2008 Jazz Masters Named

[brownie]

From AP:

QUINCY JONES, ANDREW HILL HONOURED AS 2008 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT JAZZ MASTERS

Charles J. Gans, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - Music impresario Quincy Jones, who began his career as an 18-year-old trumpeter playing small gigs in Seattle with Ray Charles and went on to become a groundbreaking conductor, arranger, record producer and film composer, was among six musicians named as National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters for 2008.

The 2008 Jazz Masters were announced Tuesday night at a ceremony hosted by NEA Chairman Dana Gioia at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola - the Jazz at Lincoln Center venue named after trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who was among the first group of Jazz Masters in 1982. The award, the U.S.'s highest jazz honour, has now gone to 100 leading figures in jazz.

The 74-year-old Jones, whom the NEA cited as being "a renaissance man of music," was named a Jazz Master in the bandleader category. Jones could not attend the ceremony because of his busy schedule but will accept his plaque at a special Jazz Masters awards concert during the annual International Association for Jazz Education conference in January in Toronto, Gioia said.

Pianist Andrew Hill was posthumously named a Jazz Master in the pianist-keyboardist category. Hill, whose innovative compositions gained wider recognition late in his career with the release of such albums as "Passing Ships" (2003) and "Time Lines" (2006), was informed of the honour shortly before his death in April of lung cancer at age 75, Gioia said.

"This was the last tribute that he would receive in his lifetime," said Hill's widow, Joanne Robinson Hill, in accepting the award. "He considered it to be a very great and precious honour."

Candido Camero (rhythm instrumentalist) was cited by the NEA for being the first percussionist to bring conga drumming to jazz through his work with Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton in the 1950s. The 86-year-old Camero became only the second Cuban-born musician to be named a Jazz Master, following saxophonist-clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera in 2005.

"I wish to thank God for allowing me to enjoy this realization of the American dream," said Camero.

The other 2008 Jazz Masters include Tom McIntosh (composer-arranger), 80, a favourite collaborator for Gillespie and James Moody who later worked in Hollywood on such films as "Shaft"; trumpeter Joe Wilder (solo instrumentalist), 85, a long-time TV studio musician and popular sideman who played with the Count Basie Orchestra, Billie Holiday and Benny Goodman, among others; and Gunther Schuller (jazz advocacy), 81, a prominent figure in both jazz and classical music noted for his compositions, academic career and writings on jazz history.

Wilder acknowledged the NEA for its role in building respect for jazz musicians, recalling that when he was a young boy in Philadelphia musicians like his father were not held in such high regard.

"If you were a jazz musician, white or black . . . you were in trouble," Wilder said. "You weren't invited to anybody's house because not only were you playing the devil's music, but you were one of the devils. But it's a big thrill for me to be one of the people nominated."

The evening closed with jazz impresario and pianist George Wein, the founder of the Newport Jazz Festival and a 2005 Jazz Master, celebrating his 82nd birthday a day early by performing a set with his Newport All Stars. The session closed with another Jazz Master, tenor saxophonist Frank Wess, coming up from the audience to jam with the band on "Oh, Lady, Be Good" before closing with the ballad "Lush Life."

Edited October 4, 2007 by brownie

[ValerieB]

i'm so glad that quincy made the cut as i know he really needs that $25,000!!

[Adam]

Here's the full list of the NEA's Jazz Masters:

http://www.arts.gov/national/jazz/alljazzmasters.html

Some oddities in there, although mostly expected. But Sun Ra was one of the first 3! I wouldn't have expected Sun Ra to be at the top of a government organization's list.

They've increased the numbers of each year, trying to get everyone, and increasing the non-musicians.

Who is Cleo Patra Brown, and why should she (he?) be picked so early?

NEA Jazz Masters

1982: Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra

1983: Count Basie, Kenneth Clarke, Sonny Rollins

1984: Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Max Roach

1985: Gil Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Jonathan "Jo" Jones

1986: Benny Carter, Dexter Gordon, Teddy Wilson

1987: Cleo Patra Brown, Melba Liston, Jay McShann

1988: Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Billy Taylor

1989: Barry Harris, Hank Jones, Sarah Vaughan

1990: George Russell, Cecil Taylor, Gerald Wilson

1991: Danny Barker, Buck Clayton, Andy Kirk, Clark Terry

1992: Betty Carter, Dorothy Donegan, Harry "Sweets" Edison

1993: Milt Hinton, Jon Hendricks, Joe Williams

1994: Louie Bellson, Ahmad Jamal, Carmen McRae

1995: Ray Brown, Roy Haynes, Horace Silver

1996: Tommy Flanagan, J.J. Johnson, Benny Golson

1997: Billy Higgins, Milt Jackson, Anita O'Day

1998: Ron Carter, James Moody, Wayne Shorter

1999: Dave Brubeck, Art Farmer, Joe Henderson

2000: David Baker, Donald Byrd, Marian McPartland

2001: John Lewis, Jackie McLean, Randy Weston

2002: Frank Foster, Percy Heath, McCoy Tyner

2003: Jimmy Heath, Elvin Jones, Abbey Lincoln

2004: Jim Hall, Chico Hamilton, Herbie Hancock

Luther Henderson, Nancy Wilson, Nat Hentoff

2005: Kenny Burrell, Paquito D'Rivera, Slide Hampton, Shirley Horn,

Artie Shaw, Jimmy Smith, George Wein

2006: Ray Barretto, Tony Bennett, Bob Brookmeyer, Chick Corea,

Buddy DeFranco, Freddie Hubbard, John Levy

2007: Toshiko Akiyoshi , Curtis Fuller, Ramsey Lewis, Dan Morgenstern,

Jimmy Scott, Frank Wess, Phil Woods

2008: Candido Camero, Andrew Hill, Quincy Jones, Tom McIntosh,

Gunter Schuller, Joe Wilder

[Adam]

Looked her up myself:

Cleo Patra Brown, piano-voice; b. 12/8/09 Meridian, MS; d. 4/15/95

http://www.iaje.org/bio.asp?ArtistID=44

She bears the distinction of being the first woman instrumentalist honored with the NEA American Jazz Masters Fellowship. Her brother Everett, who worked with Pine Top Smith, taught her the boogie-woogie piano style, and she is credited with being an early influence on Dave Brubeck’s playing.

Cleo’s family moved to Chicago in 1919 and four years later, at age 14, she started working professionally with a vaudeville show. She performed in the Chicago area during the late 1920s. Through the 1950s she worked frequently at that city’s Three Deuces club. Brown also found work in New York, where she had her own radio show on WABC, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. Unfortunately illness cut short her touring career for a time in the early 1940s. She was able to resume playing and made records with among others the Decca All-Stars, and for Capitol Records while living in Los Angeles. Her latter years were spent as a church musician in her Seventh Day Adventist Church in Denver, CO.

Perhaps her final, most public late career performance was on Marian McPartland’s long-running NPR series Piano Jazz in 1987.

[Kalo]

Here's the full list of the NEA's Jazz Masters:

http://www.arts.gov/national/jazz/alljazzmasters.html

Some oddities in there, although mostly expected. But Sun Ra was one of the first 3! I wouldn't have expected Sun Ra to be at the top of a government organization's list.

Hey, Sun Ra's baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick's son is now the Governor of Massachussetts. He's running the government here. Beats being on some list.

[BruceH]

Here's the full list of the NEA's Jazz Masters:

http://www.arts.gov/national/jazz/alljazzmasters.html

Some oddities in there, although mostly expected. But Sun Ra was one of the first 3! I wouldn't have expected Sun Ra to be at the top of a government organization's list.

Hey, Sun Ra's baritone saxophonist Pat Patrick's son is now the Governor of Massachussetts. He's running the government here. Beats being on some list.

That is so cool. Makes me want to move back there.