Here's the announcemant letter received today...Congrats to Steve Schwartz [no relation other than love of Jazz] for his excellence in broadcasting award out of WGBH, Boston!
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dear JJA friends and colleagues --
I'm not sure what the superhighlight was:
Joe Lovano's deeply touching soprano sax solo in tribute to Steve Lacy; Keiko
Jones talking about how to her Elvin is still alive, and she continues to
make him breakfast and lunch every day; Sam Rivers explaining how "Fuschia Swing
Song" wasn't the album he intended to make, but the last-minute substitution
of music he'd been playing since the '40s to some new stuff producer Alfred
Lion didn't like (Sam also mentioned, when picking up Wayne Shorter's award for
Album of the Year, that Miles had traded him to Art Blakey for Wayne, but no
one had told him where to go to join the Messengers) -- or perhaps the lineup of
an extraordinary A Team presenters Jimmy Heath, Olu Dara, Dorthann Kirk, Jon
Faddis, Pat Martino and Creed Taylor onstage with honorees Arthur H. Barnes
(who announced he'd kicked off the WBGO 25th anniversary fundraising campaign
with a $100,000 contribution), Jarrett Lilien (who announced that he and his
wife had decided to launch the Jazz Foundation of America's creation of a
residence for jazz musicians in need with a $100,000 donation), Bethany Bultman (who
said if SHE could start a Musicians Clinic in New Orleans, WE ought to be able
to do the same here in the Apple), Sandy Jackson (proclaimed a "great friend
and great supporter whose background works are too numerous to talk on and on
about"), Rudy Van Gelder (who doesn't like crowds, but was able to deal with
our noisy, chaotic event by sitting amidst friends at the Blue Note Records
table), and Les Paul (fit and funny as ever, age 89 and looking well ahead).
I know, that's a helluva sentence. But so it seemed to me, all the activity
and buzz swirling at the 8th Annual Jazz Awards, held at B.B. King's last
Tuesday from 4 til 7 p.m.
At least that was the official time. Volunteers arranged by Yvonne Ervin,
Wendy Oxenhorn of the Jazz Foundation, Lois Gilbert and me (including JJA tap
dance chronicler Jane Goldberg) arrived at BB's at 10 a.m. to stuff goody bags (
supplied by Ron Sturm, owner of the Iridium Jazz club) with t-shirts from
E-Trade Financial and Marsalis Music, coupons offering two weeks free Sirius
Satellite Radio, BETJazz program guides, the latest Hot House magazine, CDs by Frank
Kimbrough and Ingrid Jensen, among others and new Blue Note samplers, and the
thick recent issue of Jazz Improv magazine (somehow BETJazz keyrings didn't
get in those bags, and when that box is located, we'll find a way to distribute
them to all JJA members we can). At 1:30 the program books expertly
art-directed by AllAboutJazz-NY's Andrey Henkin arrived; at 2:30 p.m. the Awards
themselves, shepherded by Nancy Barell and Joel Levin, turned up, and that was just
about when Dick Gregory came to the club, on the arm of Jackie Buster
Lawrence, who had enlisted him as a guest host for the Awards.
While intrepid JJA members from far away were waiting for us to start (I
think Tom the jazzman Mallison and Michael writer/photographer Jackson were there
first), Gene Martin was setting up what turned out to be a brilliant group
photo in B.B. King's luncheon-barroom Lucilles. I got to stand between Casssandra
Wilson and Pat Martino (it's *good* to be President). JJA members George
Kanzler, Ira Gitler, Frank J. Oteri, Paul deBarros, Bill Milkowski, Sy Johnson
(whose wife Lois Mirvisss was busy, along with Enid Farber, setting up the
outstanding Silent Photo Auction) and many more are in that image, along with
several dozen musicians (Buddy DeFranco, Faddis, on and on) -- you've got to see it
at
JazzCorner.com or
JazzJournalistsAwards.com, the website for the event that
Lois Gilbert instituted for us, which Ben Allison designed.
I can't stop now to give you a complete rundown of the evening, but Dewey
Redman led a burning quartet (with altoist Greg Lilly, drummer Reggie Nicholson,
and I missed the bassist's name though I've heard him before); Duane Eubanks
on trumpet and EJ Allen on sax plus Anthony Wonsey, piano, fine bass and drums
held the audience as they came in, warmed up by New School bassist Renee
Cruz's great young sextet. Dick Gregory spoke up for Brother Ray Charles, and told
some truths and jokes, which were not necessarily distinguishable from each
other. Roswell Rudd spoke very movingly of his friend Steve Lacy, also modestly
in awe that he'd won Trombonist of the Year for the 2nd in a row "when there
were all these other truly great trombonists nominated." A full house -- over
500 -- scarfed down the BB's salads, chicken dinners and desserts, while
whetting there whistles on the bountiful Michelob, Michelob Ultra and Budweister
given to us by Anheuser-Busch.
The stage was draped with banners -- not just the JJA's, but also from
E-Trade and HIP Health Care of New York. BETJazz's stand-up posters arrived
mid-show, and went right up onstage. Paxton Baker, a principle at the 24 hour cable
jazz station, was most gracious in his awards presentations to Michael Ricci of
AllAboutJazz.com and broadcaster Steve Schwartz of WGBH-FM, Boston. Maria
Schneider was delightful, picking up her award for Best Arranger, and astonished
when she was next announced the winner of Composer of the Year. Willard Jenkins
was a great sport despite my confusion in handing him the Best Large Ensemble
Award to give out, when ECM's Tina Pelikan had picked it up for Dave
Holland's Big Band just a minute before (I gave Willard "Best Miscellaneous
Instrumentalist" to present as a consolation, and it went to the legendary
guitarist-harmonicaman-composer Toots Thielesman. Edguardo Vega Yunque, author of last
year's best novel concerned with jazz themes, "No Matter how Much You Promise to
Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again
" gave the Best Book of the Year Award to the JJA's own Nate Chinen, just as
George Wein, whose autobiography "My Life Among Others" that Nate co-authored,
arrived in the hall. In time for his Presenter of the Year Award.
I saw many others in the house - Tim Jackson, Myra Melford, Lourdes Delgado,
Judy Balos, Jeff Ballard, Frank Kimbrough, Michael Cuscuna, Bob Porter, Mike
Zwerin, Patricia Willard, Cecil Taylor, Frank Wess (it was my amateurish
flutist's honor to present him with the award for Flutist of the Year, which he's
been for many years), Joe Locke, Ted Panken, Laurence Donohue-Greene, Shellie
Williams, Kahil El Zabar, Francis Davis, Russ Dantzler, John Szwed (did a nice
job as a pinch-hit presenter), Ashley Kahn, Amanda Sweet from Telarc Records,
Pat Rustici from Palmetto, Pete Gershon editor of Signal2Noise, Jason Koransky
from Down Beat, Larry Blumenfeld representing Jazziz, Glen Sabin accepting the
Best Periodical Award from Tracks editor Alan Light for Jazz Times (fifth
year in a row), mother and son writing teamCarla and Jason Rupp, photog Jeff
Kliman, Claire Daly with her pro-level digital videocam, Dan Ouellette, flutist
Jamie Baum, Roy Haynes, Miguel Zenon, Andrew Hill, Chris Washburne with his
producer Randy Klein, Judi Silvano, Bob Blumenthal, Bobby Watson, Gary Smulyan,
Ronnie Cuber with his wife, Perry Robinson, Michelle Dreighton, Lew Tabackin,
Ron Carter, Eric Neymeyer, Matt Wilson, Linda Yohn, Jimmy Katz, Mitchell Seidel,
Paul Blair, Jack Vartoogian, and John Abbott, among so many others. Sorry for
those I said hi to and now leave out, but I can't let this go without
crediting my dear daughter Rosie Mandel and Lois Gilbert's handsome son Chris Franco
for outstanding, difficult work in bringing the Awards from the wings and
putting them securely in the presenters hands. Also, guitarist Doug Wamble did a
masterful solo version of St. Louis Blues, not easy in front of this sometimes
babbling crowd.
It really was fun. And we got out in time for the British skiffle band Mungo
Jerry to go on as scheduled. Whoa, how did we pull it off? Jim Eigo and Don
Lucoff and Jana LaSorte were major helpers. Martin Mueller and Bethany Riker of
the New School Jazz program helped us put together the bands, as did Chantal
Phaire. David Adler made sure the new issue of Jazz Notes got to the club. Matt
Abramowitz of Sirius Jazz Radio and new JJA member Michael Abbott who both
interviewed me were fully supportive. I saw my neighborhood JJA buddies Greg
Masters and Martin Johnson, and of course Arnold Jay Smith and Lois Gilbert, Lois
Gilbert!! did good things with ticket sales and our receipts and payouts. Ken
Franckling and Bill Gottlieb, together, presented the Photographer of the
Year (really, lifetime achievement) to Lee Tanner, who couldn't be there, so
Chuck Stewart, who won in 2000 but had never gotten his Award until that night,
came on and took it for his old pal Lee. Big help from B.B.'s Amanda Presser --
so much thanks to her -- and same from/to Anheuser-Busch's Cynthia Moore, and
major sponsor Pfizer Inc.'s Rick Luftglass, and Marina Mackel-Brown and Rita
Lewis from BETJazz, Connie Dotson of E-Trade, and many thanks to HEI Art for
oil paintings and posters, and to Fender, which donated a guitar!
Not to mention Fred Jung, whose West Coast Jazz Party at the Jazz Bakery
occurs Monday, June 21. Still time to buy a ticket and attend. That will be yet another great party.
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Very cool, Lois, I'm sure that'll be a special memory for him.
Linear Mode
