Sonny Rollins was named the 51st recipient of the Edward MacDowell Medal, an award given annually to an artist who has contributed greatly to his field. Rollins will be the first jazz musician to receive the medal, whose list of recipients includes Leonard Bernstein, Georgia O'Keefe, John Updike, and Merce Cunningham.
The award will be presented on August 15th, 2010, at the MacDowell Artist Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Jazz writer Gary Giddins, who was on the committee that selected Rollins, will introduce Rollins, and speak about his career at the ceremony. The following month, on September 7th, Rollins will turn 80 years old.
Check out the first installment in an 11-or-so part series, "Jazz History by Decade." Take a look at the years between 1900 and 1910, when the creole language of Jelly Roll Morton's ragtime was paving the way for early jazz styles.
Coming up next: 1910-1920 - the decade in which the first jazz recording was made.
The schedule for the 2010 Carefusion Jazz Festival New York has been announced, and you can view it here. The festival balances big-ticket performers like the Keith Jarrett trio and Herbie Hancock with up-and-coming acts such as Mostly Other People Do The Killing.
The festival seems to fairly accurately reflect the diverse jazz scene in New York. Pianists Craig Taborn and Anthony Coleman will represent the avant-garde, the Revive Da Live Big Band will team up with Talib Kweli and Nicholas Payton to represent the foray of jazz into the realm of hip hop and R&B, Randy Sandke and Anat Cohen will offer music steeped in early jazz styles, Eddie Palmieri and Arturo O'Farrill will supply Latin jazz, and Darcy James Argue and Ambrose Akinmusire will play with contemporary twists of a traditional lineage.
The festival will even have a distinctly New York feel thanks to a showcase of the Brooklyn-based Skirl Records, the inclusion of the band Slavic Soul Party, and the fact that instead of taking place exclusively in highbrow, stuffy venues like Carnegie Hall, it will occupy exuberant and dusky spaces such as Zebulon, the Jazz Gallery, and Barbés.
I will aim for the less ubiquitous jazz festival performers, but I might catch some of the big names too. I am excited to hear João Gilberto, one of the founders of bossa nova, and I might even check out trumpeter Chris Botti after reading this favorable review.
Props to George Wein for being cool at age 84, and for his charming ruminations on the upcoming festival and the links between the music of his early days with that of today.
At nearly 80 years old, Sonny Rollins is still playing. He's known for his bold and quirky melodic style, informed by the idiosyncrasies of two of the most prominent saxophonists of the days before bebop, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. In the mid 1950s, influenced heavily by the rapid technique of Charlie Parker, Rollins hit his stride as an artist... read more
There's an old joke that goes something like this:
Q: What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?
A: A drummer.
This month and next, however, a series at Rose Live Music in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, might help dispel malicious prejudices towards drummers. That's because once a week until the end of March, Rose will feature ensembles in which drummers are not merely tolerated, but that they in fact lead.
Because of its central hipster-ville location, and the fact that it frequently hosts experimental, genre-crossing jazz, Rose is turning into a quintessential Brooklyn jazz club. What better place to feature performances by jazz/rock/other drummers like Bobby Previte, Billy Martin, Ben Perowsky, Jim Black, and Mark Giuliana?
For the complete schedule of Rose's drummer-led series, check out the club's website.
Also, feel free to share your favorite drummer jokes.
