NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS Ameri \Va / ters 1 982-2002 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS The National Endowment for the Arts, an investment in America's living cultural heritage, serves the public good by nurturing creativity, supporting community spirit, and fostering appreciation of the excellence and diversity of our nation's artistic accomplishments. *» NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS Ameri Fellowships 1982-2002 Photos by Ray Avery, Bob Parent, and Lee Tanner Table of Contents Introduction 1 Program Overview 3 American Jazz Masters (Year Fellowship Awarded) David Baker (2000) 6 Danny Barker (1991) 7 Count Basie (1983) 8 Louie Bellson (1994) 9 Art Blakey (1988) 10 Cleo Brown (1987) 11 Ray Brown (1995) 12 Dave Brubeck (1999) 13 Donald Byrd (2000) 14 Benny Carter (1986) 15 Betty Carter (1992) 16 Ron Carter (1998) 17 Kenny Clarke (1983) 18 Buck Clayton (1991) 19 Ornette Coleman (1984) 20 Miles Davis (1984) 21 Dorothy Donegan (1992) 22 Sweets Edison (1992) 23 Roy Eldridge (1982) 24 Gil Evans (1985) 25 Art Farmer (1999) 26 Ella Fitzgerald (1985) 27 Tommy Flanagan (1996) 28 Frank Foster (2002) 29 Dizzy Gillespie (1982) 30 Benny Golson ( 1996) 31 Dexter Gordon (1986) 32 Lionel Hampton (1988) 33 Barry Harris (1989) 34 Roy Haynes (1995) 35 Percy Heath (2002) 36 Joe Henderson (1999) 37 Jon Hendricks (1993) 38 Billy Higgins (1997) 39 Milt Hinton (1993) 40 Milt Jackson (1997) 41 Ahmad Jamal (1994) 42 J.J. Johnson (1996) 43 Hank Jones (1989) 44 Jo Jones (1985) 45 Andy Kirk (1991) 46 John Lewis (2001) 47 Melba Liston (1987) 48 Jackie McLean (2001) 49 Marian McPartland (2000) 50 Carmen McRae (1994) 51 Jay McShann (1987) 52 James Moody (1998) 53 Anita O'Day (1997) 54 Max Roach (1984) 55 Sonny Rollins (1983) 56 George Russell (1990) 57 Wayne Shorter (1998) 58 Horace Silver (1995) 59 Sun Ra (1982) 60 Billy Taylor (1988) 61 Cecil Taylor (1990) 62 Clark Terry (1991) 63 McCoy Tyner (2002) 64 Sarah Vaughan (1989) 65 Randy Weston (2001) 66 Joe Williams (1993) 67 Gerald Wilson (1990) 68 Teddy Wilson (1986) 69 American Jazz Masters by Year 71 American Jazz Masters Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach, 1956. J* Introduction THERE IS GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT THE United States has produced three original art forms: movies, modern dance, and jazz. All speak to the genius of American culture. Film is indicative of our ability to convert new technology into a medium for mass consumption, frequently achieving the status of high art. Modern dance, an indigenous kinesthetic art capable of an unbounded range of expression, from treatments of contempo- rary issues to pure abstraction. And then there is jazz. Jazz lives at the very center of the American ver- nacular. It is the gift of the generations of new urban African American people whose capacity for the syn- thesis of diverse strains of musical forms bought schottisches, quadrilles, habaneras, and marches into the bases of the blues and ragtime to create a whole new way of making music. It was built on the disci- pline of collective improvisation, a remarkable skill when you think about it, which allowed for maxi- mum expression of the individual within the context of the group. Jazz is democratic and virtually with- out hierarchy: the composer is one more collaborator in the group, and even bandleaders do not stand above the soloists. These qualities are entirely appropriate for what is best about America. The old jazz principle that "you've got to make it new" is so American that it could go on the dollar bill. These defining qualities have made jazz arguably the United States' most wel- comed cultural export. It has taken root wherever it has been planted, moving into and becoming a part of the cultures of other countries and then becoming an aspect of their national expression, in the way that Russian jazz is vastly different from Afro-Cuban jazz. Some years ago, just after apartheid had fallen, I heard a young South African ensemble that com- prised an Indian pianist, a tabla player, a white female flutist, and a black bassist. Distinct traces of each of these musicians' heritages were audible in their solos, yet they performed with intimate ease. I thought, how marvelous that, as these young people are at a point in history when they can speak to each other as equals, jazz provides the vocabulary. It is no accident that jazz has been a favored medium of cultural diplomacy. For decades, Willis Conover's jazz series on the Voice of America kept ears open to the United States Information Agency (USIA) all over the world. Uncounted numbers of jazz musicians have traveled abroad under the aus- American Jazz Masters Fellowships 1 pices of the State Department. Many of the National Endowment for the Arts' American Jazz Masters, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston ; and Billy Taylor, have toured the globe as our cultural repre- sentatives. The American Jazz Masters Fellowships program was created to say to jazz musicians that their gov- ernment values the way that they keep our culture rich by continually producing such fabulous music. Mastery is a difficult status to achieve. No creative discipline has more than a few true masters, for it takes exceptional talent, dedication, hard work, and opportunity to become one. American Jazz Masters have demonstrated these qualities arid more. The National Endowment for the Arts is honored to rec- ognize these great artists for the outstanding contri- butions they have made to American culture. A. B. Spellman Deputy Chairman for Guidelines, Panel & Council Operations National Endowment for the Arts Author, Four Lives in the Bebop Business 2 American Jazz Masters Fellowships Fellowships Program Overview THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS recognizes the importance of jazz as one of the great American art forms of the 20th cen- tury and seeks to increase awareness of our jazz her- itage and encourage its perpetuation. As part of its efforts to honor those distinguished artists whose excellence, impact, and significant contribution to jazz have helped keep this important tradition and art form alive, the Arts Endowment annually awards up to three one-time-only American Jazz Masters Fellowships. Each fellowship award is $20,000. Fellowships are awarded to living artists on the basis of nominations from the public, including the jazz community. The recipients must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Nominations are made by submitting a one-page let- ter that details the reasons that the nominated artist should receive an American Jazz Masters Fellow- ship. Nominations remain active for five years, being reviewed annually during this period. Once a nomination has been submitted to the Arts Endowment, it is reviewed by an advisory panel of jazz experts and at least one knowledgeable layperson. Panel recommendations are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts. The Council sends those nominations that it recommends for funding to the Chairman of the National Endow- ment for the Arts. Since the program began in 1982, 64 artists have been awarded American Jazz Masters Fellowships, making up a virtual jazz hall of fame. As is shown in the pages that follow, some of the biggest names in jazz have been honored for their artistic and educational contributions to jazz. Guidelines for the American Jazz Masters Fellowship program can be found on the National Endowment for the Arts Web site at www.arts.gov. The International Association of Jazz Educators devotes a special section of its Web site to the American Jazz Masters Fellowship program at www.iaje.org/jazzmasters.asp, featuring video and audio clips of American Jazz Masters. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 3 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries http://archive.org/details/americanjazzmastOOaver ■■■ National Endowment for the Arts m American }azz Masters FeUowship A\ Buck Hill (sax) and American Jazz Master Clark Terry (flugelhorn) at the 1 991 Awards ceremony. Masters NOTES: Names in bold in biographies denote American Jazz Master Fellowship 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. :er TROMBONE CELLO COMPOSER EDUCATOR Born December 21, 1931 in Indianapolis & A true jazz renaissance man, David Baker has been active in the jazz community as musician, com- poser, educator, conductor, and author. Of all the NEA American Jazz Masters Fellowship recipients, 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 earning 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 play- ing 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 i ontributed 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 jour- -•gE) DlSCoot, nals and has written several musical treatises as well as having authored more than 60 books on jazz and African American music. Since 1991, Baker has been the artistic and musi- cal director of the acclaimed Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has received numerous awards and citations, including being nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his composition Levels, a concerto for bass, jazz band, woodwinds, and strings. He has served as a member of the NEA's National Council on the Arts, was founding > George Russell, Stratusphunk, Original Jazz Classics, 1960 George Russell, Ezz-thetics, Original Jazz Classics. 1961 George Russell, The Stratus Seekers, Original Jazz Classics, 1961 Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra Big Band Treasures Live, Smithsonian Recordings, 1996 Steppin'Out, Liscio, 1998 president of the National Jazz Sendee Organization, and is president-elect of the International Association of Jazz Educators. 6 American Jazz Masters Fellowships H *rJr^ Danny GUITAR BANJO VOCALS COMPOSER EDUCATOR arker Born January 13, 1909 in New Orleans, LA Died March 13, 1994 Upholder 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, instruc- tion, 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 musi- cal mentoring 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, Baker 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, felly. 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 edu- cational 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, help- ing 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-author- ing with Jack Buerkle a study on New Orleans music:, Bourbon Street Blnck, and writing his memoirs, A Life in jazz. ^iscoo Blue Lu Barker, 1938-39, Classics, 1938-39 Blue Lu Barker, 1946-49, Classics, 1946-49 Save the Bones, Orleans, 1988 Blue Lu Barker, Live at New Orleans Jazz Festival, Orleans, 1989 Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jelly, Columbia, 1993 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 7 ffliam "Count' PIANO ORGAN COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER Born August 21 , 1 904 in Red Bank, NJ Died April 26, 1984 Though a pianist and occasional organist, 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 accompany- ing 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 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 saxo- phones; Buck Clayton and Sweets Edison on trumpets; and Benny Morton and Dicky Wells on trombones. With a swinging rhythm set Sod and top-notch soloists in the horn # ^DISCOO^ > The Original American Decca Recordings. MCA, 1937 '-39 April in Paris. Verve, 1956 The Complete Atomic Basie, Roulette, 1957 Count Basie and the Kansas City 7, Impulse!. 1962 The Basie Big Band. Pablo, 1975 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 saxo- phone playing during this period, in particular on such recordings as "Lester Leaps In" and "Taxi War Dance," influenced jazz musi- cians 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 Wes. 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, Sammv Davis. Jr., and Tony Bennett. Basie continued to perform and record until his death in 1984. 8 American Jazz Masters Fellowships DRUMS COMPOSER BANDLEADER EDUCATOR Bellson (Luigi Paulino Balassoni) Born July 26, 1924 in Rock Falls, IL & ^ One of the last survivors of the big band leaders, Louie Bellson is a pioneer of several technical innovations on the drums, including the use of double bass drums, and a leading educator in jazz drum. At 16, he won first prize in a national drumming contest sponsored by Gene Krupa. The next year, he occu- pied Krupa's former chair as drummer with the Benny Goodman band. Thereafter, his big band reputation growing rapidly, he pow- ered the Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and Count Basie bands. But his most famous affiliation came with the Duke Ellington orchestra, starting with a 1951-53 stint. Not only was he Ellington's drummer, but the bandleader also performed some of Bellson 's earliest arrangements, such as "Skin Deep" and "The Hawk Talks." His relationship with Ellington continued long after he served the band as its regular drummer. Bellson appeared with Ellington on special occasions, such as the recording of A Dram is a Woman in 1956, and Ellington's first sacred concert in 1965. Ellington considered him one of the best drummers in jazz. After leaving the Ellington band in 1953, Bellson served as musical director for his wife, singer Pearl Bailey, and also led his own big bands, which included significant soloists such as Blue Mitchell, Conte Candoli, Bobby Shew, ^•gt) dis Cog» an< ^ ^ at Anderson. He also performed on the all- M/> ^ > Live at the Flamingo Hotel 1959, Jazz Hour, 1959 Jam with Blue Mitchell, Original Jazz Classics, 1978 Raincheck, Concord, 1 978 Hot, Musicmasters, 1987 Live from New York, Telarc, 1993 star Jazz at the Philharmonic tours and rejoined the Dorsey and James bands for brief periods. Since the 1960s, Bellson has been involved in educational work, teaching young musicians his dynamic drum- ming technique. In the 1970s and 1980s, he could frequently be found on recordings from impresario Norman Granz's Pablo label, as well as the Concord label. He has published many of his scores, including his jazz ballet The Marriage Vows. For more than twenty years he has led big bands internationally, and continued to tour through the 1990s, often with a quintet. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 9 6lal« Born October 11, 1919 in Pittsburgh, PA Oied October 16, 1990 ey DRUMS BANDLEADER Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers not only supplied consis- tently exciting and innovative music for nearly 40 years, but also provided the experience and mentor- ing 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, loft 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 progres- sion on the bebop style 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 contribu- tors themselves. That list, reading like a Who's Who of jazz, includes Donald Byrd, 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 Uiese musicians, helping them to hone their skills DlSCoob radio series, Piano Jazz. A recording of the pro- •fyp gram was released as Living in the Afterglow, Brown's last recording. Although all the numbers are gospel songs (many are origi- nals by Brown), they are played in the same rollicking style as her 1930s recordings. Various Artists, Boogie Woogie Stomp, ASV/Living Era, 1930s-40s The Legendary Cleo Brown, President, 1 930s Boogie Woogie, Official, 1935-36 Here Comes Cleo, Hep, 1935-36 Living in the Afterglow, Audiophile, 1987 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 1 1 rown # & o ^$D DISCOq^ ^ *> BASS EDUCATOR Born October 13, 1926 in Pittsburgh, PA Oscar Peterson, The Ultimate Oscar Peterson, Verve, 1 956-64 Much in Common, Verve, 1962-65 Summer Wind: Live at the Loa, Concord, 1988 Ray Brown's dexterity and rich sound on the bass have made him one of the most popular and prolific musi- cians in jazz for over 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 ensem- ble work and as a sideman, testifying to his productivity. Brown studied the piano from age eight and began play- ing 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, whereupon 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 own tours and her 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 vibist Milt Jackson, with whom he had worked in the 1940s as part of Dizzy Gillespie's rhythm section and later as a mem- Some of My Best Friends Are.... The Sax Players. Je\aK. 1995 Ray Brown with John Clayton and Christian McBride, Super Bass 2, Telarc, 2001 ber of the Milt Jackson Quartet, the precursor to the Modern Jazz Quartet. In the late 1970s to early 1980s, Brown formed his first full- time trio, which was to become his favored touring and performance unit over the next couple of decades, and 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 has also been involved in jazz education, includ- ing authoring the Ray Brown Bass Book 1, an instructional volume. He has served as mentor to numerous young musi- cians, 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 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. 12 American Jazz Masters Fellowships ■MB CO CD CD V n ^,^- •- Dave PIANO COMPOSER rubeck Born December 6, 1920 in Concord, CA Dave Brubeck has been one of the most enduringly popular jazz musicians in the world since the 1960s without ever compromising his artistry. His experi- ments with odd time signatures and development of his own unique ensemble sound have been hallmarks of his career. Born into a musically inclined family — his mother was a music teacher and classical pianist, and two of his brothers teach music as well — he was exposed to music from an early age and began taking piano lessons from his mother at age eleven. His studies with French classical composer Darius Milhaud at Mills College had a strong influence on his later sound, as did the boogie woogie pianists of the 1930s, like Cleo Brown. His first real group, The Three D's, eventually led to for- mation of a larger ensemble with cohorts Paul Desmond, Bill Smith, and Cal Tjader, followed Jan at Oberlin, Original Jazz Classics, 1953 Time Out, Columbia. 1959 The Real Ambassadors, Columbia/Legacy, 1962 All the Things We Are, Atlantic, 1973-74 In Their Own Sweet Way, Telarc, 1997 by the formation of his trio between 1949-51. In the early 1950s, he expanded the band to include Desmond, and began touring. His set at Oberlin College became a huge success, leading Brubeck to be the first jazz artist to make the cover of Time magazine in 1954. His interest in sonic textures and modulations led to an album of experiments in time signatures unusual for jazz, such as 5/4 and 9/8. That album, Time Out, became the first million-selling jazz album on the strength of two tunes: Desmond's "Take Five" and Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk." Both became permanent parts of his repertoire. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, his popularity increased as he criss-crossed the globe with his famous quartet. Brubeck continued to experiment with his compositions, pioneering the combination of jazz with symphony orches- tras and creating orchestral works (including a 1959 concert with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic) and ballets, such as Points on Jazz, commissioned by American Ballet Theatre. Keen among his compositional interests have been religious themes, which have been real- ized in his oratorios, cantatas, choral works, and masses. Brubeck also wrote a musical theatre piece, The Real Ambassadors, dealing with the exceptional powers of jazz artists to travel the globe spreading their unique message. Among others, it featured Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae, and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, with lyrics by Brubeck's wife Iola. Brubeck's interest in examining all types of music is best demonstrated by his recording with avant-garde jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton. Since the early 1970s, Brubeck has been touring as Two Cenerations of Brubeck with his three jazz-playing sons, Darius, Dan, and Chris. He has been the recipient of numer- ous awards, including a National Medal of the Arts awarded by President Clinton in 1994. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 13 TRUMPET FLUGELHORN EDUCATOR Born December 9, 1932 in Detroit, I A pioneer jazz educator on African American college and university campuses, as well as general colleges and universities, Donald Byrd has also been 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, rf.-g,D DISCOG ft teaching at New York's Music & Art ^ C ** ■iP Ma *l > I Can't Help It, Impulse!, 1958-60 McBride. She also devel- oped a mentoring pro- gram called Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead through links with organizations like the International Association of Jazz Educators, 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 sea- soned musicians, culminating in a final concert of instruc- tors and students together. Jazz Ahead was one of Carter's proudest achievements, and she worked with the program up until her death. At the Village Vanguard, Verve, 1970 The Audience with Betty Carter, Verve, 1979 Look What I Got, Verve, 1988 Feed the Fire, Verve, 1993 16 American Jazz Masters Fellowships • •♦• BASS CELLO COMPOSER EDUCATOR tarter Born May 4, 1937 in Ferndale, I Ron Carter's dexterity and harmonic sophistication have few rivals in the history of bass in jazz. In addi- tion 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 .f-t'ED DISC OGto Timmons, Thelonious Monk ^ H* Where?, Original Jazz Classics, 1961 Miles Davis, E.S.P.. Columbia, 1965 Live at Village West, Concord, 1982 Kronos Quartet, The Complete Landmark Recordings, 32 Jazz, 1984 The Bass and I, Blue Note, 1997 and Art Farmer. He cut three substantial albums with the great saxophon- ist Eric Dolphy, two under Dolphy's name and one under Carter's. Carter's Where? and Dolphy's Out There wore groundbreaking in that Carter played cello against George Duvivier's bass, creating a rich lower texture against which Dolphy ;ould contrast his horn playing. In 1963, he joined Miles Davis in what would become the trumpeter's second great quintet, eventually including Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock. Davis even recorded some of Carter's compositions, notably on E.S.P., and the rhythm section of Carter, Williams, and Hancock pushed 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 vari- ety 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. His freelance work has continued throughout his career, including chamber and orchestral work, film and television soundtracks, and even some hip hop recordings. In 1984, he performed with the avant-garde string quartet, Kronos Quartet, on an album of Thelonious Monk recordings (now collected on The Complete Landmark Recordings). Carter continues to record with young musicians such as Stephen Scott and Lewis Nash, and his college and university teach- ing career has also been quite active. He is on the faculty of the City College of New York, and has written four books on bass playing. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 17 DRUMS BANDLEADER Born January 2, 1 91 4 in Pittsburgh, PA Died January 26, 1985 Kenny 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 modern jazz era, his drum style becoming the sound of bebop and influencing drum- mers such as Art Blakey and Max Roach. Clarke studied music broadly growing up, including piano, trombone, drums, vibraphone, and theory while in high school. 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 drummers. 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 trav- elers 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 ,-fcD DISCOoi, Modern Jazz Quartet, The Artistry of the Modem Jazz Quartet. Prestige, 1952-55 Bohemia After Dark, Savoy, 1 955 Discoveries, Savoy, 1955 Kenny Clarke Meets the Detroit Jazzmen. Savoy, 1956 Clarke-Boland Big Band, RTE, 1968 joined Gillespie's bebop big band, which gave Clarke his first taste of Paris dur- ing a European tour, a place that eventually became his home for nearly 30 years. After returning to New York, he joined the Milt Jackson Quartet, which metamorphosed into the Modern 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, 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, he found numerous opportunities both on the band- stand and teaching in the classroom, remaining quite active as a freelancer, often working with visiting U.S. jazz musi- cians, until his death in 1985. 18 American Jazz Masters Fellowships > TRUMPET COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER EDUCATOR Born November 12, 1911 in Parsons, KS Died December 8, 1991 A valued member of a variety of classic big bands, Buck Clayton was versatile enough to thrive as a bandleader, session man, and trumpet 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 promi- nent 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 part- nered 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. While -•gp DISCOGft he was unable to perform, Clayton wrote arrange- ^^ *tu men ts for various bands. That skill was fully exercised when he put together his own big The Classic Swing of Buck Clayton, Original Jazz Classics, 1946 Buck Special, Vogue, 1949-53 Jam Sessions from the Vaults, Columbia, 1953-56 Buck and Buddy, Original Jazz Classics, 1960 A Swingin' Dream, Stash, 1988 band in the mid-1980s, playing almost exclusively his own compositions and arrangements. He also became an educa- tor, teaching at Hunter College in the 1980s. He continued to freelance for the remainder of his career, being called upon as an honored soloist, and spent much of his last two decades teaching, lec- turing, and arranging. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 19 Coleman SAXOPHONE TRUMPET VIOLIN COMPOSER Born March 19, 1930 in Ft. Worth, TX Omette Coleman is one of the true jazz innovators, whose sound is instantly recognizable and unques- tionably unique. Coleman's work has ranged from dissonance and atonality to liberal use of electronic accom- paniment 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 root is always evident. For the most part, Coleman has been self-taught, begin- ning on the alto saxophone at age 14. Coleman's earliest performing experiences were mostly with local rhythm & blues bands. Coleman eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1952. His search for a different sound and approach, a means of escaping traditional chord patterns and progres- sions, led some critics to suggest that he did not know how to play his instrument. However, 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 rejec- tion 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 mates: 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 Si tool nl Jazz in Massachusetts, being championed by John Lewis ,md ( iunthei Schuller; and the band began an ^DDECOO^ The Shape of Jazz to Come, Atlantic, 1959-60 Free Jazz, Atlantic, 1960 At the Golden Circle, Stockholm, Vol. 1-2. Blue Note, 1965 In All Languages. Verve/Harmolodic, 1987 Colors. Verve/Harmolodic, 1 996 extended engagement at the Five Spot Cafe in New York. Meanwhile, Omette Coleman was developing an approach to his music that he was to dub "harmolodics." Coleman's albums for Atlantic, while tame by today's standards, were quite controversial at the time. Perhaps the most con- troversial of this series of albums was Free Jazz, recorded with a double quartet as essen- tially 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 composi- tional outlook. His writing includes works for wind ensem- bles, strings, and symphony orchestra (notably his sym- phony 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 in recent years he has performed with an electric ensemble he calls Prime Time. A recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships for composition, and a MacArthur grant, Coleman continues to astound audiences with his imaginative approaches to music. 20 American Jazz Masters Fellowships TRUMPET FLUGELHORIM COMPOSER BANDLEADER Davis Born May 25, 1926 in Alton, IL Died September 28, 1991 Miles Davis is arguably the most influential jazz musician in the post-World War II period, being at the forefront of changes in the music for more than 40 years. Born 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 from 1941-43. 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 contempo- raries began to meet and jam regularly at the small apart- ment of arranger-pianist Gil Evans. Among them were saxo- phonists 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, alto and baritone saxo- phones, 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 Julian "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 musi- cians, 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 mem- #£■ G ^4/j & bers contributing memorable tunes. Davis' horn 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, the transformation was complete as he deepened the elec- tronic elements and rock rhythms of his music. 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, with even newer fans in his wake. From then to 1991, Davis remained vital and popular despite some criticism that he had softened his electric; approach. % 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 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 21 %; *v /*. 1 1 onegaii PIANO VOCALS EDUCATOR Born April 6, 1924 in Chicago, IL Died May 19, 1998 Blessed 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 profes- sional 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 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 reper- toire. She would often spice her performances with uncanny impressions of other pianists and singers, skills that enhanced her abilities as an entertainer. 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 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 lec- tured at several colleges and universities, including Harvard. Northeastern, and the Manhattan School of Music, and received an honorary doctoral ■$> & „£££> DISCOq. ^ '/; Dorothy Romps: A Piano Retrospective, Rosetta, 1953-79 Makin' Whoopee, Black & Blue, 1979 Live in Copenhagen 1980, Storyville, 1980 Live at the 1990 Floating Jazz Festival, Chiaroscuro, 1990 Live at the Floating Jazz Festival 1992. Chiaroscuro, 1992 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. 22 American Jazz Masters Fellowships TRUMPET Harry TSweets Edison Born October 10, 1915 in Columbus, OH Died July 27, 1999 Known in the jazz world as "Sweets," for both his dis- position and his playing ability, Edison was a con- summate big band section trumpeter and skilled soloist whose ability to enhance a piece without overpower- ing 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. After moving to New York in 1937, he spent six months with Lucky Millinder's band, until joining Count Basie later that year. 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 distinc- tive soloist. His warm sound, using repeated notes that he would bend and rip- ple, was a welcome contrast to the usual high- note, piercing solos of most tnimpet players. Edison stayed with the band from 1938 until Basie 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 is some of his finest, accent- ing the vocals and setting up the mood of the songs. 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 ^•gD DISCOG& some of the bright moments in Holiday's output ^fyj^ in the 1950s on albums such as Songs for Distingue Lovers. His tasteful playing cre- ated a great demand from singers for his services, and besides Sinatra and Holiday, 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 leaving 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 collabo- rated with other soloists, such as Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Oscar Peterson. Valued for his superb sense of dynam- ics, he carved out a beautiful trumpet style noted for its sim- plicity and good taste. He also found a home in film and television soundtrack work. 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 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 23 TRUMPET PIANO VOCALS Born January 30, 191 1 in Pittsburgh, PA Died February 26, 1989 Also 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 saxo- phone, 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 saxophon- ist Chu Berry (who would later join the Count Basie Orchestra) were Hill's prin- cipal soloists, and after gigs they would go around town on cutting contests, chal- lenging musicians to see who could play the best; with his lightning speed and awe- some range, Eldridge rarely lost. After Hill's band, Eldridge became the lead trumpeter in the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, where his upper register abilities were highlighted. It didn't take long for Eldridge 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, Eldridge gained notice as one of the swing ^PDISCOO^ *] After You've Gone. GRP/Decca, 1936-46 Little Jazz: The Best of the Verve Years, Verve, 1951-60 Roy and Diz, Verve, 1954 Just You Just Me, Stash, 1959 Montreux 77, Original Jazz Classics, 1977 bands' most potent soloists. In 1941. he joined drummer Gene Krupa's band. Not only did he provide trumpet fire- works for Krupa's outfit, he also sang, recording a memo- rable 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 Eldridge led his own bands, usually small swing groups. In 1948, Norman Granz recruited Eldridge for his Jazz at the Philharmonic, an ideal situation since Eldridge 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 suc- cessful 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 con- tinued freelancing and leading a house band at Jimmy Ryan's club in New York. A stroke in 1980 stopped him from playing the trumpet, but Eldridge continued to make music as a singer and pianist until his death in 1989. 24 American Jazz Masters Fellowships "*H1F PIANO COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER Ivans (Ian Ernest Gilmore Green) Born May 13, 1912 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Died March 20, 1988 As an arranger, Gil Evans has few peers in jazz his- tory. His style is instantly recognizable, often using unusual brass colorations for jazz, such as combi- nations of tuba and French horn. Arranging started early for Evans, leading his own band when he y ° G ^f, 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 Band. The band was the house band at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa Beach, California, where they remained for two years, up until 1937. 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 Evan's apartment became a meeting ground for these and other 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 its cooler, less bustling tempos than was characteris- Miles Davis, Sketches of Spain, Columbia, 1959-60 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 Hendnx, Bluebird, 1974-75 tic of bebop, the modern jazz of the day. Several Evans arrangements stood out, espe- cially "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 flugelhorn 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 dis- tinctive 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, his shifting cast of exceptional soloists included Billy Harper, George Adams, Howard Johnson, John Scofield, and David Sanborn, and Evans would have occasional weekly shows at New York clubs such as the Village Vanguard and Sweet Basil. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 25 V\ \ armer TRUMPET FLUGELHORN FLUMPET Born August 21, 1928 in Council Bluffs, IA Died October 4, 1999 S tf&D dis COg^ One of the more lyrical of the post-bop musicians, Art Farmer helped to popularize the flugelhorn in jazz. He switched to a hybrid instrument known as the flumpet later in his career, an instrument that combined the power of the trumpet with the warmth of the flugelhorn. He and his late 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 travel- ing east to New York with the Johnny Otis Revue in 1947. In New York, he studied with Maurice Grupp 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 through 1952. He toured with Lionel Hampton in 1952-53. moving once again to New York after the tour. Between 1954-56, he intermit- tently co-led a band with Gigi Gryce, then joined Horace Silver from 1956-58, and Gerry Mulligan from 1958-59. with whom . \ When Farmer Met Gryce, Original Jazz Classics, 1954-55 Meet the Jazztet, MCA/Chess. 1960 Live at the Half Note, Atlantic, 1963 Blame It on my Youth, Contemporary, 1 988 Silk Road. Arabesque, 1996 he appeared in two films: J Want to Live and The Subter- raneans. Farmer's performances with the various groups earned him a reputation for being able to play in any style. In 1959, he and Benny Golson formed the Jazztet, whose first incarnation lasted until 1962. The Jazztet's tightly arranged music defined mainstream jazz for several years. Farmer switched to the flugelhorn in the early 1960s, find- ing a rounder, mellower sound with the instrument, and 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 he moved to Vienna, joined the Austrian Radio Orchestra, and worked with such European outfits as the Clarke-Boland Big Band, and Peter Herbolzheimer. He toured Europe and Asia with Jimmy Smith's band in 1972. and his appearances in the U.S. became rarities. In 1982, Farmer and Golson re-formed the Jazztet for a short while. Otherwise his perform- ances in the U.S. were on an annual basis. For a time he teamed up with yet another saxophonist, Clifford Jordan, for annual New York visits. He continued to lead his own bands on occasion, partic- ularly at festival time. In 1991, he began employing the flumpet, specially designed for Farmer by David Monette. > American Jazz Masters Fellowships H *i>\ Q > * VOCALS itzger; Born April 25, 1917 in Newport News, VA Died June 15, 1996 It is quite apropos that Ella Fitzgerald is the first vocalist recipient of the American Jazz Masters Fellowship, because she is who most people consider the quintessen- tial 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 hall mark. These characteristics make her an endur- ing 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 proclivi- ties were as a dancer, even though she sang with her school glee club. At 1 7, she entered the famous amateur show competition at the Apollo Theatre, which led to her being hired as a singer for Chick Webb's orchestra. She soon became a popu lar attraction at the Savoy, and Fitzgerald recorded her 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 Chick 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 '/. > 75th Birthday Celebration, GRR 1938-55 The Complete Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong on Verve, Verve, 1 956-57 Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook, Verve, 1956-57 The Complete Ella in Berlin, Verve, 1960-61 Montreux '77, Original Jazz Classics, 1977 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 man- ager 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 Kern, 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 I lome," and "I low 1 ligh The Moon." Each became enduring parts of her repertoire. She forged memorable partnerships with her piano accompanists, most notably Tommy Flanagan and Paul Smith. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 27 laiiagaii PIANO Born March 16, 1930 in Detroit, Tommy Flanagan is noted as both a stimulating accom- panist 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 fer- tile 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 Thelonica, Enja, 1982 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 tide 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 touring exclusively with her from 1968-78. After leaving Ella 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, Flanagan's lyrical playing and harmonic sophistica- tion place him in the top echelon of jazz pianists. He has been an especially tasteful interpreter of Billy Strayhorn, Thad Jones, and Tadd Dameron's music. Flanagan is a multiple jazz poll winner, and in 1992 was recipient of the prestigious Danish Jazzpar prize. Beyond the Bluebird, Timeless, 1990 Giant Steps, Enja, 1992 Let's Play the Music of Thad Jones, Enja, 1993 Lady Be Good. ...For Ella, Verve, 1994 American Jazz Masters Fellowships SAXOPHONE COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER EDUCATOR Born September 23, 1928 in Cincinnati, OH Although 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 playing owes more to the bebop of Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt than the swing of Basie. Foster began playing clarinet at 11 years old before tak- ing 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 stud- ied 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 contrast. Foster, already an accomplished composer by this time, learned from Basie how to simplify arrangements to make the music swing. He soon was pro- viding 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." 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 the 1970s, Foster played with contemporary musi- cians such as Elvin Jones, George Coleman, and Joe Farrell and began expanding his compositions. He led his own band, the Loud Minority, until 1986 when he assumed leader- ship of the Count Basie c ^mscoo. Orchestra from Thad Jones. While playing the favorites, Foster also began introducing orig- inal material into the playlist. Foster resigned as the musical director of the orchestra in 1995 and began recording albums again. In addition to performing, Foster has also served as a musical consultant in the Now York City public schools and taught at Queens College and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Count Basie, Verve Jazz Masters, Verve, 1954-65 No Count, Savoy, 1956 Fearless, Original Jazz Classics, 1965 Shiny Stockings, Denon, 1977-78 Leo Rising, Arabesque, 1996 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 29 f'K ohnBir Gillespie Born October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, NC Died January 6, 1993 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 trom- bone, 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 related to his outlandish antics. His earli- est influence was Roy Eldridge, who 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 dis- missed for a notorious bandstand prank. It was while with Calloway that 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. Pram 1941-43, Gillespie freelanced with a number of big bands, including th ;i t of Earl "Fatlia" Hines. Hines' band con- fined several musicians Gillespie would interact with in the TRUMPET COMPOSER BANDLEADER The Complete RCA Victor Recordings 7557-7943. Bluebird, 1937-49 Dizzy's Diamonds, Verve, 1954-64 Birk's Works: Verve Big Band Sessions, Verve, 1956-57 Gillespiana/Camegie Hall Concert, Verve, 1960-61 Max + Dizzy, Paris 1989, A&M, 1989 development of bebop, such as singer Billy Eckstine, who formed his own band featuring Gillespie on trumpet in 1944. 1945 was a crucial year 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 eventually 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 widi Gillespie's big band, includ- ing saxophonists Gene Amnions, 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. govern- ment provided economic aid and recognition to jazz. Those excursions not only kept Gillespie working, they also stimu- lated his musical interests as he began incorporating differ- ent 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. 30 American Jazz Masters Fellowships SAXOPHONE COMPOSER EDUCATOR Born January 25, 1929 in Philadelphia, PA & Benny Golson is renowned for being a distinctive com- poser and tenor saxophonist with a warm, somewhat burly sound. Major cornerstones of his career have also included his work in film and television studios, and in 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 encouragement of composer-arranger Tadd Dameron, who 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 con- tributed pieces for the band that have entered the jazz canon, including "Along Game Betty," "Blues March," "I Remember Glifford" (written upon the death of his friend Glifford 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 a Philip Morris com- ^DDISCOG^ \ Benny Golson's New York Scene, Original Jazz Classics, 1957 The Other Side of Benny Golson, Original Jazz Classics, 1958 Groovin' with Golson, Original Jazz Classics, 1959 Up Jumped Benny, Arkadia, 1986 That's Funky, Arkadia Jazz, 2000 mission for the Bangkok Symphony. His soundtrack credits include M*A*S*H, Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, and Ironside. 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 is a 1994 Guggenheim Fellowship. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 31 SAXOPHONE Born February 27, 1923 in Los Angeles, CA Died April 25, 1990 ^ Dexter 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, with whom Gordon interacted in Reese's student band. Gordon left school in 1940 and joined a local band before taking a posi- tion 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 garner 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 under of the 1940s, he played and recorded with the majoi figures in bebop, such as Charlie Parker. Dizzy Gillespie, and Tadd Dameron. Between 1947 and 1952, he lot ked horns with fellow tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray for t £D DISCOg 4^ ' " i5 > 3 *^ Dexter Gordon on Dial: The Complete Sessions, Spotlite, 1947 Doin' Alright, Blue Note, 1961 Go', Blue Note, 1962 Our Man in Paris, Blue Note, 1963 Something Different, Steeplechase, 1975 a series of classic two-tenor duels, including their classic recording of "The Chase." Continuing to freelance through- out 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 trum- peter Woody Shaw. The response prompted him to return permanently to the U.S., where he made a series of well- received records for die Columbia label. Included was a notable return to his two- tenor battle days, this time with fellow expatriate Johnnv Griffin. 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. American Jazz Masters Fellowships VIBES DRUMS PIANO VOCALS BANDLEADER pton Born April 20, 1908 in Louisville, KY Featuring outstanding sideman 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, taking his first music job 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 band- leaders 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 ver- sion 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 record- ing date. Hampton remained in Goodman's band through 1940, occasionally replacing Krupa on the drums. Hampton became well known with the Goodman band, and started his own big band, achieving his biggest recorded hit with "Flying Home" in May 1942, driven by Illinois Jacquet's unforgettable tenor saxophone solo. Hampton's popular big band boasted such potent musi- cians as Dexter Gordon, Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, <& c ^DI S CO G ^ ^ 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, 1 982 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 con- tinued 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 has been recipient of 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 Jazz Festival in 1985. The university's music department shortly followed suit and became the Lionel Hampton School of Music. Winner of numerous polls, Lionel Hampton had been an honored soloist into the 1990s, performing in numerous festivals as part of all-star assem- blages. In 2001, he donated his vibraphone to the Smithsonian Institution. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 33 TI * ' 4 mm - i: any s PIANO COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR Born December 15, 1929 in Detroit, Barry 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 „ c r£6l> d1 SCOg^ Monk's music. ^ ^ M/> Chasin' The Bird. Original Jazz Classics. 1962 Barry Harris Plays Tadd Dameron, Classics, 1975 ToAyo: 7375, Classics. 1976 For The Moment, Uptown, 1984 Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. I &2. Concord, 1990 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. Barn' began teach- ing 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 Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Barry Harris left Detroit in 1960 and moved to New York. In addi- tion to Adderley, Harris found work in the 1960s and 1970s with fellow Detroiter 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 and continues to play, inaugurat- ing the Lincoln Center's Penthouse piano series in 1997. By the early 1980s, Barrv 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 sol- diered on, though, continuing to teach and mentor young musicians. He also continues to present and produce annual multimedia concert spectaculars at places like Symphony Space and the Manhattan Center in New York. American Jazz Masters Fellowships M * • t • DRUMS Haynes Born March 13, 1925 in Roxbury, MA Seemingly 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 num- ber of artists because of his crisply distinc- tive drumming style. 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 the Thelonious Monk 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 than Jones — and it gave We Three, Original Jazz Classics, 1958 Out of the Afternoon, Impulse!, 1962 When It's Haynes It Roars, Dreyfus, 1993 Te Voul, Dreyfus, 1995 The Roy Haynes Trio, Verve, 2000 the quartet a different sound. Among his other affiliations during the late 1950s to early 1960s were with George Shearing, Kenny Burrell, Lennie Tristano, and Stan Getz. In addition, his style of drumming was an ideal accompani- ment 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, featur- ing such musicians as George Adams and Hannibal Marvin Peterson. The band had a decidedly contemporary fla- vor, often employing various guitarists. He also has enjoyed an occasional play- ing 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 worketl with artists such as Billy Taylor, Hank Jones, and Ted Curson. His bands, ranging from his Hip Ensemble to his various quartets and trios, have included some of the more exceptional young musicians on the scene. He continues to influence the next generation of drummers with his distinctive sound. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 35 ercy \ .eat BASS Born April 30, 1923 in Wilmington, NC Percy Heath was the backbone of the popular jazz group Modern Jazz Quartet, and a superb bassist so sought after that he has appeared on more than 200 jazz albums. Heath is a member of one of the great families of jazz (along with the Joneses and Marsalises), with broth- ers 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, end- ing up in New York where he per- formed regularly with jazz greats such as Miles Davis, J.J. 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 Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ): John Lewis, Milt Jackson, and Kenny Clarke. Heath stayed with MJQ from its beginning in 1952 for more than 40 years, off and on Lewis' arrangements brought the bass into greater promi- nence, prompting Heath to greater heights with his perform- ances. During his time with MJQ, Heath performed on film soundtracks and with symphony orchestras and string quar- tets, 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 C ^P DISCOQfc with the Heath Brothers band, which included Jimmy and Tootie. 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 has 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 in Boston. Massachusetts, hi addition. Heath has per- formed at the White House for Presidents Nixon and Clinton. Heath continues to record and release well-received albums with his brothers. 4^ ~"% Modern Jazz Quartet, The Artistry of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Prestige, 1952-55 Jimmy Heath, Really Big!, Original Jazz Classics, 1960 Heath Brothers, Marchin'On!, Strata East, 1976 Heath Brothers, Brotherly Love, Antilles, 1991 Heath Brothers, Jazz Family, Concord, 1998 36 American Jazz Masters Fellowships fcl I \ SAXOPHONE One 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, then he led his own band around Detroit in 1960. He entered the Army band that year, remaining 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. His work on Lee Morgan's album The Sidewinder, especially on the hit title track, con- tains some of his best solos of the period. During the late 1960s, he was part of the cooperative band, the Jazz enderson Born April 24. 1937 in Lima, OH Died June 30, 2001 Communicators, with Freddie Hubbard and Louis Hayes. At the end of the decade he spent over 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 ^DISCOO* number of outstanding musicians and, fol- lowing his Blue Note years, he made a series of reward- ing discs for the Milestone label. In the 1990s, Henderson experi- enced a resurgence in popularity with a series of well-received albums on the Verve label. His record- ings of the music of Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, and Antonio Carlos Jobim in inventive arrangements were inspired, and he showed a skill for big band arrangement with his 1996 release. Page One, Blue Note, 1963 Four!, Verve, 1968 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 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 37 VOCALS LYRICIST EDUCATOR Born September 16, 1921 Newark, OH Ion Hendricks helped create the singing style known as vocalese, or crafting songs and lyrics out of the note sequence of famous jazz instrumental solos, as a member uf 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, brilliandy mirroring the instrumental effects. He grew up largely in Toledo, Ohio, one of 17 children. His singing career began at age eight, singing 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 **4/> Jordan and King Pleasure. One of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Sing a Song of Basie. Verve, 1 957 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Everybody's Boppm, Columbia, 1959-61 Love, Muse. 1981-82 Freddie Freeloader, Denon, 1989-90 Wynton Marsalis, Blood on the Fields. Columbia, 1994 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 Brodiers." which led to their associa- tion 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 subse- quendy toured with the Basie band and were a top-selling act for nearly four years, until Ross left the band. Lambert and Hendricks continue 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. More recently 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." 38 American Jazz Masters Fellowships m BiU DRUMS Born October 11, 1936 in Los Angeles, CA Died May 3, 2001 Known 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 Omette Coleman Quartet in 1959 for their extended engage- ment 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, including Amos Milburn 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 Omette Coleman's new band, with whom 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- ^BISCOO^ Ornette Coleman, Change of the Century, Atlantic, 1959 Soweto, Red, 1979 Mr. Billy Higgins, Evidence, 1 984 For Peace, Red, 1993 Charles Lloyd, Hyperion with Higgins, ECM, 2001 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 Talari 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. Outside of Coleman, a frequent musical collaborator was Cedar Walton, an association that began in 1966 and continued into the 1990s, often in the Walton's Eastern Rebellion bands. In the 1990s his career was halted by kid- ney disease, leading to a subsequent kidney transplant. After resuming play- ing, 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. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 39 BASS EDUCATOR Born June 23, 1910 in Vicksburg, MS Died December 19, 2000 Milt Hinton's career spanned the gamut of jazz gen- erations, working 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 Bradford Marsalis and Christian McBride. His ability to make a con- tribution 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-style table books. Like many African American families in the early part of the 20th century, his family migrated north from Mississippi to Chicago, where he was raised. His mother was a church musician, playing organ, piano, and directing the choir. She bought him a violin for his thirteenth 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. Other early affiliations included 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 # ^PDISCOo^ *. > Various Artists, J he Modern Art of Jazz, Biograph, 1 956 The Judge at his Best, Chiaroscuro, 1973-95 Back to Bass-ics, Progressive, 1984 Bradford Marsalis, TrioJeepy. Columbia, 1988 Laughing at Life, Columbia, 1995 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 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 set- tings, performing with Jimmy McPartland, Benny Goodman, Ben Webster, Sammy Davis, Jr., Judy Garland, and Harry Belafonte, among odiers. 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. 40 American Jazz Masters Fellowships VIBES PIANO BANDLEADER Characterized by a slower vibrato than his predeces- sors, Milt Jackson's ability to swing and to create vocal-like inflections made his an instandy recogniz- able sound on the vibes. Another jazz musician whose ear- liest 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 Modern Jazz Quartet, with Percy Heath Born January 1, 1923 in Detroit, Ml Died October 9, 1999 replacing Brown, and Connie Kay eventually replacing Clarke. The MJQ would become an enduring jazz institu- tion 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 featur- ing Jimmy Heath and Ray Brown and worked on recording sessions that included Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and Ray Charles. He left the MJQ in 1974, leading his own groups or play- ing 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 £<££,£> disc Og/j musicians as Mickey Roker, Bob Cranshaw, Modern Jazz Quartet, MJQ, 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, Original Jazz Classics, 1978 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 Down Beat Hall of Fame, among other honors. Sa Va Bella, Warner Brothers, 1996 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 4 1 ainal PIANO COMPOSER (Fritz Jones) Born July 2, 1930 in Pittsburgh, PA One of the subtlest virtuosos of jazz piano, Ahmad Jamal's uncanny use of space in his playing and leadership of his small ensem- bles have been hallmarks of his influential career. Among those he has influenced is most notably Miles Davis. Davis made numerous and promi- nent mentions of Jamal's influence on the trum- peter, particular in his use of space, allowing the music to "breathe," and his choice of composi- tions. 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. Additionally, Jamal's textured rhythms on piano influenced Davis' piano players as well, from Wynton Kelly in the 1950s to Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. His 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 Garner. Following grad- uation from Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School, he joined the George Hudson band in 1947. He formed his own group, Four Strings, in 1949 that included violinist Joe Kennedy and the percussive guitarist Ray Crawford. 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, high- lighted by his interpretation of "Poinciana." With the popu- larity of the album and the advocacy of Davis, Jamais 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 virtuos- ity 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. At the Pershing/But Not for Me, Chess, 1958 Ahmad's Blues, GRP, 1958 The Awakening, Impulse!, 1970 Chicago Bevisited: Live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase, Telarc, 1 992 The Essence of Ahmad Jamal, Part 7, Verve, 1994-96 American Jazz Masters Fellowships TROMBONE COMPOSER ARRANGER Born January 22, 1 924 in Indianapolis, IN Died February 4, 2001 Often referred to as the "Charlie Parker of the trom- bone" due to his uncanny musical dexterity and flu- ency, J.J. Johnson dominated his instrument for over 40 years, and was known as a potent composer and arranger. He was a perennial jazz magazine poll winner for his peer- less trombone playing. Between ages nine and eleven, 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 influ- ence 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 occupied 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 modern jazz. In the late 1950s, he began to gain recognition as a com- poser. 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. The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 1 &2. Blue Note, 1953-55 Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson at the Opera House, Verve, 1957 The Great Kai and J. J., Impulse!, 1960 Live at the Village Vanguard, EmArcy, 1988 Tangence, Verve, 1 994 American Jazz Masters Fellowships 43 ones Born July 31. 1918 in Vicksburg. MS PIANO & Hank Jones, a member of the famous jazz family that includes brothers cornetist Thad and drummer Elvin, has served as a pianist in a vast array of set- tings, always lending a distinctive, swinging sensibility to the sessions. Although born 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 in 1947. As a result, he became Ella Fitzgerald's pianist, touring with her from 1948-53. These experiences Berved to broaden his musical palette and sophistication. A consummate freelancer, Jones found work with artists Buch as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Milt Jackson, and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. The versatility Jones acquired through such affiliations served him well when he joined the staff of CBS as a studio musician, remaining for 17 years. Although his studio work found him working on productions like the Ed Sullivan Show, Jones continued his touring and recording experiences in a variety of settings. His broad range and ability to fit in different settings also landed him in Broadway pit bands, where f r > The Jazz Trio of Hank Jones, Savoy, 1955 The Oracle, EmArcy, 1989 Lazy Afternoon, Concord Jazz, 1989 Upon Reflection, Verve, 1993 Charlie Haden/Hank Jones, Steal Away, Verve, 1994 he served as pianist and conductor for such shows as Am 't Misbeha\in '. Jones was the first regular pianist in brother Thad's co-led orchestra with Mel Lewis, beginning in 1966. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Jones con- tinued 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 expe- rienced his share of piano duos, with the likes of Tommy Flanagan — with whom he became acquainted when both were developing around the Detroit area — George Shearing, and John Lewis. As a leader and valued sideman, Hank Jones can be found on thousands of recordings. American Jazz Masters Fellowships v:# 2 DRUMS ones Born July 10, 1911 in Chicago, IL Died September 3, 1985 Io Jones' uncanny way around the drums, ability to truly swing a band without ever overpowering it, and slick, smiling sense of showmanship made him one of the niost influential of the early swing band drummers. Jones made an art form of the use of brushes on the drum kit, with accents timely and thoroughly appropriate for whatever band with which he played. Jo Jones is credited cS' & with the transfer of the essential pulse of jazz music from the bass drum to the hi-hat cym- bal, influencing such modern 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 driv- ing 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. C ^D DISCoq^ In 1934 came the affiliation with which his artistry is forever identified, drumming with the Count Basie band, with whom he worked on and off for over 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 M '■'. > Count Basie, The Original American Decca Recordings, MCA, 1937-39 The Essential Jo Jones, Vanguard, 1955 Jo Jones Trio, Fresh Sounds, 1 959 Jo Jones Sextet, Fresh Sounds, 1 960 The Main Man, Original Jazz Classics, 1976 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 occa- sions, Jones became a freelance drum- mer. 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. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 45 05 SAXOPHONE BANDLEADER Born May 28, 1898 in Newport, KY Died December 11, 1992 Andy Kirk, though virtually unknown nowadays out side of jazz circles, led one of the hottest swing bands in the country during the 1930s, rivaling Basie's. His 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 saxo- phonist 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, a band he eventually took over in 1929, changing the name to the Clouds of Joy (sometimes being 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 count- less times since. Kirk's band was highly popular, becom- ing — along with the Count Basie band, the Benny Moten ^DDISCOG^ \ 1929-1931. Classics, 1929-31 1936-1937, Classics, 1936-37 1937-1938, Classics, 1937-38 Kansas City Bounce, Black and Blue, 1939-40 1940-1942, Classics, 1940-42 > 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, utilizing the talent in his band for the spotlight instead. His genius lay in realizing how best to make use of his band members' skills. Realizing the awesome writing and arranging aptitude of Man* 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 high- lighted 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, though he spent the remainder of his life working for his Jehovah's Witness church. 46 American Jazz Masters Fellowships PIANO COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR Lewis Bom May 3, 1920 in La Grange, IL Died March 29, 2001 Iohn Lewis' artistry flowered during his historic tenure as musical director of the longest continuing small ensemble in the annals of jazz, the Modern Jazz Quartet, vvith whom he was able to realize his unique vision of fusing blues, bebop, and classical music into an artful, elegant balance. Raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lewis' mother was a primary musical influence. 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 composi- tions 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' arrange- ments 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 record- ing studio as the Milt Jackson Quartet, later becoming the Modern Jazz Quartet. By the time those recordings were # ^DISCOo^ Modern Jazz Quartet, Django, Original Jazz Classics, 1953-55 Grand Encounter, Blue Note, 1956 The Wonderful World of Jazz, Atlantic, 1960 Kansas City Breaks, DRG, 1982 Private Concert, EmArcy, 1 990 issued, Percy Heath had replaced Brown. In 1954, the Modern Jazz Quartet began touring and Connie Kay replaced Clarke on drums the follow- ing year. Lewis would use his time in the more than 40 years with MJQ to hone his composing and arrang- ing skills, experimenting with form and sound, while collaborating with guests rang- ing in diversity from Sonny Rollins to the Beaux Arts String Quartet to singer Diahann Carroll to full orchestras. Perhaps his most widely interpreted composi- tion is "Django," which he wrote in honor of the legendary Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Throughout his career, John Lewis had written for a vast number of musical configurations in a dizzying array of styles, from solo piano to symphonies, 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. % American Jazz Masters Fellowships 47 ^m* ^ v-^ Melba iston Born January 13, 1926 Kansas City, MO Died April 23, 1999 TROMBONE ARRANGER COMPOSER EDUCATOR <& Although a formidable trombone player, Melba Liston was primarily known for her arrangements, espe- cially working with Randy Weston, and composi- tions. Growing up mosdy 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 a song as a tribute to her, "Mischievous Lady." 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 for two of Gillespie's State Department tours in 1956 and 1957, which included her arrangements of "Annie's Dance" and "Stella by Starlight" in per- formances. 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 [ones' louring band as one of two woman mem- bers until 1961. ^DISCOG^ f> Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy In South America, Vol. 7 & 2, CAP, 1 956 Quincy Jones, Q Live in Paris, Warner Brothers, 1960 Randy Weston, Tanjah, Verve, 1 973 Randy Weston/Melba Liston, Volcano Blues, Verve, 1993 Randy Weston, Khepera, Verve, 1998 In the 1950s, Liston began a partnership that she would return to on and off for more than 40 years. From the semi- nal 1959 recording Little Niles through 1998's Khepera, Liston was the arranger on six of Randy Weston's albums. Her arrangements, with a powerful base of brass and percus- sion and expressive solo performances, helped shape and embellish Weston's compositions. Other affiliations during the 1960s included co-leading a band with trumpeter Clark Terry. and writing for the Duke Ellington orches- tra, 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 tech- nology. Liston's career helped pave the way for women in jazz in roles other than as vocalists. American Jazz Masters Fellowships SAXOPHONE COMPOSER EDUCATOR McLean Born May 17, 1931 in New York, NY Known in the jazz community as "Jackie Mac," Jackie McLean has been a stalwart, enduring force in jazz since the early 1950s, and a distinguished educator since 1968. Long the possessor of one of the most recogniz- able alto saxophone sounds and styles, he has explored the cutting edge of jazz creativity. McLean grew up in a musical family, his father being a guitarist for bandleader Tiny Bradshaw and stepfather own- ing a record store. By age 15, he chose the alto saxophone as his instrument. Jackie's earliest studies came through the tutelage of Foots Thomas, Cecil Scott, Joe Napoleon, and Andy Brown in his native New York. Another of his infor- mal 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 ^DDISCOG^ 4, 5 and 6, Original Jazz Classics, 1956 New Soil, Blue Note, 1959 Let Freedom Ring, Blue Note, 1962 The Jackie Mac Attack Live, Verve, 1991 Nature Boy, Blue Note, 2000 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 com- bination 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 for- mer schoolhouse in one of Hartford's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. At the University of Hartford, Jackie McLean established the school's African American Music Department and subse- quent Jazz Studies degree program. The program DBS instructed a number of exceptional young jazz musicians, including saxophonist Antoine Roney, drummer Eric MacPherson, saxophonist Abraham Burton, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist Alan Palmer, and saxophonist Jimmy Greene. V American Jazz Masters Fellowships 49 PIANO BROADCASTER Born March 20, 1918 in Slough, England Best 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. Born 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 enter- tained the troops and while playing in Belgium met her late husband, cornetist 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 res idency at the Hickory House in New York with her trio. In 1963, she worked with the Benny Goodman Sextet, ;ind in 1965 she began her radio career, at WBAI in ^o^iscoo^ 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 program Piano Jazz, the longest running syndicated National Public Radio program. 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 > Jazz at the Hickory House, Jasmine, 1954 Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Guest Bill Evans, Jan Alliance, 1 978 Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Guest Eubie Blake, Jazz Alliance, 1 979 Plays the Benny Carter Songbook, Concord, 1990 Just Friends, Concord, 1 998 of the segments, McPartland would interview the guest, drawing out colorful anecdotes and stories about their careers. The shows also included 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. and Benny Carter. She has performed with symphony orchestras and at many of the major jazz festivals, and has received numerous awards, including a Down Beat Lifetime Achievement award in 1997. American Jazz Masters Fellowships \fr *~ X ■ m Carme VOCALS PIANO cRae Born April 8, 1920 in New York, NY Died November 10, 1994 Tender 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 accompa- nied herself, she occasionally returned to the piano later in her career. McRae learned piano through private lessons and was discovered by Irene Wilson Kitchings, 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, which 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 signif- icant recording contract with Decca in 1954. ^DDISCOG^ Here to Stay, MCA/GRP, 1955-59 Carmen McRae Sings Great American Songwriters, MCA/GRP, 1955-59 Sings Lover Man & Other Billie Holiday Classics, Columbia, 1961 Carmen Sings Monk, Novus, 1 988 Sarah — Dedicated to You, Novus, 1990 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, to whom she idolized and later paid homage on a recording. Her greatest idol was Billie Holiday, whom she feted on record and in perform- ances on many occasions. Although she admired these singers, she never resorted to sheer mimicry and developed her own original style. She recorded notably 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 series 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 Bernie Hanighen. The album became one of her signature recordings. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 51 .Ci PIANO VOCALS BANDLEADER Born January 12, 1916 in Muskogee, OK For better or worse, Jay McShann is tied to the legend of Charlie Parker. Parker's first real professional work was with McShann 's Kansas City band, and McShann is 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, records that often featured 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, where he continues to reside. In the C ^-BD DISc °G^. 1970s and 1980s, McShann experienced a bit of a renaissance, with increased recording and per- forming opportunities, often with Kansas City violinist Claude "Fiddler" Williams, and he continues to perform throughout the Midwest. Blues from Kansas City, MCA, 1941-43 1944-46, Classics, 1944-46 With Kansas City in Mind, Swaggie, 1972 Vine Street Boogie, Black Lion, 1974 A Tribute to Charlie Parker, Music Masters, 1989 52 American Jazz Masters Fellowships ML ■ v SAXOPHONE FLUTE VOCALS M< Jame III y Born March 26, 1925 in Savannah, GA One of the surviving champions of Dizzy Gillespie's music, James Moody is an accomplished musician on the tenor and alto saxophones, as well as the flute, despite being born partially deaf. In addition to his instrumental prowess, Moody is an engaging entertainer, captivating audiences with his personal charm and wit. Although born in Savannah, he was raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, and Newark, New Jersey. His interest in jazz was sparked by a trumpet-playing father who gigged in the Tiny Bradshaw band. His first musical training came in the Air Force, and after leaving the service in 1946 he joined the Dizzy Gillespie big band, staying until 1948. Gillespie became his musical mentor. In 1948 he moved to Paris for three years, often playing with visiting American musicians, including the Tadd Dameron-Miles Davis band in 1949. 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," becoming a surprise hit in 1952 ^DDISCOG^ * > James Moody and Frank Foster in Paris, RCA, 1954 Moody's Mood for Blues, Original Jazz Classics, 1954-55 Return from Overbrook, GRP/Chess, 1956-58 Don't Look Away Now!, Original Jazz Classics. 1969 Mainly Mancini, Warner Brothers, 1997 Throughout the rest of his career, Moody would be more known for the vocal version of the song based on his solo than for the instrumental version itself, 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 Amnions 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 numer- ous 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 and worked as a soloist and member of 1-star touring units. He continues to experiment with his music, sometimes includ- ing synthesizers on his recordings. He has occa- sionally taught on college and university campuses, and even acted in the Clint Eastwood film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 53 (Anita Belle Colton) Born October 18, 1919 in Chicago, IL Anita 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 interpretations of standard songs. Her career spans 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 con- test winner in the 1930s, which is when she adopted the stage name O'Day. At 19, she began singing professionally in clubs around Chicago. 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 band jacket and short skirt. She stayed with the Krupa organization until 1943. In 1944 she joined Stan Kenton's band. She then re-joined Krupa in 1945. remaining there until 1946, when she began a solo career. In the mid-1950s she made a few 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 «f$&° DISCo °^ yb own record labels. In the 1980s and 1990s, she contin- 4> 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, 1957 Rules of the Road, Pablo, 1 993 ued to work the club and jazz festival circuits, includ- ing a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1985 to celebrate her 50 years in jazz and notable performances at the Vine Street Bar & Grill in Los Angeles in 1992. American Jazz Masters Fellowships DRUMS COMPOSER BANDLEADER Roach Born January 10, 1924 in New Land, NC Max Roach is one of the two leading drummers of the bebop era (along with Kenny Clarke) and has remained one of the leading musicians, com- posers, and bandleaders in jazz ever since the 1940s. His often biting political commentary and strong intellect, not to mention his rhythmic innovations, have 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 10. 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 collabo- rated 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 commen- tary to his recordings, starting with Deeds Not Words, but coming into sharper focus with We Insist! Freedom Now in ^DISCOO* Brownie Lives!, Fresh Sounds, 1956 Deeds Not Words, Original Jazz Classics, 1958 We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, Candid, 1960 Historic Concerts, Soul Note, 1979 7b 777e /Wax, Enja, 1990-91 1960, on which he collabo- rated with singer-lyricist Oscar Brown, Jr. From then on he has been 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 chord- ing instruments in his bands for the most part from the late 1960s on. His thirst for experimenta- tion has 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 has few peers in terms of innova- tions, stemming from his deeply personal sound and approach. His proclivities in the area of multiethnic percus- sion have flowered with his intermittent percussion ensem- ble M'Boom, founded in 1970. A broad-based percussionist who was a pioneer in establishing a fixed pulse on the ride cymbal instead of the bass drum, Roach has also collabo- rated with voice, string, and brass ensembles, lectured on college campuses extensively, and composed music for dance, theater, film, and television. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 55 k.W co SAXOPHONE COMPOSER Born September 7, 1930 in New York, NY ^■scoo^ Saxophone Colossus, Original Jazz Classics, 1956 With more than 40 years in jazz, Sonny Rollins' tow- ering 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 exam- ple of his brother's pursuit of music, Rollins began piano les- sons at age nine. At 14 he picked up the alto saxophone, and switched to the tenor two years later. Soon he was play- ing dances in a band of youngsters in his New York commu- nity, 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 f. 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 Farmer, and the Modern 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 OH any label. Among his recorded highlights during this period were Tenor Madness, which included an eni ountei with John Coltrane; Saxophone Colossus, a sparkling album thai introduced his most noted composi- tion. "St. Thomas," which honored his parents' Virgin A Night at the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, 1957 The Quartets. Bluebird, 1962 East Broadway Rundown, Impulse!, ' Silver City, Milestone, 1972-95 966 Islands roots; and Way Out West, which took seemingly mun- dane songs like "I'm an Old Cowhand" and spun them out with extraordinary improvisations. By 1959, Rollins had grown impatient with the vagaries of the jazz scene and took a hia- tus. 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 musi- cians 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 sound- track album for the film Alfie for die Impulse! label, which brought him some popularity beyond jazz audiences. By 1968 Rollins again required a break from the scene, return- ing in 1971. He has been playing and growing ever since, continuing his long affiliation with the Fantasy family of labels (including Prestige and Milestone) and working almost exclusively on concert stages. Sonny Rollins' record- ings have continued to reflect his interest in Caribbean rhythms, particularly the calypso. 56 American Jazz Masters Fellowships T George PIANO DRUMS COMPOSER ARRANGER EDUCATOR Russell Born June 23, 1923 in Cincinnati, OH Unique among NEA American Jazz Masters recipients in that he is first and foremost a composer rather than an instrumentalist, George Russell is 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 unprece- dented 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 "Cubana Be, Cubana 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 com- position study with Stefan Wolpe. His theory, The Lyclian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, was eventually published in book form in the mid-1950s. Russell's concept involves a composition system based on the grading of inter- vals by the distance of their pitches from a central note. ^DDISCOG^ O, > Jazz Workshop, RCA Victor, 1956 New York, NY, Impulse!, 1958 Ezz-Thetics, Original Jazz Classics, 1961 New York Big Band, Soul Note, 1 977-78 The African Game, Blue Note, 1983 Music theoreticians hailed this as a breakthrough, being 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 when he taught at the Lenox School of Jazz during 1958-59. In the meantime, his theories on modals influenced Miles Davis and Bill Evans (who studied with Russell), leading to the creation of Davis' mas- terpiece, 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 signif- icant recordings before moving to Scandinavia. There he continued to refine his theories and work with Scandinavian musicians, returning to the U.S. in 1969. That year he took a teaching position at New England Conservatory of Music. In the late 1970s, Russell formed big bands to play his music, creating his Living Time Orchestra in 1978. In addition to teaching and lecturing at other con- servatories and universities, Russell has been the; recipient of numerous awards, honors, and grants, including a MacArthur award, two Guggenheim fellowships, and the National Music Award. Though his recording and concert opportunities in the U.S. have been sporadic, George Russell has continued to refine his Lydian theories. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 57 Shorter Born August 25, 1933 in Newark, NJ SAXOPHONE COMPOSER Equally renowned for his compositions as for his saxo- phone 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 35 years. 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 die 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, exceptional playing. He left Blakey in 1964 to assume another productive affiliation with the Miles Davis Quintet, where he remained until 1970. VVbiln with Davis, he further solidified his posi- tion 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, able to find the appropriate mood in his playing to fit the song. During the latter stages of his Davis tenure, he took up the soprano sax- ophone, which thereafter often became his principle horn. In 1971 he and pianist Joe Zawinul, who also had been part of Davis' recording sessions in the late-1960s to early-1970s. formed one of the pioneering jazz fusion bands. Weather Report. The band stayed together for 15 years through sev- eral different permutations, engaging electronics and numer- ous ethnic influences and furthering Shorter's reputation as a composer. After the breakup of Weather Report he made occasional recordings and tours, continuing to mine the influences he felt from other musical cultures and con- tinuing to write intriguing music. DISCrv-* He is a major influence on the generations of musicians who have entered die scene since the 1970s. Shorter, who originally studied as a visual artist, continues to pursue the visual arts as well as music. ^y > Night Dreamer, Blue Note, 1964 Speak No Evil. Blue Note, 1964 Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, Columbia, 1966 Weather Report, Live in Tokyo, Columbia, 1972 Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter, M, Verve. 1997 American Jazz Masters Fellowships Hor PIANO COMPOSER ilver Born September 2, 1928 in Norwalk, CT Horace Silver was the heart of the hard bop era, help- ing to form the influential Jazz Messengers and com- posing many blues and gospel-flavored songs that have become part of the jazz canon, including "Lonely Woman," "Song For My Father," "Sefior Blues," "The 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 a band called the Jazz Messengers, co-led 4? 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 hebop 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 C ^D DISCoq^ . *i > Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers, Blue Note, 1954 Blowin' the Blues Away, Blue Note, 1 959 Song For My Father, Blue Note, 1964 Cape Verdean Blues, Blue Note, 1965 The Hardbop Grandpop, GRP, 1996 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 excep- tional, aspiring musicians. Among those who passed through his band were Art Farmer, 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. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 59 i » ■ * J\ 1 *.. 1* ** . *Ml Sun JL |lCI/ PIANO COMPOSER ARRANGER BANDLEADER (Herman "Sonny" Blount) Born May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, AL Died May 30, 1993 Sun Ra was one of the most unusual musicians in the history of jazz, moving from Fletcher Henderson swing to free jazz with ease, sometimes in the same song. Portraying himself as a product of outer space, he "traveled the spaceways" with a colorful troupe of musicians, using a multitude of percussion and unusual instrumentation, from tree drum to celeste. Sun Ra, who enjoyed cloaking his origins and develop- ment in mystery, is known to have studied piano early on with Lula Randolph in Washington, DC. His first noted pro- fessional job was during 1946-47 as pianist with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra at the Club DeLisa on the South Side of Chicago. In addition to playing piano in the band he also served as one of the staff arrangers. Finding his calling as an arranger, he put together a band to play his compositions. In the 1950s, he began issuing recordings of his unusual music on his Saturn label, becoming one of the first jazz musicians to record and sell his own albums. Sun Ra's band became a central part of the early avant- garde jazz movement in Chicago, being one of the first jazz bands to employ electronic instruments (as early as 1956), including electric piano, clavioline, celeste, and synthesiz- ers. In 1960, he moved his band to New York, where he established a communal home for his musicians, known as rln- Sun Palace. In March 1966, the band began one of its most significant residencies, playing every Monday night at Slug's nightclub on New York's Lower East Side. The Singles, Evidence, 1 954-82 Jazz in Silhouette, Evidence, 1958 The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 & 2, ESP, 1965 Space is the Place, Evidence, 1972 Purple Night, b&M, 1989 By the 1970s, the Sun Ra Arkestra and its various permuta- tions began touring Europe extensively. His band had by then expanded to include singers, dancers, martial arts practitioners, film, and colorful, homemade costumes, becoming a true multimedia attraction. Their performances would often stretch on for hours, including hypnotic, chanting processionals through the audience. Sun Ra's global following had become significant, though his recordings had become sporadic. His arrange- ments of his songs, however, were among the best in jazz. He made excellent use of his soloists, especially the great tenor saxophonist James Gilmore. alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, and baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick, all of whom were with the Arkestra on and off for decades. An outsider who linked the African American experi- ence with ancient Egyptian mythology and outer space. Sun Ra was years ahead of all other avant-garde musicians in his experimentation with sound and instruments, a pioneer in group improvisations and the use of electric instruments in jazz. Since Sun Ra's death, the Arkestra has continued to perform, usually under the direction of Gilmore or Allen. American Jazz Masters Fellowships PIANO COMPOSER EDUCATOR BROADCASTER Born July 24, 1921 in Greenville, NC Although well respected for his tasteful, non-intrusive accompaniment as a sideman, Billy Taylor is known for his championing of jazz music, especially through his radio series, Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center. After growing up in Washington, DC and studying music at Virginia State College, where he earned a degree in music in 1942, Taylor moved to New York. He spent the 1940s fre- quently playing the clubs on New York's famed 52nd Street, performing with greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, Stuff Smith, Machito, Slam Stewart, and Don Redman. His adroit abilities enabled him to freely cross over from swing to the then-burgeoning modern jazz called bebop. In the 1950s, he served as the ideal sideman, finding work with Roy Eldridge, Oscar Pettiford, and Lee Konitz while employed as house pianist at Birdland in 1951. Beginning in 4? cfC gD DISCO G/i , ■*/;, Cross-Section, Original Jazz Classics, 1953-54 My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, Impulse!, 1965 White Nights and Jazz in Leningrad, Taylor-Made Music, 1988 Its a Matter of Pride, GRP, 1993 Homage, GRP, 1994 1952 he became a bandleader, primarily heading trios with bass and drums. Taylor started in radio with a program in the 1960s on WLIB in Now York. From 1969- 72 he was house band- leader for the David Frost television show, and in the 1970s also served as host-director of the NPR syndicated Jazz Alive radio series. Since 1981, Taylor has been an interviewer and reporter for CBS televi- sion's Sunday Morning program. As a jazz educator, Taylor's experience has been vast, starting with authoring a series of beginning piano primers. He was a founder of New York's successful Jazzmobile com- munity performance and school-without- walls, beginning in 1965. He earned his doctorate in music at the University of Massachusetts in 1975, with a dissertation on The History and Development of Jazz Piano: A New Perspective for Educators. Taylor has subsequently taught at Yale, Manhattan School of Music, Howard University, University of California, Fredonia State University, and C.W. Post College. His experience at the University of Massachusetts led to a lead faculty position at the university's annual sum- mer intensive, Jazz in July. As a composer he has written a number of commis- sioned works, his most well-known composition being "I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free." In the 1990s, Billy Taylor became artistic director of the Jazz at the Kennedy Center program in his adopted hometown, Washington, DC, from which emanates his syndicated NPR radio series. He has also served on the NEA's National Council on the Arts. Taylor is currently working with the National Endowment for the Arts as chairman of the advi- sory group for a research project to study the financial con- dition and needs of jazz artists in four cities: New York, Detroit, New Orleans, and San Francisco. The results of the study will be used in the design of future; NEA programs to support jazz. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 61 PIANO COMPOSER Born March 15, 1929 in New York, NY Cecil Taylor is one of the most uncompromisingly gifted pianists in jazz history, utilizing a nearly over- whelming orchestral facility on the piano. While his work has elicited controversy almost from the start, Taylor's artistic vision has never swayed. At his mother's urging he began piano studies at age five. He later studied percussion, which undoubtedly influ- enced his highly percussive keyboard style. At age 23 he studied at the New England Conservatory, concentrating on piano and music theory. He immersed himself in 20th cen- tury classical composers, including Stravinsky, and found sustenance for his jazz proclivities in the work of Lennie Tristano and Dave Brubeck. Later Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Horace Silver began to influence his playing. By 1956 he was working as a professional, taking a pro- longed engagement at New York's Five Spot Cafe, recording his first album, Jazz Advance, and making his Newport Jazz Festival debut. Playing in the manner he did — an aggressive style of almost assaulting the piano, often breaking keys and strings — presented challenges in terms of finding steady work. Taylor struggled to find gigs leu most of the 1950s and 1960s, despite being recognized by Down Beat magazine in its #> Jazz Advance, Blue Note, 1956 3Phasis, New World, 1978 ForOlim, Soul Note, 1986 Alms/Tiegarten, FMP. 1988 Dewey Redman/Cecil Taylor/Elvin Jones, Momentum Space, Verve, 1998 "New Star" poll category. He eventually found work over- seas, touring Scandinavian countries during the winter of 1962-63 with his trio, including Jimmy Lyons on alto saxo- phone, and Sunny Murray on drums. His approach had evolved to incorporate clusters and a dense rhythmic sensi- bility, coupled with sheer physicality that often found him addressing the keyboard with open palms, elbows and fore- arms. His solo piano recordings are some of the most chal- lenging and rewarding to listen to in all of jazz. Controversy has continued to follow him throughout his career. Fortunately, his work as a pianist and composer gained much-needed momentum in the 1970s and beyond, as touring and recording opportunities increased, largely overseas, though finding reg- ular work for his uncompromising style of music still remains a struggle. Throughout his career, he has worked with many important, like-minded musicians, including Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy. Sam Rivers, Max Roach, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and a host of European and Scandinavian musicians. His influence on tire avant-garde, espe- cially of the 1960s and 1970s, in terms of performance and composition is enormous. > 62 American Jazz Masters Fellowships V Vita Clar TRUMPET FLUGELHORN VOCALS EDUCATOR Terry Born December 14, 1920 in St. Louis, MO S Clark Terry is the consummate freelance musician, able to add a distinctive element to whatever band or jam session of which he is a part. His exuberant, swinging horn playing was an important contribution to two of the greatest big bands in jazz, Count Basie's and Duke Ellington's. In addition, his use of the flugelhorn as an alternative to trumpet influenced Art Farmer and Miles Davis, among others. In high school, Terry took up the valve trombone, later playing the bugle with the Tom Powell Drum and Bugle Corps. Upon his discharge in 1945, he found work with Lionel Hampton's band. He rounded out the 1940s playing with bands led by Charlie Barnet, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Charlie Ventura, and George Hudson. From 1948-51, Terry was a member of Basie's big band and octet. Terry's reputation grew with Ellington's band, with whom he worked from 1951-59, often featured as a soloist on trumpet and flugelhorn. He also led his own recording dates during this time. After working with Quincy Jones in 1959-60, he found steady work as a freelance studio artist, eventually becoming a staff musician at NBC. As a member of the Tonight Show orchestra — one of the first African American musicians employed in a tele- vision house band — he came to prominence through his popular "Mumbles" persona, his unique way of mumbling a scat vocal solo. He worked and recorded with artists such as J.J. Johnson, Oscar Peterson, and Ella Fitzgerald, r then co-led a quintet with Bob Brookmeyer. Ma ^, > Duke with a Difference, Original Jazz Classics, 1957 In Orbit, Original Jazz Classics, 1958 Mellow Moods, Prestige, 1961-62 The Clark Terry Spacemen, Chiaroscuro, 1976 One-on-One, Chesky Jazz, 2000 Thereafter he led his own small and large bands, including his Big Bad Band, begin- ning in 1972. He also became part of Norman Granz's traveling all-stars, Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a jazz educator he was one of the earliest active practitioners to take time off from the road to enter the classroom, conducting numerous clinics and jazz camps. This work culminated in his own music school at Teikyo Westmar University in Le Mars, Iowa. A distinctive stylist on his horns, he is also a consummate entertainer, often alternating trumpet and flugelhorn in a solo duel with himself in concerts. He continues to play in both the U.S. and Europe, recording and performing in a wide variety of settings, such as the recent One-on-One recording of duets with 14 different pianists. American Jazz Masters Fellowships 63 red McCoy er Born December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, PA PIANO COMPOSER McCoy Tyner's powerful, propulsive style of piano playing was an integral part of the John Coltrane Quartet in the early 1960s and influenced count- less musicians that followed him. His rich chord clusters continue to be copied by many young jazz pianists. Growing up in Philadelphia, Tyner's neighbors were jazz musicians Richie and Bud Powell, who were After leaving the quartet, Tyner demonstrated his tremendous melodic and rhythmic flair for composition on such albums as The Real McCoy, which featured "Passion Dance," "Contemplation," and "Blues on the Corner," and Sahara, which featured "Ebony Queen" and the title track. Tyner has continued to experiment with his sound, push- ing rhythms and tonalities to the limit, his flutter- very influential to his piano playing. Studying -ep^ 0< ^ Randy Weston has spent most of his career combining the rich music of the African continent with the African American tradition of jazz, mixing rhythms and melodies into a hybrid musical stew. Weston received his earliest training from private teach- ers in a household that nurtured his budding musicianship. Growing up in Brooklyn, Weston was influenced by such peers as saxophonist Cecil Payne and trumpeter Ray Copeland as well as the steady influx of great jazz musicians who frequented Brooklyn clubs and jam sessions on a regu- lar basis. Such musicians as Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington would have a lasting influence on Weston's music, both in terms of his piano playing and composition. After a 1945 stint in the Army, Weston began playing piano with such rhythm and blues bands as Bull Moose Jackson and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. At the Music Inn educational retreat in Lenox, Massachusetts in 1954, he took work as a cook during the summer, while playing the piano at night. The head of Riverside Records heard him and signed Weston to do a record of Cole Porter standards. Weston's recording sessions frequently included contri- butions from his Brooklyn neighborhood buddies Copeland, Paj iir. and bassisl Ahmed Abdul-Malik. It was at diis early juncture thai he also began his long and fruitful musical partnership with trombonist-arranger Melba Liston (a listing of some nt tin- albums on which they collaborated can be found in the Listen Sele< ted Discography), a relationship thai would ' ontinuc until her death in 1999, forming some ol Weston's besl re< ordings. Uhuru Africa/Highlife, Roulette, 1960-63 Blues to Africa, Arista/Freedom, 1974 Portraits of Monk, Verve, 1989 The Spirit of Our Ancestors, Verve, 1991 Saga. Verve, 1995 Weston's interest in the African con- tinent was sparked at an early age, and he lectured and performed in Africa in the early 1960s. He toured 14 African countries with his ensemble in 1967 on a State Department tour, eventually settling in Rabat, Morocco. He later moved to Tangier, open- ing the African Rhythms Club in 1969. It was in Morocco that Weston first forged unique collaborations with Berber and Gnawan musicians, infusing his jazz with African music and rhythms. Since returning to the U.S. in 1972, he has lived in Brooklyn, traveling extensively overseas with bands that generally include trombonist Benny Powell and longtime musical director, saxophonist Talib Kibwe (aka T.K. Blue). In recent years, a number of Weston's U.S. concert appear- ances have been true events, including 1998 and 1999 Brooklyn and Kennedy Center collaborations with the Master Musicians of Gnawa, and a triumphant 1998 recre- ation of his masterwork suite "Uhuru Africa" in Brooklyn. Many of Weston's compositions, such as "Hi Fly" and "Berkshire Blues," have become jazz standards. American Jazz Masters Fellowships VOCALS lains Ioe Williams' versatile baritone voice made him one of the signature male vocalists in jazz annals, responsible for some of the Count Basie band's main hits in the i950s. Though born in Georgia, Williams was raised in that great haven of the blues, Chicago, Illinois. His first (Joseph Goreed) Born December 12, 1918 in Cordele, GA Died March 29, 1999 Rushing's vocal style, but offered a new range of opportuni- ties for Basie to use. Williams' sound was smoother, strong on ballads and blues, while Rushing was a more aggressive singer, best on the up-tempo numbers. Williams' hits with the Basie band included "Alright, Okay, You Win," "The Comeback," and what would ^ professional job came with clarinetist Jimmie Noone in 1937. In the 1940s, in addition to singing in Chicago area groups, he worked with the big bands of Coleman Hawkins, Lionel Hampton, and Andy Kirk. Later he sang with two of Cafe Society's renowned pianists, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. From 1950-53, he worked mostly with the Red Saunders band. What came after would be a job he would cherish and return to frequently through- out his career: fronting the Count Basie band. Often referred to jokingly as "Count Basic's #1 son," he stepped right into the band upon the departure of Jimmy Rushing. Williams was the perfect replacement in that he did not just duplicate c