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2015 NEA Jazz Masters announced


Mike Schwartz

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I'll have to do some research, but by the standards that arguably ought to prevail, I don't know how many prospective NEA Jazz Masters there are left. Roscoe and Threadgill to be sure. Would Kenny Barron be on the cusp? Billy Hart? De Johnette?

Kenny Barron (2010) and Jack DeJohnette (2012) are already NEA Jazz Masters. Congratulations to the 2015 class!

Edited by Justin V
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It would be interesting to see a list of all winners, since offhand I have little idea.

I get the impression that you don't win until you are ancient. I mean, everyone in the new class was born in the 1930s.

Have relative youngsters like Joe Lovano and Pat Metheny gotten it, or on the verge?

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Looking at the entire list of those who have won in the past, I think Charles Lloyd's body of work with Chico Hamilton, Cannonball Adderley, and his small group recordings from the late 1980s to the present, place him within the general level of those who have been awarded. That is even assuming that you think that his group with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette was overhyped, and that you discount his 1970s and early 1980s work.

That is just my opinion, of course. Lloyd's albums are not the first thing I think of reaching for on any particular day, but I think that he has a worthy body of work. I am not sure I understand the negativity about him. If he had never recorded after 1987, I could see it, but he has released a string of quite good albums in the past 25 years, I think.

Has everyone who is negative about his selection heard the albums from the past 25 years?

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I agree about Lloyd. Twenty or so years go he started releasing some fine albums with the likes of John Abercrombie, Brad Mehdlau, and Billy Higgins. He plays fine tenor sax (owing something to Trane, but so what?), and a ton of somewhat exotic instruments. He's got some memorable compositions. Rabo de Nube, the live record with Jason Moran, is a killer.

I also saw Lloyd live in 2005 or 2006 (with Geri Allen in the band), and it was a great show.

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So one has to be fully American? Hasn't Holland lived in America pretty much since he joined Miles? McLaughlin...I don't know, but certainly he's played with a lot of American musicians and his work has usually been issued on American labels.

Edited by Milestones
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The name I was thinking of suggesting was Charles Tolliver, though I'd understand if the volume of recorded evidence of his career (or if for other reasons), he might not warrant inclusion.

Opinions of considering Tolliver, pro or otherwise, welcome.

I would personally select Tom Harrell before To Charles Tolliver.

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The name I was thinking of suggesting was Charles Tolliver, though I'd understand if the volume of recorded evidence of his career (or if for other reasons), he might not warrant inclusion.

Opinions of considering Tolliver, pro or otherwise, welcome.

I remember someone once referring to Tolliver's "nanny goat" tone.

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Tolliver as player, make your own mind up, but as composer, pretty damn influential over the long haul, I think.

By the same token, is Stanley Cowell not a "jazz master", which I take to mean a different thing than a "jazz genius" or a "jazz innovator". What kind of a gig could you not call Stanley Cowell for and get an excellent performance of the highest integrity?

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The name I was thinking of suggesting was Charles Tolliver, though I'd understand if the volume of recorded evidence of his career (or if for other reasons), he might not warrant inclusion.

Opinions of considering Tolliver, pro or otherwise, welcome.

I remember someone once referring to Tolliver's "nanny goat" tone.Yeah, I've heard a variety of opinions about Tolliver too (non-musically related), thus the way I introduced the notion of considering him.

Whatever I heard (years ago, all on-line here, all third hand, and I don't really even remember any details), was a bit of a mixed bag.

But I love nearly everything he's done on his own leader-dates, and most of his sideman work.

FWIW.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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By the same token, is Stanley Cowell not a "jazz master", which I take to mean a different thing than a "jazz genius" or a "jazz innovator". What kind of a gig could you not call Stanley Cowell for and get an excellent performance of the highest integrity?

Good call. Need to catch up on Cowell. I see that there's a good deal on Steeplechase since the last one I got.

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