2009 NEA Jazz Masters

[Lois Gilbert]

Benson, Thielemans honored as NEA Jazz Masters
By CHARLES J. GANS –

NEW YORK (AP) — Guitarist George Benson had a chance to reconnect with his jazz roots when he was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of its 2009 Jazz Masters. But it was another newly minted Jazz Master, Belgian-born Toots Thielemans, who provided the most moving moment at the NEA's annual ceremony to present the nation's highest jazz honor.

Thielemans, 86, accompanied by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, played a moving version on harmonica of "What A Wonderful World," which he dedicated to his "musical guru," Louis Armstrong.

Thielemans, whose harmonica has been heard by generations of children on the "Sesame Street" opening theme, said he got hooked on jazz during the German occupation in the 1940s, when he first heard recordings of Armstrong with the Mills Brothers.

"How are you going to follow that?" quipped another new Jazz Master, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, 81, who took the stage Friday night at the Rose Theater right after Thielemans to perform the ballad "Body and Soul" with the orchestra.

Thielemans is the first European-born musician, harmonica player and baron (he was given the title in 2001 by King Albert II of Belgium) to be named an NEA Jazz Master. He recalled the warm welcome he received from African-American jazz musicians after he settled in the U.S. in 1952 — from singer Dinah Washington, who cooked him a soul food dinner, to pianist Billy Taylor, who let him sit in with his band at a New York club while he was waiting for his musicians' union card.

"I figured he was going to play the guitar, but he pulled out his harmonica and he just killed all of the people who heard him at that time, because nobody was playing jazz harmonica like that," said Taylor, a 1988 Jazz Master, in presenting the award to Thielemans.

Benson, 65, recalled his humble roots in Pittsburgh as he thanked his stepfather, who hand-made his first electric guitar when he was a teenager and introduced him to Benny Goodman's recordings with electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian.

Benson, whose singing on such crossover pop and R&B hits as "This Masquerade" later overshadowed his earlier work as a straight-ahead guitarist, then displayed some swinging jazz chops when he performed the ballad "Stella By Starlight" with the orchestra.

The ceremony also recognized the other 2009 Jazz Masters: drummer Jimmy Cobb, 79, who played on such landmark albums as Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" and John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" but was also known for his sensitive accompaniment of vocalists Washington and Sarah Vaughan; and Snooky Young, 89, the veteran big band trumpeter whose career includes a 25-year stint with Doc Severinsen's "Tonight Show" orchestra.

Rudy Van Gelder, the first recording engineer to be named a Jazz Master, was honored for his work on such seminal recordings as Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Sonny Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus."

The stylistically versatile JALC orchestra was able to accomodate requests from each new master. Cobb sat in on drums to play "Can You Read My Mind," John Williams' love theme from the 1978 "Superman" movie, and Van Gelder was recognized with "Stolen Moments" from the 1961 Oliver Nelson album "The Blues and the Abstract Truth."

This year marked the first time that Jazz at Lincoln Center hosted the Jazz Masters awards ceremony, which was a centerpiece of the annual International Association for Jazz Education convention before that organization declared bankruptcy this year.

"We're honored to do it because it's in direct line with our mission," said trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, JALC's artistic director, in an interview before the ceremony. "We have a history and a tradition of playing with the masters and of respecting the great contributors to the art form."

Dana Gioia, who will be stepping down as NEA chairman in January, expanded the Jazz Masters program during his six-year tenure by doubling the number of honorees each year from three to six, sponsoring tours by Jazz Masters and producing short features for broadcast on Sirius XM Radio.

With JALC, the NEA developed a Web-based jazz curriculum that has reached an estimated 7.5 million students since its launch in January 2006.

"Jazz is America's greatest single musical tradition," Gioia said in an interview, "and I don't see the purpose of having a National Endowment for the Arts unless jazz is one of the things that we support seriously."

[Pete C]

Congrats to all of them, but they've been giving these out since 1982 and NOT ONE AACM MUSICIAN has ever been honored by them. Not Braxton, not George Lewis, not Muhal, not Roscoe Mitchell.

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Congrats to all of them, but they've been giving these out since 1982 and NOT ONE AACM MUSICIAN has ever been honored by them. Not Braxton, not George Lewis, not Muhal, not Roscoe Mitchell.

I love Toots, but what's confusing me is that I thought
the NEA awards were in honor of American musicians. The organization,after all, is the United States National Endowment of the Arts.

I also agree that by now, musicians such as the ones you mentioned, become a most glaring omission over time.

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,
Gunther Schuller, Joe Wilder
2009: George Benson, Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz, Toots Thielemans,
Rudy Van Gelder, Snooky Young

[Lois Gilbert]

Actually Mike, at the pre-talk before the concert, outgoing chairman Dana Gioia made a point of mentioning that Toots is the 2nd European born NEA Master. Actually Dan Morgenstern was born in Germany.

It was truly an honor and stunning to be in the presence of all this greatness.

[Lois Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Congrats to all of them, but they've been giving these out since 1982 and NOT ONE AACM MUSICIAN has ever been honored by them. Not Braxton, not George Lewis, not Muhal, not Roscoe Mitchell.

You can nominate I believe at their website - IMO, Dana Gioia was the best Bush appointee in 8 years!

[AJFarber]

Just for the record, Toots has been living in the US since the early to mid 1950s. He's been here longer than Wynton!

Anyway, the NEA ceremony was fun. I had the honour of writing an arrangement of "Stella by Starlight" for George Benson, and Lee Konitz played my chart on "Body & Soul" although that one was written for Joe Lovano.

I wanted to speak with Dr. Van Gelder, but he cut out as soon as the thing was over.

My picks for 2010: Any of these guys deserve it. Joe Temperley (saxophone), Bill Crow (bass), John Bunch and/or Ray Bryant (piano), Charlie Mariano and/or Jerry Dodgion (alto saxophone), Marion Evans (arranger), Charlie Persip (drums), Marcus Belgrave, Bobby Shew and/or Randy Brecker (trumpet), Wayne Shorter....I could go on...you dig?

[Mike Schwartz]

I did not know Toots has been a long time USA resident.

[AJFarber]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

I did not know Toots has been a long time USA resident.

He said he came over in '52. He might be one of those back-and-forth cats.

[Zephyr]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

I did not know Toots has been a long time USA resident.

http://www.tootsthielemans.com/biography/biography.html

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by AJFarber

Just for the record, Toots has been living in the US since the early to mid 1950s. He's been here longer than Wynton!

Anyway, the NEA ceremony was fun. I had the honour of writing an arrangement of "Stella by Starlight" for George Benson, and Lee Konitz played my chart on "Body & Soul" although that one was written for Joe Lovano.

I wanted to speak with Dr. Van Gelder, but he cut out as soon as the thing was over.

My picks for 2010: Any of these guys deserve it. Joe Temperley (saxophone), Bill Crow (bass), John Bunch and/or Ray Bryant (piano), Charlie Mariano and/or Jerry Dodgion (alto saxophone), Marion Evans (arranger), Charlie Persip (drums), Marcus Belgrave, Bobby Shew and/or Randy Brecker (trumpet), Wayne Shorter....I could go on...you dig?

Charlie Mariano and Wayne Shorter - Yeah!! that would be long overdue, imho!

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by AJFarber

He said he came over in '52. He might be one of those back-and-forth cats.

I've spoken to Toots for radio, and met his long time business manager who is definitely from Europe, and there was a lot of talk about what was going on over there at that time.....

[Mike Schwartz]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/ar...=5070&emc=eta1