Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
The 20th anniversary year of the Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette trio, has begun with the announcement that Keith Jarrett has won the
prestigious Polar Music Prize. Jarrett is the sole prize-winner this year
as, for the first time, the Polar jury sets aside its habitual “popular” and
“serious” categorization. The pianist has resolutely ignored such criteria
throughout his career, and the terms can have little meaning when applied to
the work of this perennially popular and eminently serious jazz improviser
and classical interpreter.
Presented in Stockholm by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Polar Music Prize (instigated 1992) has come to be recognised as one of the world’s more significant music awards. The Polar Music Prize - awarded in the amount of one million Swedish Crowns - is given to individuals, groups or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievement in the creation and advancement of music. Past winners have included Pierre Boulez, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Iannis Xenakis, Joni Mitchell, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Witold Lutoslawski, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul McCartney, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sofia Gubaidulina, Quincy Jones, Miriam Makeba, Stevie Wonder, Robert Moog and Isaac Stern.
Jarrett will receive his prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm to be followed by a celebratory banquet at Grand Hôtel on May 12. Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria will be among the many other dignitaries attending.
Five days earlier, on May 7, the trio will play the Stockholm Konserthuset as the conclusion of a brief Spring Tour which also takes in dates in Paris (Olympia Theatre, April 27), Warsaw (Palace of Culture, April 30th), London (Royal Festival Hall, May 3rd), and Brussells (Palais des Beaux Arts, May 5).
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
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