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Kennedy Center jazz artists


Milestones

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It's interesting to see that Wayne Shorter is going in this year.  I hear that even Wayne was shocked.  As far as I can tell, his old boss, Miles Davis, was never an honoree.  

So who are the jazz artists?  There's Dizzy, Sonny, Herbie, Ella, Count.  Who else?

Not sure how the election process works, and not sure how many on this forum attach any importance to the Kennedy Center.

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Center_Honors

I've bolded awardees who are at least tangentially "jazz" in terms of formative or realized experience. Opinions may vary, hell, are expected to.

1970s[edit]

1980s[edit]

1990s[edit]

2000s[edit]

2010s[edit]

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Good for Wayne!  Whatever one thinks of these particular awards (or frankly, almost any sort of 'awards' these days) -- it's hard to get bent out of shape when good people are recognized for their efforts over the decades.

If there's even ONE good honoree on these kinds of award shows, then that's a "win" as far as I'm concerned.  Or even better if there's a couple in the same year.  I keep my expectations in check, and so I'm never too deeply disappointed.

I think the last thing I let piss me off about an awards event/show, was the lack of an "album of the year" Grammy nomination for David Bowie's Blackstar last year (or would that have been the year before?).

So genuinely, three cheers for Wayne Shorter, a real jazz artist -- for getting a solid 15-17 minutes of airtime on a show like this.  Realizing there's 500 channels airing stuff at the same time on cable, to say nothing of an infinite number of things "airing" on-line (or recent, and streamable).

With any luck, you-know-who won't be there (like last year), and it should be a lovely evening.  I know some folks here in DC who've gotten to go a few times, and I hear its a really nice event there in the hall.  It is what it is, and as long as you don't pretend it's anything other than what it is (or hope too hard for it to be something it ain't), then it's all good!

And a hearty "Yay Wayne!"  If nothing else, the 6-minute mini-doc on him should be good, knock on wood.  That's about how long they are, right?  Maybe 8-minutes tops.

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1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I'd love to see Cher and Wayne and on a Reba McEntire song arranged by Phillip Glass, surrounded by the chorography of the creators of Hamilton

They could always do Silence  [4:33] by John Cage, but I guess that's not what you meant.

Edited by Simon Weil
Clarification/Dumb mistake
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Not clear to me exactly how the selection works these days, but no doubt Wayne must have had an important champion either at the table or advising someone at the table -- I'm guessing Jason Moran, who has a titled position at the Kennedy Center, or possibly Wynton Marsalis.

And, yes, many huzzahs for this highly visible award. I don't think you can overestimate how much good this kind of mainstream recognition can do for helping jazz re-establish a visible presence within common culture. Especially when the real deal gets the the attention. And it don't come any more real  than Wayne.

Edited by Mark Stryker
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wait wait wait 1st of all you guys gotta understand the format- the people being honored do not play.  each person/group being honored will have a separate tribute performance.  in waynes case maybe joe lovano or lee konitz if they are smart might be cool, i dont know then with cher, who knows maybe katy perry'll come out in a classic cher costume, i dont know.  

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2 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

wait wait wait 1st of all you guys gotta understand the format- the people being honored do not play.  each person/group being honored will have a separate tribute performance.  in waynes case maybe joe lovano or lee konitz if they are smart might be cool, i dont know then with cher, who knows maybe katy perry'll come out in a classic cher costume, i dont know.  

Bringing out Lee Konitz would be a brilliant stroke, but I don't expect it. I would imagine Herbie would be involved. It blows my mind that no promoter ever brought Konitz and Wayne together.

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