Jazz Masters 2012 - the 30th and final class (updated)

Call it overdue honors for Vonski and more

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the recipients of the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters Award — the nation’s highest honor in jazz. The five recipients are drummer-keyboardist Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Von Freeman, bassist and composer Charlie Haden, singer Sheila Jordan and trumpeter Jimmy Owens (pictured). As a longtime educator, the latter will receive the 2012 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

Each will receive a one-time award of $25,000 and be honored at the annual awards ceremony and concert, produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center at its home, Frederick P. Rose Hall in Manhattan next January.

With this class, the NEA is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the NEA Jazz Masters Awards, which recognize outstanding musicians for their lifetime achievements and significant contributions to the development and performance of jazz. Ironically, the NEA Jazz Masters program is going away... making this its final class of recipients. The agency has proposed one program to honor artists in all disciplines. It's called the NEA American Artists of the Year awards.

This condensation means jazz artists will still have an opportunity to receive lifetime achievement recognition from the NEA, although their nominations will have to compete with other varieties of artists. We'll have to wait and see how that works out, just as the jury is still out over the Grammys consolidation hornet's nest this spring.

Exploring mass appeal

Trombonist, bandleader and culture columnist Eric Felten had a terrific essay in today's Wall Street Journal exploring the popular and cynical sides of popular music... and what makes certain musicians really catch on with the fan base. Even when some of us could, would and do consider the product to be junk. Give a read to the article, appropriately titled: "Is There a Scientific Explanation for Justin Bieber? There is much food for thought. And I'm rather certain you'll get a chuckle out of the Eminem quote.

A Must Read

John Swenson, my music writing collaborator for many years at UPI, is out with a gem. “New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans” (Oxford University Press) captures the determination of New Orleans’ stylistically varied music makers to survive after Hurricane Katrina and to help keep the city’s soul alive.

John has been writing almost exclusively about New Orleans and its musicians since the late 1990s, principally for Offbeat magazine, and has come to understand his adopted city well. (He splits his time between New York and the Crescent City.) As you dig into this book, you’ll fast appreciate the depth of his keen understanding of the city’s contemporary music scene (jazz, R&B, brass band, rock, and hip hop), as well as the music’s deep roots.

The city’s problems are far from solved post-Katrina (or as John repeatedly calls it, “the federal flood”) in August 2005. But through John’s insightful perspective and to-the-point writing, we get an appreciation of just how important music and its makers are to its continued rebirth.

There is more than just a cultural phenomenon at play here, in a city where music is so much more than mere entertainment. As John reflected in an interview with The Beachcomber: “New Orleans musicians treat music like a sacred trust, handed down from their ancestors. It’s different from the commercial pop world.”

It is so very different, and the United States, and indeed, the world, are so much richer because of it.

2011 JJA Awards were Sonny side up

Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins either won or figured prominently in four categories at this year's JJA Awards event in New York. Kudos for that , and to all of the musician, journalist and photography winners at yesterday's Jazz Journalists Association event at City Winery in Manhattan.

Sadly, this was another year when my schedule did not permit a trip to the Big Apple for this tremendous jazz industry event.

Rollins won Musician of the Year and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year. Producer/director Bret Primack won Best Short Form Video of the Year for "Sonny Rollins: Getting It Back Together" and photographer John Abbott won Photo of the Year honors for yet another of his masterful images of Rollins.

An extra shout out to Jimmy Heath. The saxophonist was voted this year's winner of JJA's Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award. And "I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath" by Jimmy Heath and Joseph McLaren (Temple University Press) was voted Best Book About Jazz.

Here's a link to all of this year's winners.

Essentially Ellington weekend

Is it something in the nearby salt water? Much more likely is the strength of the local music programs at the secondary level – and in the schools that feed up to it.

Bands from Washington State and Florida took the top four awards at last night’s finale of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 16^th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival.

· First Place went to the Dillard Center for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale.

· Second Place: Roosevelt High School, Seattle

· Third Place: Mountlake Terrace High School, Seattle

· Honorable Mention: New World School of the Arts, Miami.

The top placing bands performed with Wynton Marsalis as a soloist followed by a performance by the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Frederick P. Rose Hall in Manhattan.

Congratulations to the winning bands and all of the winning soloists and sections of players who won supplemental awards.

Brendan Thomas was one of six winners in that regard from Foxboro High School in Massachusetts. He stood out in my eyes by winning Outstanding Tripler - on Tenor, Alto and Clarinet, as well as the 10th Essentially Ellington Writing Contest. The contest invited students from all participating high schools to submit a nonfiction personal essay or fictional short story based on interpretations of the stories jazz musicians tell with their music. His essay was printed in the festival playbill and a seat in Rose Theater will be engraved in his honor.

A musical version of build it and they will come… (updated)

If you look for jazz you can find it, sometimes even in most unexpected places and at unusual times. In this case, it was while honeymooning in Key West, a tropical party town that rivals New Orleans for its partying spirit, but not the depth and breadth of its music. At least that’s the perception of some outsiders.

Kathie and I found it a block from Key West’s so-called Duval crawl – the stretch of bars and clubs along Duval Street, which crosses downtown from the Gulf of Mexico a dozen blocks or so to the Atlantic.

“Jazz in the Garden” is a Sunday evening series that runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. amid the lush tropical flora at the Gardens Hotel, a 17-suite former estate at the corner of Angela and Simonton Streets.

On May 1, singer-pianist Lenore Troia was featured in a trio format with saxophonist Marty Stonely and drummer Richie Ciavolino. The music was laid back more often than not, with a tropical and Brazilian flair as Troia blended originals, a few Jobim tunes and some standards. Her clever originals included “Sand Dancing,” “Symptoms of Love” and "Point Me South I-95.” There was also a spirited jazz cover of The Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ it to the Streets.”

This is a free hang for the area’s jazz cognoscenti who no doubt appreciate its lack of cover, its homey ambience, innovative wine bar and, for at least one woman, a chance to cool off in the hotel pool a few steps away.

Troia, who was raised in Connecticut, has called Key West home since the early 1990s. In addition to performing regularly at Jazz in the Garden – and many other clubs in various contexts, she also books the Gardens Hotel series.

“I get the cats in here who can really play,” she said between sets.

Troia and others who play or dig jazz can also be found most Monday nights for a weekly jam at the nearby Green Parrot Bar on Whitehead Street. The Green Parrot also features the blues on Sunday nights.

Keep both venues in mind next time you’re in the area.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Assaf Kehati, Flowers and Other Stories, self-produced
One of the great thing about today’s globalized jazz scene is that musicians from other countries and other cultures are stretching by weaving in the rhythms, tonal colors and sensibilities of their homelands. Jazz is all the richer for it. This second recording as a leader by Israeli-born guitarist Assaf Kehati is one such project. Kehati is based in Boston and has been working with the quartet featured on Flowers… for five years. (He also leads a trio featuring veteran drummer Billy Hart.)

On this project, the quartet teams Kehati with saxophonist Alon Ferber, bassist Daniel Sapir and drummer Udi Shlomo performing seven of the guitarist’s original compositions. From the opening bar of “Calling Me Home,” the CD’s extended opener, you’ll savor the exotic-sounding intimacy of this group. Kehati and Farber play as if there’s one musical mind at work. The rhythmic surprises on “Mr. Mario” are equally intriguing. There is a lot to savor here. The reflective ballads “The Most Beautiful Flower” and “The Snow and the Sun” are filled with beauty.

Burgstaller Martignon 4, Bach's Secret Files and More Crossover Fantasies, Summit
This quartet is on to something quite marvelous: a hybrid interplay between jazz and classical music - even opera - that should please fans of both genres, and expose the separatists to the virtues of each form. The band is co-led by former Canadian Brass trumpeter Joe Berstaller and pianist Hector Martignon, who has serious Latin jazz credentials. As they did previously with Mozart, they have an addiction to mining the possibilities found within J.S. Bach's music (five of 11 tracks come from the Bach repertoire) but also stretching their concept to the work of early 1900s avant-gardist Erik Satie, plus impressionist Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Giacomo Puccini.

Most often, they add an invigorating jazz twist to a classical work, like Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1" and the Aria from Bach's "Goldberg Variations." A pleasant Flamenco tinge adds to the opener, "The River of Night," a Bergstaller melody set to Bach's "Praeludium in C minor," and Ravel's "Piece en Forme de Habanera" (Spanish Haze). Martignon brings some serious clavé to Bach's "Praeludium XI in F Major" (here subtitled "A Start to Something"). Their version of "Gymnopédie" is delightful. Bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer John Ferrari round out the quartet. In a bit of variation from their premier CD, Mozart's Blue Dreams & Other Crossover Fantasies, they also added select appearances by soprano Brenda Feliciano (on "Ebarme Dich"), percussionist Samuel Torres on six of 11 tracks, and cellist Michael Kannen on Mendelssohn's "Lieder Ohne Worte."

Yet another Grammy dustup

Could the Grammys exist without healthy doses of skepticism and controversy? I think not.

Skepticism, mostly during the awards season, for all of the hype and pop/hip-hop glitz that seems to minimize the celebration of real music. However, as mentioned a while back, quality turned the tables on pop phenomenon when singer and bassist Esparanza Spalding was this year's upset winner in the Best New Artist category, much to the dismay and even outrage of Justin Bieber fans.

Controversy erupts, as it did a couple of weeks ago, when the powers-that-be decided to trim back a number of awards categories from 109 to 78, a reduction of roughly 30 percent, for next year's voting.

The changes were announced by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences President Neil Portnow (the dude who prattled on over Spalding's Grammy performance). The changes come amid longstanding criticism in the music industry that too many categories were diluting the Grammys’ impact. (The Grammys had only 28 categories when they began in 1959.)

There has been a firestorm of reaction from record companies, producers and musicians, particularly among impacted categories.Nobody has had their knickers in a twist (to borrow a U.K. term) more than the Latin music community, particularly Latin jazz. The award for Latin jazz has been eliminated under this revision. Bandleader Eddie Palmieri called it "an insult to our genre and many others.”

Some would argue that among the aggrieved parties, the Latin categories may have the least to crow about. Latin music is the only genre that has a separate but related showcase with the Latin Grammy Awaards, that have been held annually since 2000. Those awards do include Latin jazz categories.

At a NARAS regional chapter meeting in New York, Palmieri told academy executives that there needs to be a greater Hispanic presence at the main event, implying that the separate Latin Grammy Awards, held in the fall, are far less significant. “There’s no two Oscars, no two Emmys, no two Tonys,” he said. Later, in a written statement, Palmieri said NARAS is "marginalizing our music, culture and people even further. Let me be clear: we have been discredited, we have been discarded and we are being wiped out."

NARAS has also cut categories for best contemporary jazz album, best traditional blues album, best metal performance and best rock instrumental performance, as well as four classical music categories.

Still, there are no separate Jazz Grammy, Classical Grammy, Blues Grammy Awards programs. So Latin Jazz seems to have a leg up in some respects over some other impacted genres.

Drummer Roy Haynes summed it all up by saying this latest tweak means the remaining jazz categories are going to be a lot more crowded, and that it’s going to be harder than ever to win a Grammy.

Only time will tell whether the howls of protest will lead to a reconsideration - or further tweaks to a system that seems geared more and more toward commercial appeal and TV glitz.

CDs of Note - Short Takes

Brian Lynch, Unsung Heroes (Hollistic Music Works)

Whether or not they realize it, jazz players owe a serious nod to the many musicians through the years who have influenced and helped shape the branches on the musical tree. In the case of the trumpet tradition, I’m talking about not just the household name players like Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Fats Navarro, etc. But the many others – active or deceased – who’ve been innovators in their own way. Brian Lynch understands this big time. In 2000, he released his Tribute to the Trumpet Masters project to honor Woody Shaw, Kenny Dorham, Thad Jones, Lee Morgan, Blue Mitchell, Charles Tolliver, Booker Little and Tom Harrell. Now he’s out with his 17^th CD as a leader. Unsung Heroes is a multi-faceted project that digs into the music of hornmen who he feels have been influential as players and writers but underappreciated. So he’s put his own creative spotlight on Tommy Turrentine, Howard McGhee, Joe Gordon, Idrees Sulieman, Louis Smith and Kamal Adilifu (Charles Sullivan) and Claudio Roditi.

Vol. 1, released on CD, has nine such tribute tracks, including a Lynch original called “Unsung Blues” and another original called “RoditiSamba” that very much captures the flair and rhythmic lilt of the very-much-alive trumpeter who inspired it. Lynch and his band (pianist Rob Schneiderman, saxophonists Vincent Herring and Alex Hoffman, bassist David Wong, drummer Pete Van Nostrand and conguero Vicente “Little Johnny” Rivero take the music of the aforementioned innovators and add their own contemporary stamp. It is a beautiful project. The music from two additional volumes (extra tunes and alternate takes) are available at Lynch’s website, along with video, play-along formats, sheet music, scores and more. Lynch has developed a great way to pay forward the influences that he absorbed. May he not be the last to do so.

Yellowjackets, Timeline (Mack Avenue)

Time flies when you’re having fun. In this case, 30 years of fun. Timeline is the 21st release by the Yellowjackets. The CD is a terrific synthesis of the qualities that has made this one of the finest true contemporary jazz/fusion bands of its generation. Their sound is contemporary, but the players shouldn’t be confused with a bunch of instrumental popsters. Their playing and credentials are as solid as any mainstream jazz band working today. This is a band that knows how to roar on occasion, but I savor the ballad moments because they are filled with subtleties. The music has beauty, bite, depth and emotion. Since Yellowjackets started out as the backing unit for blues guitarist Robben Ford in 1979 two years before their eponymous debut CD, it is only fitting that Ford makes a guest appearance here. He plays on ”Magnolia,” which was written by founding members Russell Ferrante (keyboards) and Jimmy Haslip (electric bass). My personal favorites are saxophonist Bob Mintzer’s “Why Is It,” drummer Will Kennedy’s “Rosemary” and Ferrante’s beautiful “I Do.”

Ezra Weiss, The Shirley Horn Suite (Roark)

This project from Portland-based pianist Ezra Weiss is a poignant reminder about the singular impact that the late Shirley Horn had on the fine art of blending jazz vocals and piano. It’s a heartfelt tribute, in which Weiss wrote a five-tune suite performed in the style that we most often associate with Horn – her sophisticated and light keyboard touch, her snail’s pace vocal phrasing. He’s done a great job at capturing her classic swinging style. Singer Shirley Nanette adds a complementary vocal appreciation, so canny that piano and voice often feel like they’re coming from one performer. They’ve honored the musical essence of Shirley. Weiss’s other collaborators here include bassist Corcoran Holt and Horn’s longtime drummer, Steve Williams. Weiss interspersed four Horn evergreens – “The Great City,” “I Loves You Porgy,” “Estate” and “Something Happens to Me” – with his tribute pieces. ” Listeners who never had the opportunity to hear Horn in concert may identify a bit with Weiss’s opener, “I Wish I’d Met You.” ”Blues for Shirley,” “May The Most You Wish For” and the aforementioned “The Great City” and “Estate” (both instrumentals) also rise to the top.

It's always nice to be appreciated

Jazz Notes Central just found out that this little blog, now in its third year, has been listed by Accredited Online Colleges.com as one of the 30 Best Blogs for Jazz Students. The 30 are not ranked but it is fascinating to read a bit about why they like each of these blogs in particular.

I know many more are just as deserving, but it is nice to see a labor of love get some kudos. I'm flattered to be in such great company. And I now have a few more bloggers who I'm anxious to follow. Check out the list as time permits. And be sure to check out the other bloggers with whom you may not be familiar.

Newport rolls on thankfully

George Wein is a huge fan of Esparanza Spalding. The singer-bassist (pictured) has been a Newport regular for the past few years - and with her unexpected Grammy win - will be a featured artist at the 2011 edition of the Newport Jazz Festival. This year’s event runs August 5 to 7.

Wein’s production company didn’t waste time in getting out the lineup this year. Tickets go on sale this Saturday through TicketMaster and www.newportjazzfest.net.

Relatively young artists and veterans make up the bill, as Wein & Co. work in various ways to build an extended audience base that also spans generations and jazz genres - and reaches out to young fans and potential fans.

Besides Spalding, the younger players in the lineup include Ambrose Akinmusire, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenón, Avishai and Anat Cohen, Hiromi, Trombone Shorty and John Hollenbeck. The veterans include Wynton Marsalis, Michael Feinstein, Al Di Meola, Charles Lloyd, Eddie Palmieri, Randy Weston and Michel Camilo among others.

Wein told the Providence Journal’s Rick Massimo that Spalding will perform both Saturday and Sunday at Fort Adams State Park. Each day, she will draw from the talent on the bill to put together a different band.

It’s a way to put a bit of improvisational programming/jamming into a performance format that doesn’t see much jamming anymore.

Here's the lineup:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2011 / 8 p.m.

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Michael Feinstein w Special Guest Joe Negri

Wynton Marsalis

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2011 / 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fort Adams State Park

Wynton Marsalis

Esperanza Spalding & Friends I

Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Band

Al Di Meola World Sinfonia

Michel Camilo "Mano a Mano" with Giovanni Hidalgo and Charles Flores

Hiromi

Mujeres De Agua by Javier Limón featuring Buika

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Regina Carter's Reverse Thread

Steve Coleman and Five Elements

Joey DeFrancesco Trio

Grace Kelly with Special Guest Phil Woods

Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet

Mostly Other People Do the Killing

New Black Eagle Jazz Band

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011 / 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fort Adams State Park

Esperanza Spalding & Friends II

Angélique Kidjo

James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland

Hiromi: The Trio Project featuring Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips

Charles Lloyd with Special Guest Zakir Hussain

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Mingus Big Band

Ravi Coltrane Quartet

Randy Weston's African Rhythms Trio

Miguel Zenón Presents the Puerto Rican Songbook

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble with Special Guest Uri Caine

Avishai Cohen's Triveni with Special Guests Joshua Redman and Anat Cohen

Apex: Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green

Brubeck Brothers

Berklee College of Music All Stars

A stamp of approval for jazz

We're a society of pack rats, of collectors. Or so it seems. Some of us collect a few things we find meaningful, others have made it into a warehouse-style art form.

In general, jazz fans collect live music memories and savor the special moments. Many collect them in hard copy as well - CDs, LPs, 78s, images. You name it. Well, probably not eight-tracks. At least not without suffering some level of derision.

But collect we do.

When I was a kid, I was into stamp collecting, and kept up with specialty categories for a couple of decades. The philately bug in me waned after a while. But once in a while, there is a linkage with current interests that brings things full circle.

Next Saturday the U.S. Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp saluting jazz. The first day of issue will take place in New Orleans. That's most fitting in its history as one of the music's most influential cities, and, many argue, its birthplace.

The Postal Service says it is paying tribute to America's musical gift to the world and to the musicians who make it (along the veins of the 1995 stamps, first issued at the Monterey Jazz Festival, that honored Louis Armstrong, Eubie Blake, John Coltrane, Erroll Garner, Coleman Hawkins, James P. Johnson, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Jelly Roll Morton and Charlie Parker). The latter were part of a Legends of American Music series.

The new stamp, which will be sold initially at 44 cents, is part of USPS's popular "Forever" series. It means that these pressure-sensitive adhesive stamps can be used into the future regardless of any further rises in the cost of a first-class stamp. The first such stamp, still in widespread use today, was issued in April 2007 and features the Liberty Bell. Since that time, more than 28 billion Forever stamps have been sold, USPS says.

Howard Paine designed the new jazz stamp to showcase the work of California artist Paul Rogers. In creating the art on which the stamp is based, Rogers was inspired by the cover art of vintage albums - art that captured the sense of improvisation that was contained inside.

The jazz stamp in the Forever series follows by one week the release in Austin, Texas of Forever stamps commemorating five musicians and performers of Latin music. They include two from the Latin jazz world - Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. The others are Selena, Carmen Miranda, and Carlos Gardel.

Stamp collecting isn't part of my psyche - or interests - any more. But I will make an exception for this one. And I recommend it as a stamp to stock up on for mailings to others in the jazz world (as infrequent as snail mail seems in this e-mail world).

Respect your bridges. Appreciate where they've led you. Don't burn them.

CDs of Note – Short Takes

Nordic Connect, Spirals (artistShare)
Canada’s mega-talented Jensen sisters, Christine on sax and Ingrid on trumpet, co-lead this quintet, whose members all share Scandinavian ancestry. Their band mates are Maggi Olin on piano and Fender Rhodes, Mattias Welin on acoustic bass and Jon Wikan (Ingrid’s husband) on drums and percussion. The Viking connection seems to have reinforced their musical bond, as evidenced by the performances on this, the group’s second recording.

Spirals is an intriguing CD, built around the band’s cohesion and the quality of the original material that comprise its nine tracks. The tunes I savor most included Olin’s “Song for Inga” and Ingrid Jensen’s “Earth Sighs” (both containing artful dollops of electronic effects) and the quintet version of Christine’s “Yew,” which premiered on her Juno Award-nominated orchestral album treelines (JustinTime). It’s a beauty in both formats. The small group treatment does nothing to diminish its pensive poignancy.

Lisa Lindsley, Everytime We Say Goodbye (self-produced, BlondSongstress Productions)
This is a most pleasant debut CD from a Bay Area singer who we need to keep an eye on – and ears wide open for years to come. Lisa Lindsley has considerable experience under her belt as an actor and voiceover artist. She’s a relative neophyte as a singer, but her lifelong appreciation for jazz artistry is a considerable asset. She was no casual listener. Lindsley’s charming and expressive voice catches your ear because of her natural sense of phrasing, timing and expression.

On this trio project, she was fortunate to call on pianist George Mesterhazy, who is a premier accompanist for singers (Shirley Horn, Paula West, Rebecca Parris, Karrin Allyson, among others), and rock-solid bassist Fred Randolph. She makes each standard her own. The title track, “Alice in Wonderland” and their take on Jobim’s “The Girl from Ipanema” are prime examples. Mesterhazy reveals another facet of his imaginative talent with every CD he makes and every singer with whom he works. On this one, he uses melodica to add a poignant Toots Thielemans-like tinge to Lindsley’s take on Blossom Dearie’s “Inside a Silent Tear.”

Sonny’s still on a Roll

The high honors, perhaps long overdue, keep on rolling in for saxophonist Sonny Rollins. His historic 80th birthday concert in New York’s Town Hall three nights after his September 7 birthday was one of the top jazz events of 2010

Then you add in Edward MacDowell Medal, a lifetime achievement award from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, being the subject of an artful and insightful book (John Abbott and Blumenthal's Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins) and induction into to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary society.

Now, Rollins is on the eve of visiting the nation’s most famous address: 1600 Pennnsylvania Avenue.

Tomorrow, Wednesday March 2, Rollins will be one of 10 recipients of the 2010 National Medal of Arts for outstanding achievements and support of the arts. President Barack Obama will do the honors in an East Room ceremony at the White House. The medal is the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.

The National Endowment for the Arts, which has announced its intention to eliminate the NEA Jazz Masters awards program going forward, organizes this one as well. And it is good to see jazz have a prominent place.

The other 2010 National Medal of Arts Recipients are theatrical critic, producer and playwright Robert Brustein, pianist Van Cliburn, sculptor Mark di Suvero, poet Donald Hall, musician and producer Quincy Jones (who has firm jazz roots), author Harper Lee, actress Meryl Streep, singer-songwriter James Taylor, and the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

What splendid company.

And it is great to see Rollins and Jones help keep the jazz momentum going on this stage. Past jazz honorees include Ella Fitzgerald (1987), Billy Taylor (1992), Cab Calloway (1993), Dave Brubeck (1994), Lionel Hampton (1996), Betty Carter (1997), Benny Carter (2000), Paquito D'Rivera (2005), Wynton Marsalis (2005) and Hank Jones (2008).

Time permitting, you can tune in via the Web to watch tomorrow’s event at 1:45 pm Eastern Time at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live.

What would you call it?

Bizarre.

That’s the only word that seems to fit this year’s primetime Sunday night glitz that was the 53rd annual Grammy Awards.

If you saw it, you know what I mean. If you missed it, you didn’t miss much, trust me.

Sure, there were scattered poignant moments – beginning with the opening tribute to the ailing Aretha Franklin.

But they were outweighed by the sheer spectacle of the night and artists who felt they had to make spectacles of themselves, starting with Lady Gaga’s eggular entrance. What? And then her blatant performance ripoff of Madonna’s “Express Yourself” in the guise of “Born This Way.” And how about the bicycles zooming around the stage near night's end? And the heavy use of the bleep button by the network censors all night long.

But let’s look at the important stuff, to me anyway, the jazz side of the night – two pros and a con.

- Drummer Roy Haynes – the oldest teenager in jazz – was honored with a richly deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

- Esparanza Spalding’s first win by a jazz performer of the Grammy for Best New Artist was most welcome – and came out of left field. Particularly since the singer and bassist didn’t even have an album in the running this time. (Her third CD is just out on Head’s Up International). And today, that upset had the legions of fans of the $100 million teenypopper Justin Bieber atwitter with their outrage. I say, quality music prevailed. And to quote Ozzy Osborne at the end of the new Best Buy commercial “What’s a Bieber?”

Here’s the affront to jazz that took place moments later.

- Do you get outraged when your given a serious listen in a jazz club to a great band – and two or three people at the next table won’t shut up, oblivious to the music?

That happened last night when Spalding was performing with the Grammy student jazz ensemble. Two folks on stage – one of them a high-ranking exec from The Recording Academy – blathered on about their programs. Wouldn’t it have been nice if they’d shut up and given the millions who’d never heard of the 26-year-old Ms. Spalding a chance to hear the music she’s made of?

But, hey, we are talking Grammys. Why should I be optimistic something like that will ever happen.

And isn’t it curious that they can only find time to bestow 10 of the 109 awards during the 31/2-hour prime time event.

Despite those failings, jazz did show itself well in the pre-telecast portion.

Kudos to the winners:

Best Pop Instrumental Album

Take Your Pick, Larry Carlton & Tak Matsumoto (335 Records, Inc.)

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals

”Imagine,” Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck and Oumou Sangare, from The Imagine Project (Hancock Records)

Best Contemporary Jazz Album
The Stanley Clarke Band, The Stanley Clarke Band (Heads Up International)

Best Jazz Vocal Album

Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee, Dee Dee Bridgewater (Emarcy)

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

“A Change Is Gonna Come,” Herbie Hancock, soloist. Track from: The Imagine Project, (Hancock Records)

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group

Moody 4B, James Moody (IPO Recordings)

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
Mingus Big Band Live At Jazz Standard, Mingus Big Band (Jazz Workshop, Inc./Jazz Standard)

Best Latin Jazz Album
Chucho's Steps, Chucho Valdés And The Afro-Cuban Messengers (Four Quarters Entertainment)

Best Contemporary World Music Album
Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks, Béla Fleck, (Acoustic Planet Records)

Best Instrumental Composition
“The Path Among The Trees,” Billy Childs, composer (Billy Childs Ensemble), Track from: Autumn: In Moving Pictures Jazz - Chamber Music Vol. 2, (ArtistShare)

Best Instrumental Arrangement
“Carlos,” Vince Mendoza, arranger (John Scofield, Vince Mendoza & Metropole Orkest)
Track from: 54 (Emarcy/Universal)

The creativity never ceases

The Montreal International Jazz Festival’s innovative programming is one of the creative charms that keeps jazz fans coming back for more. Every year, there’s a new twist or musical pairing that makes its presentations stand apart from other venues.

It’s a staggering jazz festival just in the quantity of its 600 or so performances. But the quality puts it over the top as what I consider the world’s finest jazz festival. It runs like clockwork, draws most of its audience from greater Montreal but also reaches out to media and jazz fans from across North America and around the globe.

Tickets went on sale yesterday for one of the treats at this year’s 32^nd annual festival, scheduled June 25 through July 4 in downtown Montreal’s Place des Festivals (the larger venue surround to the Place des Arts).

Singer-pianist Diana Krall,made her Montreal debut in 1995 with a 10-night club residency celebrating the music of Nat King Cole. Canada's native daughter, from British Columbia, returned in 1998, 1999 and 2004 for major venue concerts. The last one was a gala celebrating the festival’s silver anniversary. (Husband Elvis Costello was an unbilled but not surprising guest.)

This time, Krall is flying solo. Just her and her piano, for a three-night solo run in Théâtre Maisonneuve, on June 26, 27 and 28. It is part of the festival’s En voix series celebrating the masters and rising stars of the vocal art. It’s a major twist from past Montreal performances, particularly her 1999 appearance, which had 30 other musicians taking part.

Another coup for Montreal – the three-night residency. Now that she’s among the jazz elite, Krall rarely plays multiple nights in the venue.

Three powerhouse June 25 opening night concerts in Montreal will feature:

• Sing the Truth! (Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright honoring and carrying forward the outspoken civil rights legacies of Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln and Odetta).


• Flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia.


• Brazilian singer-guitarist Milton Nascimento, making his first Montreal appearance in more than 15 years.

Just from that first night array, this figures to be another memorable year for the festival.

A Grammy twist that’s good for jazz

Bassist and singer Esparanza Spalding has taken the jazz world by storm with her talent and youthful enthusiasm. That’s not a bad thing. A smattering of White House jazz gigs and performing at President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize concert were a help.

So, too, will be her high profile at the 53rd annual GRAMMY Awards in L.A. on February 13.

Spalding will perform on the show, and will co-host the Pre-Telecast Ceremony with singer Bobby McFerrin.

Spalding also is one of five nominees for Best New Artist. The other nominees in that category are Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence & the Machine, and Mumford and Sons. Spalding is the first jazz artist to receive a GRAMMY nomination for the Best New Artist mainstream category in 35 years. Whether or not she wins, the attention may take some of the edge off the current Bieber Fever sweeping America. That would be terrific.

It seems ironic that Spalding is up for Best New Artist, but was not nominated for any of her recordings. But hey, we’re talking the GRAMMYS. There’s always something unfathomable there when it involves jazz.

In GRAMMY-speak, Best New Artist refers when an artist first came to widespread attention. No matter than Spalding’s 2008 debut CD, Esperanza, spent more than 70 weeks on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and was the most successful internationally selling debut that year. Last month, her current release Chamber Music Society hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.

Newport goes nonprofit, not for nothing

Last summer, founding producer George Wein said he wanted to find a way to keep his two legacy music festivals going well into perpetuity. This week, Wein, 85, in his sixth decade as a festival producer, made good on it.

The Newport Jazz Festival, which began in 1954, and the Newport Folk Festival, which started five years later, are returning to their roots as nonprofit events. Both will be produced by Wein and his staff under the auspices of Newport Festivals Foundation, Inx. a new 501(c)(3) organization with an 11-member board of directors.

"The foundation will perpetuate the history of jazz and folk music in Newport and will allow these festivals, which have been my passion and life's work, to live on," Wein said in a news release issued Tuesday by his firm, New Festival Productions. Wein told the New York Times' Ben Ratliff that he will continue to seek new corporate sponsors for both events.

This year's Newport Folk Festival is scheduled July 29-31, followed by the Newport Jazz Festival August 5-7.

The San Diego-based health care firm CareFusion stepped in at Newport as a jazz festival sponsor for the past two years, and for 2010 in New York, but has since refocused its outside interests.

The CareFusion alliance was a significant factor two years ago, enabling Wein to step back in and take back control of the two festivals, after Festival Network ran into financial troubles in late 2008, less than two years after buying Wein's original production firm. The original Festival Productions, which had a deep legacy of producing music events around the globe.

Now Wein is back in business on a much smaller scale, content to produce his two household name festivals in Newport and select other concerts and events.

The nonprofit status will enable the foundation to seek and receive tax-deductible contributions and build an endowment to keep itself going into the future. A gala fundraiser for the foundation is scheduled August 4 at Rosecliff, one of the fabled mansions along Newport's historic Bellevue Avenue. Jazz fan and occasional drummer Bill Cosby will host it.

I'm guessing Cosby will stick around for an appearance with one of his Cos' of Good Music all-star bands over the weekend.

CDs of Note – Short Takes

Lynne Arriale, Convergence (Motema)

After more than a dozen years, deeply entrenched in the jazz piano trio format, Lynne Arriale has proven that 2009’s well-regarded CD Nuance was not a one-off. She has followed that quartet session (featuring several all-star guests) with a dynamic new CD by her own new quartet. The superb project Convergence teams Arriale with saxophonist Bill McHenry, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Anthony Pinciotti. There is a refreshed sense of purpose on this CD that blends well with Arriale’s consistent excellence through the years as a pianist and composer. This, her 11^th recording project, features six varied Arriale originals and five reinventions of contemporary rock tunes.

My favorites: their teasing, twisting takes on the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” and the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black,” the Middle Eastern/flamenco energy and beauty of her own “Dance of the Rain” (featuring Ovital on oud) and McHenry’s tenor work on Arriale’s ballad “For Peace” (reminiscent of the finest Quartet West noir balladry). Longtime Arriale fans have a new facet of her work to savor, including the understated, wistful beauty of “The Simple Things.” This is a February 8 release.

Grace Kelly/Phil Woods, Man With the Hat (Pazz)

Head-to-head alto battles are unusual but not unheard of in the annals of jazz recordings. Perhaps few and far between is the right descriptive. Now comes 18-year-old saxophonist Grace Kelly with her second such recording in three years. First was GRACEfulLEE with mentor Lee Konitz. She’s back with another mentor, Phil Woods, on this session. Kelly and Woods blend well, with his slightly more acerbic tone offsetting her sound on this mix of material – two songs written or co-written by Kelly plus one from Woods and a range of jazz standards – performed with Monty Alexander on piano, Woods’ longtime drummer Bill Goodwin and Kelly’s bassist, Evan Gregor.

Strongest here are Woods’ “Love Song from Brazilian Suite,” and the title track, which Kelly wrote in tribute to Woods and his distinctive leather cap (one of which he bestowed on her in a Pittsfield MA concert where she sat in several years ago). Also, Billy Strayhorn’s wistful “Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus Eaters” and the splendidly intimate Kelly-Gregor duo take on “Every Time We Say Goodbye.”

The musical maturity of this gifted young player is quite remarkable, no matter that she’s been recording since age 12.Singing is not Kelly’s strongest suit, but her voice has improved through the years and fits her style well. She’s best on her soulful original “Gone.” The other vocal feature here is a version of Benny Carter’s classic “People Time” with terrific lyrics contributed by Deborah Pearl. This is a January 25 release.

Helio Alves, Música (JLP)

Pianist Helio Alves’ fourth recording as a leader (and his JLP debut) is a dandy, with a small group slant primarily on Brazilian jazz plus a few jazz standards (“Black Nile” by Wayne Shorter, “Chan’s Song” by Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder) given a Brazilian tinge. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1986, Alves has been a first-call pianist for a wide variety of leaders, including trumpeter Claudio Roditi, a mentor of sorts who is a guest on this session. The trio’s other members are bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Roditi and guitarist Romero Lubambo join the fun for two tracks apiece..

The delicacy of Alves’ player shines brightly on Moacir Santos’ “Kathy,” Hermeto Pascoal’s “Musica das Nuvens e do Chão” and Roditi’s “Adeus Alf.” His fire is revealed “Black Nile” and Dom Salvador’s “Gafieira.” Originals include the reflective “Sombra” and “Tribute to Charlie 2,” an homage to late mentor Charlie Banacos. Alves has not received the degree of notoriety he deserves for his musical passion and skill. If he’s ever on a gig in your area, be sure to check him out.