Williams on the music for How to Beat the High Cost of Living. In addition to his jazz work, Laws has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta, and with the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, and Los Angeles, and the Stanford String Quartet. He performed in a sold- out Hollywood Bowl concert with fellow flutist Jean- Pierre Rampal and in the same venue in 1982 with the Modem Jazz Quartet. While a member of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras, he also was featured at the Playboy Jazz Festival (Los Angeles), Kool Jazz Festival (Rhode Island), and Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. In addition he has recorded with opera singers Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle (on the 1991 release Spirituals in Concert). In 2006, a 30-year retrospective video on Laws was released with live performances. DownBeat readers' polls have selected him "Number One Flutist" for 12 years and a Critic's Choice for seven consecutive years. He has performed annually at Carnegie Hall. REMEMBERS THE UNFORGETTABLE NAT ‘KING’ COLE RK0.1998 MOONDANCE Savoy Jazz, 2003 FLUTE ADAPTATIONS OF RACHMANINOV & BARBER Spirit Productions, 2008 87 MANAGER BASSIST a.b. speLLman nea jazz MasTers AwarD fop jazz ADVOCaCY Stuff Smith THE 1943 TRIO Progressive, 1 943 Billie Holiday THE COMPLETE DECCA RECORDINGS GRP, 1944-50 Erroll Garner PENTHOUSE SERENADE Savoy, 1945 Billy Taylor 1945-49 Classics, 1 945-49 George Shearing COMPLETE SAVOY TRIO AND QUINTET SESSIONS Jazz Factory, 1 945-50 Bom April 11 , 191 ? in New Orleans, LA R enowned as a leading representative of jazz musicians, and as the first African American to work in the music industry as a personal manager, John Levy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1912. His mother was a midwife and nurse, and his father was an engine stoker on the railroad. When Levy was six, his family moved to Chicago, where a well- meaning schoolteacher would encourage him to find a steady job at the post office. He did work there for a while, but he also began gigging around town as a jazz bassist. In 1944, Levy left Chicago with the Stuff Smith Trio to play an extended engagement at the Onyx club on New York City's 52nd Street. Over the next years, he was to play with many jazz notables, including Ben Webster, Buddy Rich, Errol Gamer, Milt Jackson, and Billy Taylor, as well as with Billie Holiday at her comeback performance at Carnegie Hall in 1948. In 1949, George Shearing heard Levy play at Birdland with Buddy Rich's big band and hired him for his own group, which featured Buddy DeFranco. As Levy toured the country playing with the original George Shearing Quintet, he gradually took on the role of road manager. Finally, in 1951, Levy put aside performing to become the group's full-time manager, making music-industry history and establishing the career he would follow for the next half-century. Levy's client roster over the years has included Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Hack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Abbey Lincoln, Herbie Mann, Wes Montgomery, Carol Sloane, Joe Williams, and Nancy Wilson, as well as Arsenio Hall (the only comedian he has managed among some 100 entertainers). In recognition of his achievements, Levy has received awards such as a certificate of appreciation from Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (1991), induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (1997), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Los Angeles Jazz Society (2002). His autobiography. Men, Women, and Girl Singers: My Life as a Musician Turned Talent Manager, written with his wife Devra Hall, was published in 2001 and expanded into a photo book, Strollin': A Jazz Life through John Levy's Personal Lens, in 2008 on the occasion of his 96th birthday. PHOTO BY LEROY HAMILTON 88 3001 Bom May 3 , 1920 in La Grange , IL Died March 29 , 200 / J ohn Lewis' artistry flowered during his historic tenure as musical director of the longest continuing small ensemble in the annals of jazz, the Modem Jazz Quar- tet. It was in this group that he was able to realize his unique vision of fusing blues, bebop, and classical music into an artful, elegant balance. Lewis' mother was a primary musical influence during his younger years growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After high school, Lewis joined the Army in 1942, where he met drummer Kenny Clarke and trumpeter/bandleader Dizzy Gillespie. In 1946, Lewis and Clarke joined the rhythm section of Gillespie's pioneer big band, which included vibraphonist Milt Jackson and bassist Ray Brown. The Gillespie band provided a convenient canvas for Lewis to write compositions and craft arrangements, utilizing the talents of some of the finest young musicians in jazz. Lewis' first extended composition for Gillespie was his 1947 "Toccata for Trumpet," which premiered at Carnegie Hall. Other early contributions to the Gillespie book included Lewis' arrangements of the tunes "Two Bass Hit" and "Emanon." Coinciding with his work with the Gillespie band, Lewis continued his music studies at the Manhattan School of Music, eventually earning his master's degree in 1953. Lewis also worked with other jazz greats in between tours with Gillespie's band, including serving as pianist and arranger for the Miles Davis recording Birth of the Cool in 1950. In 1951, the Gillespie band rhythm section of 1946— Lewis, Clarke, Jackson, and Brown— reunited in the recording studio as the Milt Jackson Quartet, later becoming the Modem Jazz Quartet. By the time those recordings were issued, Percy Heath had replaced Brown. In 1954, the Modem Jazz Quartet began touring and Connie Kay replaced Clarke on drums the following year. During his more than 40 years with MJQ, Lewis honed his composing and arranging skills, experimenting with form and sound, while collaborating with guests ranging in diversity from Sonny Rollins to the Beaux Arts String Quartet to singer Diahann Carroll to full orchestras. Perhaps his most widely interpreted composition is "Django," which he wrote in honor of the legendary Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Throughout his career, Lewis wrote for a vast number of musical configurations in a dizzying array of styles, from solo piano to symphonies, from ballets to film and television scores. Lewis was part of the first wave of what composer Gunther Schuller dubbed the Third Stream — an effort at forging a third stream through the fusing of the two primary streams: jazz and European classical music. As an educator, he served as director of faculty at the Lenox School of Jazz, where he first championed Ornette Coleman; on the trustee board of the Manhattan School of Music; and in faculty positions at Harvard University and City College of New York. PHOTO BY RAY AVERY/CTSIMAGES Modern Jazz Quartet DJANGO Original Jazz Classics, 1953-55 GRAND ENCOUNTER Blue Note, 1 956 THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF JAZZ Atlantic, 1 960 KANSAS CITY BREAKS DRG.1982 PRIVATE CONCERT EmArcy, 1 990 89 PIANIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR BROADCASTER 2007 Ramsey Lewis Bom Mar 27, 19 % ui Chicago. IL THE IN CROWD Chess, 1 965 SUN GODDESS Columbia, 1974 Ramsey Lewis/Billy Taylor WE MEET AGAIN Columbia, 1988-89 APPAS S I ONATA Narada, 1 999 TAKING ANOTHER LOOK Men Beach Records, 201 1 90 PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN W ith a style that springs from his early gospel experi-ence, his classical training, and a deep love of jazz, pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis has built a decades-long career as one of America's most popular performers. Bom in Chicago, where he continues to make his home, he began taking piano lessons at the age of four and credits his teacher Dorothy Mendelsohn with awakening him to the communicative power of music. He recalls her telling him to "'Listen with your inner ear,' and 'Make the piano sing.' These concepts were revelations!" During these early years, though, Lewis had no experience with jazz, except for the records his father would play at home from artists such as Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, and Meade "Lux" Lewis. He was already 15, and an accomplished gospel pianist, when a fellow church musician, Wallace Burton, asked him to join his band and helped Lewis learn the fundamentals of jazz. With his very first trio album, Ramsey Lewis and the Gentlemen of Swing, Lewis captivated a large and diverse jazz audience. By 1965, he was one of the nation's most successful jazz pianists, topping the charts with "The Tri Crowd," "Hang On Sloopy," and "Wade in the Water." Since then, he has won three Grammy Awards and the Recording Academy Governor's Award (2000), and earned seven gold records and three honorary doctorates. Expanding his career through teaching, programming, and work in radio and television, he also has become an ambassador for jazz. Lewis has served as Art Tatum Professor in Jazz Studies at Roosevelt University; as artistic director of the Jazz at Ravinia series of the Ravinia Festival; and as host of a weekday morning drive- time radio show on Chicago's WNUA-FM, for which he has been awarded R&R's 1999 and 2000 Personality of the Year Award. He hosts the syndicated Legends of Jazz with Ramsey Lewis, a two-hour radio program that airs throughout the United States, and was the co-producer (with PBS television station WTTW-Chicago) and host of a television series of the same name, which featured emerging and estabbshed jazz musicians. Active in community affairs, especially on behalf of youth, Lewis helped organize the Ravinia Festival's Jazz Mentor Program. In recognition of his activities, he was featured as the "Person of the Week" on ABC Nightly News in February 1995 and received the prestigious Lincoln Academy of Illinois Laureate Award in Springfield, Illinois, in April 1997. He currently tours and performs with his own trio. [anniversaiT ! XOPHONIST FLUTIST EDUCATOR 2011 D3VID ueBman Bom September 4, 1946 in Brooklyn, NY d LOOKOUT FARM ECM Records, 1973 David Liebman & Richie Beirach MOSAIC SELECT Mosaic, 1 976-91 LONELINESS OF A LONGDISTANCE RUNNER CMP Records, 1 985 NEGATIVE SPACE Verve, 2005 LIEB PLAYS WEILL Daybreak, 2008 D avid Liebman has shown an ability to play in any style of jazz, especially on what has become his instrument of choice, the soprano sax. In addition, he has been a strong advocate of the music, having founded the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ), an organization dedicated to bringing together educators and students from jazz schools worldwide. He began classical piano lessons at age nine, soon switching to saxophone. His interest in jazz was sparked especially by hearing John Coltrane perform in various New York City clubs. Throughout high school and college, Liebman continued playing jazz, learning "from the street" as was the way before jazz education was more common, though he did spend periods studying with Joe Allard, Lennie Tristano, and Charles Lloyd. In the 1970s, Liebman came into his own, founding Free Life Communication, a cooperative of several dozen young musicians that became an integral part of the fertile New York Toft" jazz scene. He soon found a spot as saxophonist/flutist in drummer Elvin Jones' group, and then was hired by Miles Davis. Liebman played on Davis' last two recordings before the trumpeter's temporary retirement in the late 1970s, Get Up with It and On the Comer. At the same time, Liebman was also exploring his own music, beginning a long relationship with pianist Richie Beirach in the group Lookout Farm. In 1977, he toured internationally with pianist Chick Corea followed by forming the David Liebman Quintet, featuring guitarist John Scofield. In 1981, he founded Quest, a group that remained active with varying lineups until 1991 and has reunited in recent years. His work has continued to move in many unusual directions, with projects ranging from Puccini arias to overdubbed solo recordings, from adaptations of jazz standards to world music and fusion. Throughout his career, Liebman has been keen to work on the international jazz scene, playing with influential European musicians such as Joachim Kuhn, Daniel Humair, Paolo Fresu, Jon Christensen, and Bobo Stenson. In addition to serving as IASJ's artistic director, he is presently artist-in-residence at the Manhattan School of Music and lectures at universities and clinic settings all over the world. He also has received performance and teaching grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Canadian Arts Council. Additional educational activities include publishing instructional books and DVDs such as Self Portrait of A Jazz Artist, A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody, and Developing A Personal Saxophone Sound. Since 1973, he has consistently placed among the "Top Three" in the DownBeat critics' poll in the category of soprano saxophone; other awards include an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Finland and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France. PHOTO BY JAN PERSSON/CTSIMAGES VOCALIST COMPOSER FREEDOM NOW SUITE Candid, 1960 STRAIGHTAHEAD Candid, 1961 ABBEY SINGS BILLIE, VOL. 1&2 Enja, 1 987 THE WORLD IS FALLING DOWN Verve, 1 990 ABBEY SINGS ABBEY Verve, 2006 Bom August 6, u)3o in Chicago, IL Died August g, 2010 a place among the jazz luminaries. Bom in Chicago and raised in rural Michigan, Lincoln began performing while still in high school. In 1951, she moved to the West Coast, working under various names (Gaby Lee, Anna Marie, Gaby Wooldridge) before settling on Abbey Lincoln. She recorded her first album with jazz great Benny Carter in 1956 and appeared in the 1957 film, The Girl Can't Help It. Lincoln then recorded a series of albums for the Riverside label with drummer Max Roach, who had introduced her to the label's owner. Lincoln's collaborations with Roach (to whom she was married from 1962-70) lasted more than a decade, and included the seminal recording. We Insist! Freedom Now Suite in 1960. This was the beginning of a more In addition to her music, Lincoln also pursued acting, appearing in the films Nothing But A Man and For Love of Ivy and on television series, such as Mission: Impossible and The Flip Wilson Show. She also taught drama at the California State University. She did not record any albums as a leader from 1962-72, but made a grand return to jazz with her 1973 recording, People In Me, her first album of all original material. Lincoln returned to her influences in 1987, recording two albums in tribute to Billie Holiday, and then a series of recordings for Verve throughout the 1990s and 2000s that showcased her writing prowess. Her emotionally honest, mature style was present in every song she sang. ! 9 8 7 MCLBa T TOTnH = I 1 1 n Jl WJL JL i EDUCATOR for two of Gillespie's State Department tours in 1956 and 1957, which included performances of her arrangements of "Annie's Dance" and "Stella by Starlight." She started her own all-woman quintet in 1958, working in New York and Bermuda, before joining Quincy Jones' band in 1959 to play the musical Free and Easy. She stayed in Jones' touring band as one of two female members until 1961. In the 1950s, Liston began a partnership that she would return to on and off for more than 40 years. From the seminal 1959 recording Little Niles through 1998's Khepera, Liston was the arranger on many of Randy Weston's albums. Her arrangements, with a powerful base of brass and percussion and expressive solo performances, helped shape and embellish Weston's compositions. During the 1960s, Liston also co-led a band with trumpeter Clark Terry, and wrote for the Duke Hlington orchestra, singers Tony Bennett and Eddie Fisher, and the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra. During the 1970s, she worked with youth orchestras in Los Angeles, continuing to write for Basie, Ellington, and singer Abbey Lincoln. Liston also became a staff arranger for the Motown label. Later that decade she took up residence in Jamaica, where she taught at the University of the West Indies and was director of Popular Music Studies at the Jamaica Institute of Music. Slowed by a stroke in 1985, which effectively ended her playing career, she was able to resume work as a composer and arranger in the 1990s through the aid of computer technology. Liston's career helped pave the way for women in jazz in roles other than as vocalists. A lthough a formidable trombone player, Melba Liston was primarily known for her composition and arrangements, especially those she worked on with Randy Weston. Growing up mostly in Los Angeles, some of her first work came during the 1940s with two West Coast masters: bandleader Gerald Wilson and tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon. In Gordon's small combos, she began to blossom as a trombone soloist, and Gordon wrote "Mischievous Lady" as a tribute to her. Despite her obvious talent as a soloist, Liston became an in-demand big band section player, which likely fueled her later work as an arranger. During the 1940s, Liston also worked with the Count Basie band and with Billie Holiday. Following a brief hiatus from music, she joined Dizzy Gillespie's bebop big band in 1950, and again Bom January i3, nyzB in Kansas City, MO Died April z3 , 1999 Dizzy Gillespie DIZZY IN SOUTH AMERICA, VOL. 1 & 2 CAP, 1956 AND HER ’BONES Fresh Sounds Records, 1956-58 Quincy Jones Q LIVE IN PARIS Warner Brothers, 1960 Randy Weston TANJAH Verve, 1973 Randy Weston/Melba Liston VOLCANO BLUES Verve, 1993 93 COMPOSER ARRANGER TRUMPETER TROMBONIST Original Soundtrack Recording I WANT TO LIVE Rykodisc, 1 958 Frank Sinatra RING-A- DING-DING! Reprise, 1 960 Anita O’Day TRAV'LIN’ LIGHT Verve, 1961 Original Soundtrack Recording M*A*S*H Columbia, 1970 Shirley Horn HERE’S TO LIFE Verve, 1 992 94 2011 BomNovemberg3, igg^inNewYork,NY J ohnny Mandel is considered one of the nation's top composer/arrangers in jazz, pop, and film music. The breadth and quality of his work made it possible to be recorded by a wide variety of jazz musicians and singers. Mandel's parents discovered that he— at the age of five — had perfect pitch, and started him on piano lessons. He eventually moved on to playing horns ("I wanted to play an instrument you could kiss," he is quoted as saying), studying at the Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard School, both in New York City. In the 1940s, he played the trumpet with Joe Venuti and Billy Rogers, and trombone in the orchestras of Boyd Rayburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Buddy Rich, Georgie Auld, and Chubby Jackson. From 1951-53, he played and arranged music in the band of Elliott Lawrence and Count Basie. Later he relocated to Los Angeles, where he played the bass trumpet for Zoot Sims. He also showed a prowess for composing, writing the jazz compositions "Not Really the Blues" for Woody Herman, "Hershey Bar" and "Pot Luck" for Stan Getz, "Straight life" and "Low Life" for Count Basie, and "Tommyhawk" for Chet Baker. Mandel moved to Hollywood in 1957 and began working on film scores, utilizing his outstanding compositional and arranging gifts. His score for the Susan Hayward movie I Want To Live is considered the first time that jazz had been integrated successfully into a musical score. He went on to earn a reputation as a film composer/arranger, including two of his more famous numbers: "Suicide Is Painless," which was used as the theme for the movie M*A*S*H (whose soundtrack includes a version played by Ahmad Jamal), and "The Shadow of Your Smile" for the movie The Sandpiper, which won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Song. He has provided music for more than 30 films, including The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! and Being There. By the early 1960s, Mandel's reputation was such that the biggest names in jazz and pop wanted to work with him. Frank Sinatra chose him as arranger for his 1961 release Ring-a-Ding-Ding! In 1966, he PHOTO BY CAROL FRIEDMAN served as musical director on Tony Bennett's The Movie Song Album and collaborated again more recently, on Bennett's album The Art of Romance (2004). Other singers who have sought his talents out include Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, and Nancy Wilson. Mandel has received five Grammy Awards: Song of the Year for Tony Bennett's performance of "The Shadow of Your Smile" and Best Original Score for The Sandpiper (both 1965), Best Arrangment on an Instrumental Recording for Quincy Jones' song "Velas" (1981), Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) for Natalie Cole's Unforgettable (1991) and for Shirley Horn's Here's to Life (1992). Left to right: Ellis, Wynton, Delfeayo, Jason, and Brandford. PHOTO BY JOS L. KNAEPEN ELLIS PIANIST, EDUCATOR Bom November 14, nj 3 g in New Orleans, LA BranForD saxophonist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator Bom, August 26. i960 in Breaux Bridge, LA WYTLTOn TRUMPETER, COMPOSER, ARRANGER, BANDLEADER, EDUCATOR Bom October 1 8, 1961 in New Orleans, LA DeLFeaYO TROMBONIST, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR Bom July 28, 1965 in New Orleans. LA Jason DRUMMER, VIBRAPHONIST Bom March 4, 1977 in New Orleans, LA I t is perhaps not surprising that the first group award of the NEA Jazz Masters has gone to the Marsalis family, which boasts five members who have impacted the field of jazz. The story starts in New Orleans, with the birth of Elis, Jr. in 1934. Although the city was noted for Dixieland and rhythm-and-blues, Elis was more interested in bebop. In addition to his skillful piano playing, he became the director of jazz studies at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school in 1974, mentoring such contemporary artists as Terence Blanchard, and Harry Connick, Jr. (Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason attended the center as well). Later, he headed the jazz studies department of the University of New Orleans for 12 years. In 2008, Elis was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. The story doesn't end with Elis though — four of his sons continued in the family business of music, including Branford and Wynton, both whom started out in Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers and then began working together on albums that introduced some of the emerging stars in the music: Marcus Roberts, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, and Wessell Anderson, among others. For two years during the 1990s, Branford was the musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, making jazz more widely known to the general public. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Branford teamed with Harry Connick, Jr. and Habitat for Humanity to create Musicians' Village in the city's Upper Ninth Ward to assist New Orleans musicians. In 1996, Wynton co-founded Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), becoming its artistic director and music director of the JALC Orchestra. In 1997, he became the first jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work Blood on the Fields. In addition to numerous awards and honorary doctorates he received, Wynton was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2005. Younger brother Delfeayo has proven himself a well-regarded jazz producer, working with various family members throughout the years. His insistence upon recording "without usage of the dreaded bass direct" for Branford in the 1980s was the key element to the change in jazz recording techniques over the past 20 years. As a noted trombonist, Delfeayo has also played on his brothers' albums as well as fronting his own band. Jason, the youngest of the Marsalis sons, took up drumming at age six and began sitting in with his father's band at age seven, then made his recording debut at age 13 on Delfeayo's Pontius Pilate's Decision. He joined the band Los Hombres Calientes with Irvin Mayfield and Bill Summers in 1998, playing on their first two albums, which blended Afro-Cuban and Latin American elements with jazz. The Marsalis family, together and individually, have made significant contributions to the preservation of jazz, the expansion of the art form, and the education of students of jazz. Ellis Marsalis THE CLASSIC ELLIS MARSALIS Boplicity, 1 963 Wynton Marsalis STANDARD TIME VOL. 3- THE RESOLUTION OL ROMANCE Columbia, 1990 Ellis & Branford Marsalis LOVED ONES Columbia, 1 995 THE MARSALIS FAMILY: A JAZZ CELEBRATION Marsalis Music, 2001 MUSIC REDEEMS Marsalis Music, 2009 95 2oo8 COMPOSER ARRANGER TROMBONIST EDUCATOR Tom MCinTOSH Bom February 6, igg^ in Baltimore, MD James Moody HEY! IT’S JAMES MOODY Argo/Lone Hill Jazz, 1 956-59 The Jazztet AT BIRDHOUSE Argo, 1961 Thad Jones/ Mel Lewis Orchestra THE COMPLETE SOLID STATE RECORDINGS Mosaic, 1 966-70 Milt Jackson AND THE HIP STRING QUARTET Verve, 1 968 WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: THE MUSIC OF TOM MCINTOSH IPO Recordings, 2003 96 T hough not well known outside of jazz circles, the unique voice of composer and arranger Tom "Mac" McIntosh made him a favorite of Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Milt Jackson, and Tommy Flanagan, among other jazz giants. McIntosh was bom and raised in Baltimore. After a stint with the Army, he attended Juilliard and later became an active participant in the New York jazz scene as a trombone player and composer. He was a member of the famous Jazztet, formed by Benny Golson and Art Farmer, and was one of the founders of the New York Jazz Sextet. Many outstanding New York-based instrumentalists of the 1950s and '60s migrated in and out of the band, including Thad Jones, Art Farmer, James Moody, Tommy Ranagan, Roland Hanna, and Richard Davis. McIntosh and Moody have a long history of friendship and collaboration that dates to the 1950s when McIntosh played and wrote for Moody's bands and provided arrangements for some of Moody's 1960s recordings. He also wrote and arranged for Milt Jackson, including his And the Hip String Quartet album, and was a favorite of Dizzy Gillespie, who featured three of McIntosh's songs on his Something Old, Something New recording. McIntosh was an original member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, to which he contributed songs and arrangements. He was also much admired by Tommy Ranagan, who often noted that McIntosh was his favorite composer, recording several of his songs. When jazz's popularity waned towards the end on the 1960s, McIntosh went to Hollywood as a film composer for two Gordon Parks' films. The Learning Tree and Shaft. He remained in California for the next 20 years as a music director for films and TV. Finally tiring of Hollywood, McIntosh returned to the East Coast in the 1990s, teaching at various conservatories, including as music director of the Thelonious Monk Institute at the New England Conservatory of Music. He also continued to write music. In 2004, he released his first recording under his own name (at the age of 77), with a second volume of his works forthcoming. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 2001 ‘XOPHONIST COMPOSER EDUCATOR TacKie McLean Bom May 17, icj 3 i in New York, NY Died March 3 1,2006 K nown in the jazz community as "Jackie Mac," Jackie McLean was a stalwart, enduring force in jazz since the early 1950s, and a distinguished educator since 1968. Possessing one of the most recognizable alto saxophone sounds and styles, he explored the cutting edge of jazz creativity. McLean grew up in a musical family: his father was a guitarist for bandleader Tiny Bradshaw and his stepfather owned a record store. By age 15, he chose the alto saxophone as his instrument. McLean's earliest studies came through the tutelage of Foots Thomas, Cedi Scott, Joe Napoleon, and Andy Brown in his native New York. Another of his informal teachers was piano master Bud Powell. McLean's most significant early band affiliation came during the years 1948-49, when he joined a Harlem neighborhood band led by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and including pianist Kenny Drew. McLean's stints with the Miles Davis band, between 1949-53, yielded his first recording sessions as a sideman and marked the beginning of what became known as hard bop, an advanced progression on bebop. During McLean's busiest period as a sideman in the 1950s, he worked with pianist George Wallington, drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and bassist Charles Mingus. McLean's first recording as a leader came in 1955, when he cut a quintet date for the Ad Lib label. His intense playing has fit in well with both hard bop and the avant-garde, two schools of jazz in which McLean has experimented. Throughout the 1960s, McLean continued to work with his own bands and occasional all-star aggregations, but also became more interested in social issues. In 1959-60 he acted in the off- Broadway play The Connection, a cautionary tale dealing with jazz and the perils of drug abuse, which evolved into a 1961 film. In 1967 he took his music into prisons, working as a music instructor and counselor. Then in 1968, he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to take a teaching position at Hartt College of Music of the University of Hartford. It was in Hartford that McLean and his wife Dollie founded the Artists Collective, a widely hailed combination community center/fine arts school, primarily aimed at troubled youth. The Artists Collective opened a beautiful new building in 1999 following years of residence in a former schoolhouse in one of Hartford's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. At the University of Hartford, McLean established the school's African American Music Department and subsequent Jazz Studies degree program, which was renamed the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz on November 17, 2000. The program has instructed a number of exceptional young jazz musicians, including saxophonist Antoine Roney, drummer Eric MacPherson, trombonist Steve Davis, and pianist Alan Palmer. 4, 5 AND 6 Original Jazz Classics, 1 956 NEW SOIL Blue Note, 1959 LET FREEDOM RING Blue Note, 1962 THE JACKIE MAC ATTACK LIVE Verve, 1991 NATURE ROY Blue Note, 2000 97 2000 Marian _ McparTLanD BROADCASTER Bom March ?o, lyi 8 in Slough, England JAZZ AT THE HICKORY HOUSE Jasmine, 1 954 MARIAN MCPARTLAND’S PIANO JAZZ WITH GUEST DAVE BRURECK Jazz Alliance, 1984 PLAYS THE BENNY CARTER SONGBOOK Concord, 1990 JUST FRIENDS Concord, 1998 85 CANDLES- LTVE IN NEW YORK Concord, 2003 B est known as the host of the weekly national radio program Piano Jazz, Marian McPartland has helped to popularize jazz with her intricate knowledge and prowess on the piano. She has made the program one of the most popular in the history of public radio. Bom to a musical mother who played classical piano, she studied at the famed Guildhall School of Music in London. Her first professional activity was as part of a touring vaudeville act featuring four pianists. During World War II, she entertained the troops and while playing in Belgium met her late husband, cometist Jimmy McPartland, whom she married in 1945. They relocated to the U.S. in 1946, whereupon she performed in his band in Chicago. She formed her first active trio in 1950 for an engagement at the Embers in New York. Two years later, she began what would be an eight-year residency at the Hickory House in New York with her trio. In 1963, she worked with the Benny Goodman Sextet, and in 1965 she began her radio career, at WBAI in New York. In 1970 she started her own record company, Halcyon Records, one of the first jazz women to do so. In 1979, she began her weekly radio show Piano Jazz, which — after 30 years of continuous programming — has become the longest-running syndicated National Public Radio program, and led to McPartland's induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007. An intimate program involving just her and a guest — usually a pianist — the program has won numerous awards, including the Peabody Award. Many of the programs have been subsequently released on compact disc. As part of the segments, McPartland interviews the guest, drawing out colorful anecdotes and stories about their careers. The shows also include performances of McPartland and the guest together. Taken as a whole, the series presents a formidable history of jazz. Her playing career has also included piano tours with such greats as Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Ellis Larkins, PHOTO BY MELISAGOH and Benny Carter. She has performed with symphony orchestras and at many of the major jazz festivals, and has received numerous awards, including a DownBeat Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. McPartland has received several honorary doctorates as well as a Grammy Trustee's Award for lifetime achievement. She also authored The Artistry of Marian McPartland, a collection of transcriptions, and Marian McPartland's Jazz World: All in Good Time, a collection of her jazz profiles. VOCALIST PIANIST carmen McRae Bom April 8, 1920 in New York, NY Died November 10,1 994 T ender and warm with a ballad, Carmen McRae was one of the great singers of jazz, finding the depth of feeling in the lyrics of the songs she interpreted. An accomplished pianist who in her early career accompanied herself, she occasionally returned to the piano later in her career. McRae learned piano through private lessons and was discovered by Irene Wilson Etchings, a musician and former wife of pianist Teddy Wilson. McRae sang with the Benny Carter, Count Basie, and Mercer Ellington big bands during the 1940s and made her recorded debut as Carmen Clarke while the wife of drummer Kenny Clarke. During the bebop revolution at Minton's Playhouse, McRae was an intermission pianist. The Playhouse is likely where she first heard Thelonious Monk's music, which influenced her piano playing and musical sense. In the early 1950s, she worked with the Mat Mathews Quintet. She signed her first significant recording contract with Decca in 1954. Working as a soloist, she gained wide recognition and was often seen in the pantheon of jazz singers that included Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, whom she idolized and later paid homage to on a recording. Her greatest idol was Billie Holiday, whom she feted on records and in performances on many occasions. Although she admired these singers, she never resorted to sheer mimicry and developed her own original style. Notably, she recorded alongside Louis Armstrong on Dave Brubeck's extended work The Real Ambassadors, a social commentary written with his wife Iola. She made several film and television appearances, and performed as an actress in the landmark television miniseries Roots. In the late 1980s, she returned to her first love, recording a full album of Monk's music with lyrics by Jon Hendricks, Abbey Lincoln, Mike Ferro, Sally Swisher, and Bemie Hanighen. The album became one of her signature recordings. McRae performed many times at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, and the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, where she shared the stage with Dizzy Gillespie and Phil Woods. She was forced to retire for health reasons in 1991. EN MCRAE SINGS GREAT AMERICAN SONGWRITERS IRP/Dfcca, 1 955-59 INGS LOVER MAN & OTHER BILLIE HOLIDAY CLASSICS Columbia, 1961 AT THE GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL Blue Note, 1 976 CARMEN ^SfNGSMONK ^ Novus, 1988 ^ SARAH- DEDICATED TO YOU Novus, 1990 99 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER lanmversarY PIANIST VOCALIST BANDLEADER BLUES FROM KANSAS CITY MCA, 1941-43 1944-46 Classics, 1 944-46 VINE STREET BOOGIE Black Lion, 1974 A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE PARKER Music Masters, 1989 HOOTIE! Chiaroscuro, 1997 100 1987 KScsHann Bom January 12,, 1 91 6 in Muskogee, OK Died December 7 , 2006 F or better or worse, Jay McShann was tied to the legend of Charlie Parker. Parker's first real professional work was with McShann's Kansas City band, and McShann was credited with helping Parker to hone his talents. Arguably more important, McShann— along with Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy, the Bennie Moten Orchestra, and the great Count Basie bands— shaped and developed the Kansas City swing sound that was so popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Known in jazz circles as "Hootie," McShann is for the most part a self-taught artist, though he did attend Tuskegee Institute. He developed a piano style that drew heavily on blues and boogie woogie. McShann's earliest professional job came with tenor saxophonist Don Byas in 1931. Following his days at Tuskegee, McShann played in bands in Oklahoma and Arkansas prior to joining a trio with bassist Oliver Todd and drummer Elmer Hopkins in late 1936 in Kansas City. In subsequent months, he worked with alto saxophonist Buster Smith and trumpeter Dee Stewart before forming a sextet in 1937. In late 1939, McShann put together his first big band. His recording career commenced in 1941 with the Decca label, often featuring blues singer Walter Brown. McShann's first New York appearance, at the Savoy Ballroom, came in February 1942. His band during the height of his popularity included such notables as Parker, bassist Gene Ramey, drummer Gus Johnson, and saxophonists Paul Quinichette and Jimmy Forrest, all of whom McShann used brilliantly as soloists. Following service in the Army, McShann reformed his band, which played New York spots and traveled west to California. Towards the end of the 1940s, McShann's small band fronted blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon. In the early 1950s, McShann moved his home base back to Kansas City. In the 1970s and 1980s, McShann experienced a bit of a renaissance, with increased recording and performing opportunities, often with Kansas City violinist Claude "Fiddler" Williams. A biographical film, Hootie's Blues, was made in 1978, and McShann was featured in The Last of the Blue Devils, a film about Kansas City jazz shot between 1974 and 1979. In addition, he was one of the featured players in Clint Eastwood's documentary Piano Blues (2003). tXOPHONIST FLUTIST VOCALIST EDUCATOR 1998 yames MOODY Bom March 26, 1925 in Savannah, GA Died December 9 , 2010 O ne of the champions of Dizzy Gillespie's music, James Moody was an accomplished musician on the tenor and alto saxophones, as well as the flute, despite being bom partially deaf. In addition to his instrumental prowess, Moody was an engaging entertainer, captivating audiences with his personal charm and wit. Although bom in Savannah, he was raised in Newark, New Jersey. His interest in jazz was sparked by a trumpet-playing father who gigged in the Tiny Bradshaw band. Moody took up the alto sax, a gift from his uncle, at the age of 16, and received his first musical training in the Air Force. After leaving the service in 1946, he joined the Dizzy Gillespie big band, staying until 1948. Gillespie became his musical mentor. In 1949, Moody moved to Paris for three years, often playing with visiting American musicians, including the Tadd Dameron-Miles Davis band. In Sweden he recorded his famous improvisation on "I'm in the Mood For Love" in 1949, playing on an alto saxophone instead of his usual tenor. His solo was later set to lyrics by Eddie Jefferson and recorded by King Pleasure. Known as "Moody's Mood for Love," it became a surprise hit in 1952. Throughout the rest of his career, Moody was better known for the vocal version of the song, and obliged requests for the song by singing his famous solo. Through the 1950s and 1960s, he led his own bands, and worked alongside other saxophonists, notably Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, with whom he co-led a three-tenor sax band. In 1963 he returned to the Dizzy Gillespie small group, where he largely remained until 1971. In 1975, he moved to Las Vegas and worked numerous hotel and casino shows with singers and comics, picking up the clarinet along the way. In 1979, he left Las Vegas and moved back to New York to lead his own quintet. Then in 1989 he moved to San Diego, working as a consummate soloist and member of all-star touring units. In the 1990s, he teamed up again with his lifelong friend Dizzy Gillespie to tour Europe and the United States as a member of the United Nations Orchestra. He continually experimented with his music, sometimes including synthesizers and strings on his recordings. Demand for his musicianship extended to college and university campuses for master classes, workshops, and lectures, and he received honorary doctoral degrees from the Florida Memorial College and the Berklee College of Music. In 1997, he played an acting role in the Clint Eastwood film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In 2010, he was honored with the Jazz Journalists Award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz. PHOTO BY VANCE JACOBS JAMES MOODY AND HIS SWEDISH CROWNS Dragon, 1949 LAST TRAIN FROM OVERBROOK GRP/Chess, 1954-55 MOODY’S PARTY Telarc, 1 995 MOODY PLAYS MANCINI Warner Brothers, 1 997 James Moody and Hank Jones OUR DELIGHT IPO, 2008 101 2007 JAZZ HISTORIAN ARCHIVIST AUTHOR EDITOR EDUCATOR Dan Morcensrern a.b. speLLman | nea fazz Masxers AwarDFor jazz ADVOCaCY I 1976 (reprinted by Da Capo Press, 1 993) LOUIS ARMSTRONG: A CULTURAL LEGACY (WITH DONALD BOGLE, RICHARD A . LONG, AND MARC H. MILLER) University of Washington Press, 1994 LIVING WITH JAZZ: A READER, ED. SHELDON MEYER Pantheon, 2004 Bom October 24, i 929 in Munich, Germany D irector of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University since 1976, Dan Morgenstem is a jazz historian and archivist, author, editor, and educator who has been active in the jazz field since 1958. The Institute of Jazz Studies is the largest collection of jazz-related materials anywhere. Bom in Germany and reared in Austria and Denmark, Morgenstem came to the United States in 1947. He was chief editor of DownBeat from 1967 to 1973, and served as New York editor from 1964; prior to that time he edited the periodicals Metronome and Jazz. Morgenstem is co- editor of the Annual Review Of Jazz Studies and the monograph series Studies In Jazz, published jointly by the US and Scarecrow Press, and author of Jazz People. He has been jazz critic for the New York Post, record reviewer for the Chicago Sun Times, and New York correspondent and columnist for England's Jazz Journal and Japan's Swing Journal. He has contributed to reference works including the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Dictionary of American Music, African-American Almanac, and Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year; and to such anthologies as Reading Jazz, Setting The Tempo, The Louis Armstrong Companion, The Duke Ellington Reader, The Miles Davis Companion, and The Lester Young Reader. Morgenstem has taught jazz history at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Brooklyn College (where he was also a visiting professor at the Institute for Studies in American Music), New York University, and the Schweitzer Institute of Music in Idaho. He served on the faculties of the Institutes in Jazz Criticism, jointly sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the Music Critics Association, and is on the faculty of the Masters Program in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University. Morgenstem is a former vice president and trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; was a co- founder of the Jazz Institute of Chicago; served on the boards of the New York Jazz Museum and the American Jazz Orchestra; and is a director of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation and the Mary Lou Williams Foundation. He has been a member of Denmark's International JAZZPAR Prize Committee since its inception in 1989. A prolific annotator of record albums, Morgenstem has won seven Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes (1973, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1991, 1995, 2006, and 2009). He received ASCAFs Deems Taylor Award for Jazz People in 1977 and in 2005 for Living with Jazz. PHOTO BY TOM PICH 102 *997 Anna O’DRY VOCALIST Bom October 18,191 9 in Chicago, IL • Died November ? 3 , 2006 A nita O'Day's unique sound and swinging rhythmic sense put her in the upper echelon of jazz singers, as skillful with ballads as with scatting and liberal 1 interpretations of standard songs. Her career spanned the late swing and bebop eras, inspiring many singers who followed her, such as June Christy, Chris Connor, and Helen Merrill. She began her performing career as a ballroom dance contest winner in the 1930s, which is when she adopted the stage name O'Day. At 19, she began singing professionally in clubs around Chicago. PHOTO BY RAY AVERY /CTSIMAGES In 1941 she joined Gene Krupa's big band, recording a memorable duet with Roy Eldridge on "Let Me Off Uptown," one of the first interracial vocal duets on record. She also may have been the first feminist big band singer, refusing to appear in the standard gown and gloves, instead opting for a band jacket and short skirt. She stayed with the Krupa band until 1943, and joined Stan Kenton's band in 1944. She then re-joined Krupa in 1945, remaining there until 1946, when she began a solo career. In the mid-1950s she made several notable albums for the Verve label, demonstrating the power of her vocals. In 1958 her appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, replete with characteristic big hat, caused a sensation. She provided one of the highlights of the subsequent film of the festival. Jazz on a Summer's Day. From that point on she worked mainly on the club circuit with her own groups. Always a hit in Japan, she made her first tour there in 1964, returning on several occasions. Frustrated with record label indifference to her artistry, she developed her own record labels. In the 1980s and 1990s, she continued to work the club and jazz festival circuits, including notable performances at the Vine Street Bar & Grill in Los Angeles in 1992. She was also honored with a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1985 to celebrate her 50 years in jazz. A documentary about the singer's life, Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer, won a 2008 Satellite Award from the International Press Academy. THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS, 1949-50 Baldwin Street Music, 1949-50 SWINGS COLE PORTER WITH BILLY MAY Verve, 1952-59 ANITA SINGS THE WINNERS Verve, 1956-62 ANITA SINGS THE MOST Verve, 1 957 RULES OF THE ROAD Pablo, 1993 103 1984 DRUMMER COMPOSER BANDLEADER Clifford Brown and Max Roach AT BASIN STEET EmArcy, 1956 WE INSIST! FREEDOM NOW SUITE Candid, 1 960 M’BOOM Columbia, 1 979 TO THE MAX Rhino, 1990-91 EXPLORATIONS TOTHEMTH DEGREE Slam, 1994 104 Max ROaCH Bom January 10, 1924 in New Land, NC Died August 16, 2,007 M ax Roach was one of the two leading drummers of the bebop era (along with Kenny Clarke) and was one of the leading musicians, composers, and bandleaders in jazz since the 1940s. His often biting political commentary and strong intellect, not to mention his rhythmic innovations, kept him at the vanguard of jazz for more than 50 years. Roach grew up in a household where gospel music was quite prominent. His mother was a gospel singer and he began drumming in a gospel ensemble at age ten. Roach's formal study of music took him to the Manhattan School of Music. In 1942, he became house drummer at Monroe's Uptown House, enabling him to play and interact with some of the giants of the bebop era, such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Bud Powell. Roach would later record with Parker, Gillespie, Powell, and bassist Charles Mingus at the historic Massey Hall concert in 1953. Throughout the 1940s, Roach continued to branch out in his playing, drumming with Benny Carter, Stan Getz, Allen Eager, and Miles Davis. In 1952, he and Mingus collaborated to create their own record label, Debut Records. In 1954, Roach began a short-lived but crucial band with incendiary trumpeter Clifford Brown. This historic band, which ended abruptly with Brown's tragic death in 1956, also included saxophonists Harold Land and Sonny Rollins. In the late 1950s, Roach began adding political commentary to his recordings, starting with Deeds Not Words, but coming into sharper focus with We Insist! Freedom Now Suite in 1960, on which he collaborated with singer-lyricist Oscar Brown, Jr. From then on he became an eloquent spokesman in the area of racial and political justice. Roach continued to experiment with his sound, eschewing the use of the piano or other chording instruments in his bands for the most part from the late 1960s on. His thirst for experimentation led to collaborations with seemingly disparate artists, including duets with saxophonist Anthony Braxton and pianist Cecil Taylor, as well as partnerships with pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and saxophonist Archie Shepp. As a drum soloist he had few peers in terms of innovations, stemming from his deeply personal sound and approach. His proclivities in the area of multiethnic percussion flowered with his intermittent percussion ensemble M'Boom, founded in 1970. A broad-based percussionist who was a pioneer in estabbshing a fixed pulse on the ride cymbal instead of the bass drum, Roach also collaborated with voice, string, and brass ensembles, lectured on college campuses extensively, and composed music for dance, theater, film, and television. XOPHONIST COMPOSER 1983 somiY ROT, Tins Bom September/, uj3oin New York, NY W ith more than 50 years in jazz, Theodore "Sonny" Rollins' towering achievements on the tenor saxophone are many, and he continues to be one of the most exciting and fiery players in concert. Inspired by the example of his brother's pursuit of music, Rollins began piano lessons at age nine. At 14 he picked up the alto saxophone, and switched to the tenor two years later. Soon he was playing dances in a band of youngsters in his New York community, which included Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew, and Art Taylor. Rollins' first recording was made alongside the bop singer Babs Gonzales in 1949. Later that year he played at sessions with J.J. Johnson and Bud Powell, recording his song "Audubon" with Johnson. In the 1950s, Rollins began by serving as a sideman on sessions with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Art Fanner, and the Modem Jazz Quartet. In late 1955, while living in Chicago, he began one of his most fruitful band affiliations when he stood in for Harold Land in the superb Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet at the Bee Hive club. He remained a regular member until Brown's tragic June 1956 death from an auto accident. Rollins continued to record, mainly for Prestige, where his output was some of the finest music recorded in the mid-1950s on any label. Among the highlights during this period were Tenor Madness, which included an encounter with John Coltrane; Saxophone Colossus, a sparkling album that introduced his most noted composition, "St. Thomas," which honored his parents' Virgin Islands roots; and Way Out West, which took seemingly mundane songs like "I'm an Old Cowhand" and spun them out with extraordinary improvisations. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER By 1959, Rollins had grown impatient with the vagaries of the jazz scene and took a hiatus. He would often practice his horn deep into the night on the upper reaches of the Williamsburg Bridge, which crosses the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn. In 1961 he returned to the scene, refreshed and playing better than ever. He made a series of recordings for the RCA label with musicians such as Jim Hall, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Herbie Hancock, and also began his long-term employment of bassist Bob Cranshaw. In London in 1966, he composed and recorded a soundtrack album for the film Alfie for the Impulse! label, which brought him some popularity beyond jazz audiences. By 1968 Rollins again required a break from the scene, returning in 1971. He has been playing and growing ever since, working almost exclusively on concert stages. Rollins' recordings have continued to reflect his interest in Caribbean rhythms, particularly the calypso. In 2010, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded the National Medal of Arts. A NIGHT AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD Blue Note, 1 957 THE COMPLETE RCA VICTOR RECORDINGS RCA Victor, 1962-64 SILVER CITY Milestone, 1972-95 WITHOUT A SONG: THE 9/11 CONCERT Milestone, 2001 ROAD SHOWS, VOL. 2 Doxy Records, 201 0 105 3010 Annie VOCALIST LYRICIST Bom July ig3o in Surrey, England Lambert, Hendricks & Ross TWISTED: THE BEST OF LAMBERT, HENDRICKS & ROSS Rhino, 1957-61 SINGS A SONG WITH MULLIGAN! EMI, 1958 SINGS A HANDFUL OF SONGS Fresh Sound, 1963 MUSIC IS FOREVER DRG.1995 LET ME SING Consolidated Artists Productions, 2005 A s part of the vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Annie Ross was one of the early practitioners of a singing style known as "vocalese," which involves the setting l of original lyrics to an instrumental jazz solo. She has been equally at home in the acting field, appearing in numerous films. Ross was bom in England, but raised in Los Angeles. She landed a role in the Our Gang film series at the age of eight, singing a musical number on the show. Returning to Europe, she began her singing career, working with musicians such as James Moody, Kenny Clarke, and Coleman Hawkins. Ross returned to the United States in 1952, settling in New York City, and soon recorded Singin' and Swingin' with members of the Modem Jazz Quartet. Later that year she recorded an album with vocalist King Pleasure, including the classic example of vocalese, "Twisted," which featured her treatment of saxophonist Warded Gray's solo. It is perhaps her most famous song and has been recorded by Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler, and many others. In 1953, Ross toured Europe with Lionel Hampton's band, which included Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, and Quincy Jones. After several years in Europe, she returned to the States where she teamed up with vocalists Dave Lambert and Jon Hendricks on an album of Count Basie solos transposed for vocals. That was the beginning of the group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Between 1957 and 1962, the group recorded seven albums, including the one that put them in the spotlight: Sing A Song Of Basie (1957). They toured all over the world and also appear in Dave Brubeck's musical theater piece The Real Ambassadors (1961). Ross left the group in 1962 and two years later she opened her own London nightclub called Annie's Room; a compilation of her 1965 performances there was released on Live in London (2006). PHOTO BY LEE TANNER Ross also is an accomplished actress and has appeared in a number of films, such as Superman LLL (1983), Throw Mama from the Train (1987), Pump Up the Volume (1990), and Blue Sky (1994). Her most notable film role was as the jazz singer Tess Trainer in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993), in which she also sang. On stage, Ross appeared in Cranks (1955) in both London and New York, The Threepenny Opera (1972) with Vanessa Redgrave, and in the Joe Papp production of The Pirates Of Penzance (1982) with Tim Curry. Ross resides in New York City where she still performs regularly. 106 1 99 ° GeorGe COMPOSER ARRANGER IEORETICIAN EDUCATOR PIANIST DRUMMER Bom Juneg3, igg3in Cincinnati, OH • Died July 37 , goog — G eorge Russell was first and foremost a composer rather than an instrumentalist, and was one of the most important jazz theorists of the latter half of the 20th century. He first expressed himself musically on the drums in the drum and bugle corps. After high school, Russell attended Wilberforce University, where he found gigs playing drums at local clubs. Russell's study of composing and arranging increased while he was bedridden with a case of tuberculosis at 19. It was during this time that he began formulating his unprecedented musical theorems. While his first arrangements were for the A.B. Townsend Orchestra, a Cincinnati dance band, Russell's initial major band affiliation was as a drummer with Benny Carter. Later he found work arranging with the Earl Hines band. His first major score was "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop," an Afro-Cuban piece written for the Dizzy Gillespie big band. Russell followed that with charts for Lee Konitz ("Ezz-thetic" and "Odjenar") and Buddy DeFranco ("A Bird in Igor's Yard"). He continued his advanced composition study with Stefan Wolpe. His theory, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, was eventually published in book form in the mid-1950s. Russell's concept involves a composition system based on using the Lydian scale, rather than the major scale, as the basis for analysis and composition. Music theoreticians hailed this as a breakthrough, and it was perhaps the first major contribution by a jazz musician to the field of musical theory. Russell's continued refinement and study of this concept eventually led him to academia. During 1958-59, he taught at the Lenox School of Jazz. In the meantime, his theories on modes influenced Miles Davis and Bill Evans (who studied with Russell), leading to the creation of Davis' masterpiece, Kind of Blue. In the early 1960s, Russell led several small groups, which included musicians such as Eric Dolphy and David Baker, and made some significant recordings before moving to Scandinavia. There he continued to refine his theories and work with Scandinavian musicians, among them Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal, before returning to the U.S. in 1969. That year he took a teaching position at the New England Conservatory of Music at the invitation of then president Gunther Schuller. In the late 1970s, Russell formed big bands to play his music, creating his Living Time Orchestra in 1978. The orchestra made frequent tours of Europe, including residencies at the Perugia Jazz Festival. In addition to teaching and lecturing at other conservatories and universities, Russell was the recipient of numerous awards, honors, and grants, including a MacArthur award, two Guggenheim fellowships, and election to the Royal Swedish Academy. In 1969, he received the first NEA grant in the area of jazz. Russell published the revised and expanded edition of his Lydian Chromatic Concept in 2001. PHOTO BY LEE TANNER fAZZ WORKSHOP 1CA Victor, 1956 NEWYORK, NY Impulse!, 1958 EZZ-THETICS Original Jazz Classics, 1 961 THEAERICAN GAME Blue Note, 1983 THE 80TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT Concept, 2003 107 AUTHOR COMPOSER ARRANGER CONDUCTOR EDUCATOR FRENCH HORN PLAYER a.b. speLLman | NEAjazz MasTers AwarDFor jazz ADVOCaCY I EARLY JAZZ: ITS ROOTS AND MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT Oxford University Press, 1968 THE SWING ERA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF JAZZ, 1930-45 Oxford University Press, 1 989 MUSINGS: THE MUSICAL WORLDS OF GUNTHER SCHULLER Oxford University Press, 1989 GUNTHER SCHULLER: A LIFE IN PURSUIT OF MUSICAND BEAUTY University of Rochester Press, 201 1 108 2008 GunTHer scHuixer Bom November 22, 1 925 in New York, NY R ecognized as a renaissance man of music, Gunther Schuller is a leader in both the classical and jazz traditions, contributing significant musical compositions and writings to expand jazz's horizons. Schuller was bom in 1925 in New York City. At age 17, he joined the Cincinnati Symphony as principal hom. Two years later, he joined the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera while also becoming actively involved in the New York bebop scene, performing and recording with such jazz greats as Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, and Charles Mingus. When he was 25, Schuller took a teaching position at the Manhattan School of Music, beginning a long and distinguished teaching career that includes his tenure as co-director, along with David Baker, of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and professor of composition of music at Yale. In the late 1950s, he taught at the legendary Lenox School of Jazz. From 1967 to 1977, he was president of the New England Conservatory of Music where early in his tenure he established a jazz department offering both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. He was artistic director of Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center from 1970 to 1985. Schuller is a proponent of what he called the Third Stream— an effort to fuse the two primary streams of music, jazz and classical, into a new hybrid— of which John Lewis was one of the main practitioners. Schuller also was an early admirer of Charles Mingus' music — so much so that when a 19-movement score was discovered of an unproduced Mingus work, Epitaph, Schuller was asked to conduct the orchestra for the premiere at Lincoln Center in 1989 (produced with NEA support). In 1975, he started recording and publishing businesses that focused on, among other genres, the compositions of Duke Ellington. He sold the two publishing companies in 2000 to G. Schirmer, Inc., but still retains the record company GM Recordings. Schuller also served as editor-in-chief of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Editions. Schuller's jazz writings include Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (1968), considered one of the seminal books on the history of jazz, and The Swing Era (1989), the second volume of a planned three-volume history of jazz. Schuller has written more than 180 compositions in a wide range of styles and has won many awards for his work, including the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in music for Of Reminiscences and Reflections. Schuller also is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (1991). PHOTO BY TOM PICH irtmiY VOCALIST Bom July 17 , /925m Cleveland, OH F or more than five decades, vocalist Jimmy Scott has numbered among the jazz world's best singers with his select group of fans. No less an authority than Billie Holiday named Scott — and only Scott — as a vocalist she admired. Although he was, for a period, "perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century" (according to Joseph Hooper in a New York Times Magazine profile), Scott today is once more finding a dedicated international audience for his emotionally penetrating art. Scott was bom in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio, and as a child was diagnosed with Kallmann syndrome, a rare condition that prevented him from experiencing puberty — therefore his voice never changed, giving his singing an almost otherworldly sound. He got his first big break in 1949 when Lionel Hampton hired him and billed him as "Little Jimmy Scott." As featured vocalist with the Hampton big band, Scott achieved fame in 1950 with the ballad "Everybody's Somebody's Fool." His success continued throughout the next decade, notably with his hit recording in 1955 of the old Bing Crosby favorite "When Did You Leave Heaven?," a song that he made his own. PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN Scott subsequently spent long periods away from the microphone, working for a time as a hotel shipping clerk and as a caretaker for his ailing father. He returned to the stage in 1985 and began recording again in 1990, and his career took off again two years later when Seymour Stein heard him perform at songwriter Doc Pomus's funeral and signed him to the Warner Brothers Sire label. His resurgence in the public eye included appearances on Lou Reed's 1992 recording Magic and Loss and in an episode of David Lynch's 1990s television series Twin Peaks. Scott joined Milestone Records in 2000. He sang new interpretations of "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "When Did You Leave Heaven?" on the Milestone CD Over the Rainbow, released in 2001, on which he returned the compliment Billie Hobday had paid him by performing his own distinctive version of one of her signature songs, "Strange Fruit." Scott's new fans have rediscovered his original hit recordings of the 1950s on such collections as the three- CD box set The Savoy Years and More released in 1999, which included his 1952 recordings for Roost Records and his 1955-72 recordings for Savoy. He continues to record and perform frequently. THE SAVOY YEARS AND MORE Savoy, 1952-72 FALLING IN LOVE IS WONDERFUL Rhino, 1962 ALL THE WAY Sire, 1992 HOLDING BACK THE YEARS Artists Only 1998 OVER THE RAINBOW Milestone, 2000 109 — 2005 Arne — QTMW COMPOSER LVI/ T ¥ ARRANGER BomMayz 3 , iyio in New York. NY Died December 3 o. 2004 BEGIN THE BEGUINE Bluebird/RCA, 1938-41 THE COMPLETE GBAMERCY FIVE SESSIONS Bluebird/RCA, 1940-45 ARTIE SHAW AT THE HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM HEP, 1941 THE LAST RECORDINGS: RARE AND UNRELEASED Music Masters, 1954 I mmensely popular and startlingly innovative, Artie Shaw rose to prominence in the 1930s as a swing bandleader, master clarinetist, and boundary-crossing artist, who infused jazz with the influences of modern European composers. Bom in 1910, he left New Haven, Connecticut, at age 15 to tour as a jazz musician. Though based in Cleveland, where he wrote his first arrangements for bandleader Austin Wylie, he later made important road trips with Irving Aaronson's band. The band took him to Chicago, where he played in jam sessions and first heard recordings by Stravinsky and Debussy. Next, in 1929, the Aaronson band brought him to New York, where he played in Harlem jam sessions and came under the influence of Willie "The Lion" Smith. He decided to stay on and at age 21 became one of New York's most successful reed players for radio and recording sessions. He made his breakthrough in his first appearance as a bandleader at a 1936 swing concert at Broadway's Imperial Theater. To fill a spot between headliners, he performed his chamber composition Interlude in B Flat— scored for string quartet, three rhythm instruments, and clarinet — which created a sensation. He then added two trumpets, trombone, saxophone, and a singer, signed a recording contract, and led his first orchestra into New York's Lexington Hotel. During 1938, with a more conventional swing band line-up (which briefly included Billie Holiday as vocalist), he recorded Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine," which propelled him to the forefront of big band leaders. After the United States entered World War n, Shaw enlisted in the Navy and was soon leading a service band throughout the Pacific war zone. Upon returning stateside, he organized a new band in 1944, with which he toured and made recordings that included the classic "Little Jazz," featuring Roy Eldridge on tmmpet. Over the next ten years, Shaw worked in Hollywood, toured extensively (including appearances at Carnegie Hall and a performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic), and continued to record, both with his big bands and with a small group named Gramercy Five. Although he retired from music in 1954, Shaw continued to enjoy popularity through his recordings and also through a big band fronted by Dick Johnson bearing Artie Shaw's name. The library of the University of Arizona holds his collection of scores. PHOTO COURTESY OF RAY AVERY PHOTO ARCHIVES/CTSIMAGES XOPHONIST COMPOSER *998 wame SHorxer Bom August 25, 1933 in Newark, NJ E qually renowned for his compositions as for his saxophone playing, Wayne Shorter has contributed many songs to the jazz canon while participating in some of the major changes in jazz music over the last 40 years, and has received nine Grammy Awards for his recordings. Shorter's musical pursuits started on the clarinet, at age 16, evolving to the tenor saxophone soon thereafter. Shorter majored in music education at New York University from 1956-58, working for a short while with Horace Silver in 1956. After serving in the Army, he joined Maynard Ferguson's band for a couple of months in 1959, followed by one of his most fruitful jobs: playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He remained in the Messengers until 1964, establishing himself as both composer and saxophonist, and began making his own records, first for Vee Jay, then for the Blue Note label. His three releases for Blue Note in 1964, Night Dreamer, Juju, and Speak No Evil, are considered the quintessential Blue Note sound: sophisticated structures and rhythms, strong melodies, and exceptional playing. He left Blakey in 1964 to assume another productive affiliation with the Miles Davis Quintet, where he remained until 1970. While with Davis, he further solidified his position as one of the most intriguing composers of his time, contributing tunes such as "Nefertiti," "Fall," "ESP," "Paraphernalia," and "Sanctuary." He also developed his sound, a mixture of technique and emotion, to fit the appropriate mood of whatever song he was playing. During the latter stages of his Davis tenure, he took up the soprano saxophone, which thereafter often became his principal horn. In 1971 he and pianist Joe Zawinul, who also had been part of Davis' recording sessions in the late-1960s to early- 19 70s, formed one of the pioneering jazz fusion bands, Weather Report. The band stayed together for 15 years through several different permutations, engaging electronics and numerous ethnic influences and furthering Shorter's reputation as a composer. The band scored a major hit, "Birdland," in 1977 on their bestselling record. Heavy Weather. After the breakup of Weather Report, Shorter made occasional recordings and tours, continuing to write intriguing music based on the influences of other musical cultures. He is a major influence on the generations of musicians who have entered the scene since the 1970s. In 2001, he began touring and releasing recordings with a new quartet comprising Danilo Perez on piano, John Patitucci on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. Shorter, who originally studied as a visual artist, continues to pursue the visual arts as well as music. SPEAK NO EVIL Blue Note, 1964 Miles Davis MILES SMILES Columbia, 1966 Weather Report LIVE IN TOKYO Columbia, 1 972 Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter 1+1 Verve, 1997 BEYOND THE SOUND BARRIER Verve, 2002-04 111 HORACE SILVER AND THE JAZZ MESSENGERS Blue Note, 1954 BLOWIN’ THE BLUES AWAY Blue Note, 1959 SONG FOR MY FATHER Blue Note, 1 964 Horace siLver PIANIST COMPOSER Bom September z 1928 in Norwalk, CT PHOTO BY LEE TANNER CAPE VERDEAN BLUES Blue Note, 1965 THE HARDBOP GRANDPOP GRP, 1996 112 H orace Silver was the heart of the hard bop era, He helped to form the influential Jazz Messengers and composed many blues and gospel- flavored songs that have become part of the jazz canon, including "Song For My Father," "Senor Blues," "The Preacher," "Nica's Dream," and "Peace." His piano playing is heavily rhythmic, driving his musical colleagues to greater heights in their solos. Silver was exposed to music at an early age, hearing Cape Verde Islands folk music from his father. Silver later used the island rhythms and flavor to great effect on his 1960s albums Song For My Father and Cape Verdean Blues. He took up the saxophone and piano in high school, and was influenced early on by the blues of Memphis Slim, various boogie woogie piano players, and the bebop pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk. After a 1950 stint backing guest soloist Stan Getz on a gig in Hartford, Connecticut, Silver was enlisted by Getz to join him on tour for the next year. Getz recorded three of Silver's earliest compositions, "Split Kick," "Potter's Luck," and "Penny." In 1951, he moved to New York and quickly found work with Coleman Hawkins, Bill Harris, Oscar Pettiford, Lester Young, and Art Blakey. In 1952, as a result of a Lou Donaldson record session, he began what became a 28-year relationship with the Blue Note label. Between 1953-55 he played in the groundbreaking band the Jazz Messengers, co-led by Blakey. The band was at the forefront of the hard bop movement that followed bebop. By 1956, Silver formed his own band and Blakey maintained the Jazz Messengers name as his own. Both Silver's band and the Jazz Messengers turned out to be proving grounds for a number of exceptional, aspiring musicians. Among those who passed through his band were Art Fanner, Donald Byrd, Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Charles Tolliver, Stanley Turrentine, Woody Shaw, and Randy and Michael Brecker. Silver's terse, funky playing has influenced pianists as disparate as Herbie Hancock and Cecil Taylor. For several years in the 1980s, he recorded on his own Silveto label, writing lyrics to his compositions with a decidedly metaphysical bent. In the 1990s, he returned to the hard bop sound he helped create. His autobiography. Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty, was published in 2006. 2005 JinrniY smiTH ORGANIST Bom December 8, 1928 in Norristown, PA Died Febmary8 , 2005 J immy Smith personified the jazz organ revolution. He raised the organ — specifically the legendary Hammond B3, over which he reigned during the 1950s and 1960s — from a novelty instrument in jazz to primary status. Having first learned piano from his parents in his native Norristown, Pennsylvania, he was playing stride piano by 14 and performing with his father by the early 1940s. He joined the Navy at age 15 and after discharge attended the Hamilton School of Music (1948) and Ornstein's School of Music (1949-50), where he studied bass and piano. He then switched to the Hammond organ, practicing in a warehouse for a year. Inspired by the great horn players of the day — Don Byas, Arnett Cobb, Coleman Hawkins — as well as by pianists Art Tatum, Enroll Gamer, and Bud Powell, he cut the tremolo off and began playing hom lines with his right hand. He also created a new organ registration to simulate Gamer's sound, establishing the standard for jazz organists who would follow. Smith's burgeoning reputation soon took him to New York, where he debuted at Cafe Bohemia. His fame grew with his influential Blue Note recordings (1956-63), including brilliant collaborations with Kenny Burrell, Lou Donaldson, Jackie McLean, Wes Montgomery, Lee Morgan, Ike Quebec, and Stanley Turrentine. His appearances at Birdland and the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival solidified his international prominence as the first jazz organ star. He toured extensively through the 1960s and 1970s and continued to release hit albums, this time on Verve (1963-72), including several big band recordings with such stellar arrangers as Oliver Nelson and Lalo Schifrin. His reputation in the 1990s was enhanced by the sampling of his Verve work by rap group the Beastie Boys on the song "Root Down." He recorded for the Blue Note and Milestone labels in the late 1980s through the 1990s, and in 2001 released his first new recording after a five-year layoff: Dot Com Blues, which featured guest appearances by Dr. John, Taj Mahal, Etta James, Keb' Mo', and B.B. King. A NEW SOUND, A NEW STAR: JIMMY SMITH AT THE ORGAN, VOLS. 1-2 Blue Note, 1956 THE SERMON! Blue Note, 1958 ROOT DOWN Verve, 1972 FOURMOST Milestone, 1 990 DOT COM RLUES Verve, 2000 113 PHOTO BY LEE TANNER 1982 BANDLEADER KEYBOARDIST COMPOSER ARRANGER sun THE SINGLES Evidence, 1954-82 JAZZ IN SILHOUETTE Evidence, 1 958 THE HELIOCENTRIC WORLDS OF SUN RA, VOL. 1 & 2 ESP, 1965 SPACE IS THE PLACE Evidence, 1972 PURPLE NIGHT A&M, 1989 114 Bom May 22, 191 4 in Bimiingham, AL Died May 3 o, 1