VOL 1 2008 A GREAT NATION DESERVES GREAT ART A Ho t Time Up North 20 08 NEA Jazz Masters Awards 11 Bringing Jazz to a 13 Tuning In: NEA’s 14 NEA Receives 14 New Lifetime New Generation: Jazz Moments Historic Budget Achievement Award: NEA Jazz Hit the Airwaves Increase NEA Opera Honors in the Schools NEA ARTS NEA Jazz Masters Celebrating the Nation’s Highest Honor in Jazz The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has tion, a new award cate - supported the jazz Yeld for almost 40 years. Ve Yrst gory was established: the grant for jazz was awarded in 1969—a $5,500 com - A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz position grant to composer, arranger, theoretician, Masters Award for Jazz pianist, and drummer George Russell—who would Advocacy. later receive an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in To maximize public 1990. By 2007, the NEA’s Ynancial support of jazz awareness of the NEA reached nearly $3 million. Jazz Masters initiative, In 1982, the NEA created the fellowship pro - new radio and television gram to recognize outstanding jazz musicians for programs were launched: artistic excellence and lifelong achievements in the Jazz Moments, a series of Yeld of jazz. With the appointment of Chairman radio segments broad - Gioia in 2004, the NEA Jazz Masters initiative was cast Yrst on XM Satellite expanded to foster a higher awareness of America’s jazz Music and Opera Director Wayne Radio, and Legends of legends. Ve number of awards was increased to six and Brown. Photo by Kevin Allen. Jazz, a television series individual fellowship stipends rose to $25,000. In addi - presenting jazz artists. In 2005, an arts education component, NEA Jazz in the c\gadc\b ]dhc]ab dc g`^ \egf Schools, was created in collaboration with Jazz at Lin - Dana Gioia Chairman coln Center. In addition, a nationwide touring program James Ballinger Miguel Campaneria for NEA Jazz Masters was created jointly with Arts Mid - Ben Donenberg Makoto Fujimura west in 2005 and continues. Rounding out the NEA’s Mark Hofflund jazz program is a recent collaboration with the Smith - Joan Israelite Charlotte Kessler sonian Institution focusing on the compilation of oral Bret Lott histories of NEA Jazz Masters. Jerry Pinkney Stephen Porter In 2008, the NEA Jazz Masters initiative celebrates Frank Price Terry Teachout a major milestone: 100 American jazz legends have Karen Wolff been honored with this award over a span of 26 years— ^j-d__a]ad including legends such as trumpet virtuoso and band - Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) leader Dizzy Gillespie (1982), tenor saxophonist Sonny Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) Rollins (1983), and singer Ella Fitzgerald (1985). Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) Ve agency’s contribution to the 2008 Jazz Appre- c^\ \egf fg\__ ciation Month (JAM) in April will be a rollout of the Paulette Beete Editor Don Ball Managing Editor enhanced and expanded NEA Jazz Masters Web site Wayne S. Brown, Victoria Hutter, Rebecca Ritzel, Elizabeth Stark Contributors (www.neajazzmasters.org ). Please join us in the contin - Beth Schlenoff Design ued celebration of America’s music—jazz. dc g`^ ]di^e: NEA Jazz Masters Joe Wilder (left) and Paquito D’Rivera perform Wayne S. Brown during the finale of the NEA Jazz Masters awards ceremony and concert at the IAJE annual conference in Toronto, Canada. Photo by Director, Music and Opera Tom Pich. 2 NEA ARTS A Hot Time Up North NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony in Toronto The mild temperatures outside in Toronto, Canada, in January were just an indication of how much the NEA Jazz Masters were heating up the place inside at the annual awards ceremony and concert occur - ring during the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) conference. Each year, the NEA Jazz Masters festivities bring together current and past recipients of this lifetime honor, creating an assemblage of some of the United States’ greatest jazz musicians and advocates. Ve NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are the main component of the Arts Endowment’s Jazz Masters initiative, which since 2004 has grown to include an NEA Jazz Masters tour with performances and edu - NEA Jazz Master David Baker (far left) leading the Smithsonian cational activities, Jazz Moments radio segments on XM Jazz Masterworks Orchestra during the NEA Jazz Masters awards Satellite Radio, a two-CD compilation of NEA Jazz ceremony and concert. Photo by Tom Pich. Masters’ music produced by Verve Music Group, and the NEA Jazz in the Schools program, an educational as the class of 2008 participated in a panel discussion, resource for high school teachers. Each year, members led by jazz writer and advocate A.B. Spellman, formerly of the public are invited to submit nominations for the the NEA Deputy Chairman for Guidelines & Panel NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, which honors individuals Operations. who have made signiYcant contributions to the develop - Ve common theme throughout the panel discussion ment and performance of jazz, and for the A.B. Spell - was the decades-long relationships among the NEA Jazz man NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, given Masters. As Jones said, “I’m so Ylled with emotion today. to an individual who has fostered the appreciation, I’ve known most of these guys since before electricity!” knowledge, and advancement of the American jazz art For his part, McIntosh went around the room, describ - form. For information on how to submit a nomination, ing what he had learned from the other musicians: Roy please visit www.nea.gov/national/jazz/Award.html. Haynes had taught him “don’t play a note if it’s not driven In 2008, the NEA was proud to honor percussionist by a rhythm impulse,” and Jon Hendricks had shown Candido Camero, pianist Andrew Hill (who unfortu - him that in composition, “before you write a note, say it nately passed away before receiving the award), band - in words Yrst. Ve audience will sense a story unfolding.” leader Quincy Jones, composer and arranger Tom And there were stories to unfold. Wilder told of McIntosh, trumpet player Joe Wilder, and writer and touring on a bus with Luther Henderson while Camero composer Gunther Schuller, recipient of the A.B. Spell - described how a misunderstanding with Dizzy Gillespie man NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. Vese led to a year and a half contract at the Downbeat Club NEA Jazz Masters—along with eight honorees from in New York City. Schuller shared the reactions he previous years—gathered on Friday, January 11, 2008, caused with his eWorts to compare jazz and classical to commemorate the occasion with a group photo. music, and Jones explained how jazz enabled him to Ve past recipients then took their seats in the audience tour around the world. 3 NEA ARTS For Levy, the path to becoming a jazz advocate was quite diWerent—he entered the jazz world as a musician, playing bass for the George Shearing Quintet. As the group toured, the need for a manager became more evident, and Levy took on the role, eventually becoming one of the Yrst to move from musician to manager of a jazz group. As a manager, he has pro - moted jazz musicians for more than 55 years, including NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Ahmad Jamal, and Nancy Wilson. Ve 2008 NEA Jazz Masters celebra - tions culminated on the evening of January 11 with the awards concert, featuring guest artists Oliver Jones, Kurt Elling, and the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, The class of 2008: back row, from left: Chairman Gioia, Joe Wilder, directed by NEA Jazz Master David Baker. In addition Gunther Schuller, Joanne Robinson Hill (widow of Andrew Hill), Music and Opera Director Wayne Brown; front row: Candido Camero, to individually honoring each 2008 NEA Jazz Master, Quincy Jones, Tom McIntosh. Photo by Tom Pich. the NEA partnered with the Canada Council for the Arts to pay special tribute to Canadian jazz pianist and In another panel discussion, the NEA brought composer Dr. Oscar Peterson, who passed away on together three recipients of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz December 23, 2007. Canada Council for the Arts Chair - Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy—John Levy, Dan woman Karen Kain and Chairman Gioia jointly recog - Morgenstern, and Gunther Schuller—as well as the man nized Peterson’s immense contribution to jazz, for whom the award is named, A.B. Spellman. Panel describing him as “an artist who works from the calm, moderator NEA Chairman Dana Gioia described the high summit of creativity, and who li[s us up to his advocates’ importance, saying, “[Jazz’s] health and vital - level.” Peterson’s former student, Oliver Jones, performed ity depends on the people who champion it.” a musical salute to his mentor and Peterson’s wife and For writers Morgenstern and Schuller, jazz was a daughter accepted the honor on Peterson’s behalf. discovery and obsession that began at a young age. In As David Baker led the band in a grand Ynale, 2005 Denmark, Morgenstern’s mother introduced him to jazz NEA Jazz Master Paquito D’Rivera and 2008 NEA Jazz by taking him to a Fats Waller concert. Although he Masters Joe Wilder and Candido Camero all took the was only eight, Morgenstern said he was amazed by the stage. In the middle of performing a dynamic solo on “vitality” of the art form. Schuller, who was already the conga drums, the 87-year-old Camero yelled to the studying classical music, heard jazz on the radio as a audience, “You want more?” Ve answer was a resound - high school student and immediately began his career ing “Yes.” as an advocate.