Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Trumpeter, Educator Jim Rotondi Dies at 61
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
On Monday, pianist Anthony Davis won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera, The Central Park Five.
(Photo: YouTube)Anthony Davis, a frequent Wadada Leo Smith collaborator, on Monday was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in the musical composition category for his opera, The Central Park Five.
The pianist, who currently teaches at the University of California, San Diego, premiered the work at the Long Beach Opera in California on June 15, 2019. The piece follows the travails of five New York teenagers who are accused in the 1989 murder of a jogger in the city’s park. Each of the five—who also were the focus of a 2019 Netflix series, When They See Us, which was directed by Ava DuVernay and scored by jazz pianist Kris Bowers—were convicted and later exonerated.
The Pulitzers, which this year included Jon Batiste as a judge in Davis’ category, said the composer’s work “skillfully transforms a notorious example of contemporary injustice into something empathetic and hopeful.”
Notably, in 2016, jazz composer Henry Threadgill won the category for his In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi) recording.
Davis—whose other work includes albums released on the India Navigation and MPS imprints, and X, The Life And Times Of Malcolm X, An Opera In Three Acts—also received $15,000 as a part of the win. DB
Jim Rotondi was acclaimed for his wide, round trumpet tone, remarkable virtuosity and assured swing.
Jul 9, 2024 11:35 AM
Jim Rotondi, a renowned hard-bop trumpeter, composer and educator, died suddenly on July 7 at a hospital in France. He…
Charles Lloyd, seen here at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, makes DownBeat Poll history!
Jul 11, 2024 12:23 PM
The incomparable Charles Lloyd swept the 72nd Annual DownBeat Critics Poll, becoming the first artist ever to earn…
“Being president of Blue Note has been one of the coolest things that ever happened to me,” Was said. “It’s a gas to serve as one of the caretakers of that legacy.”
Jun 4, 2024 12:21 PM
Sitting with Don Was is a comfortable and unhurried exercise. He may seem slightly reserved at first, but ideas and…
The Century Room in downtown Tucson, Arizona, was born in 2021.
May 21, 2024 12:58 PM
Players got to play. It’s long been a part of jazz history: When there’s a venue vacuum, when there are fewer…
“She reminds me of my childhood and makes we want to cry,” Cécile McLorin Salvant, pictured here with writer Ashley Kahn, said of Dianne Reeves.
Jun 11, 2024 12:31 PM
Italy’s Umbria Jazz Winter is one of those rare annual festivals that not only coincides with a major holiday —…
