Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Blindfold Test: Ethan Iverson
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
Matana Roberts is among the recipients of the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Awards for jazz.
(Photo: Paula Court)Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, saxophonist Matana Roberts and pianist Fred Hersch are among the jazz artists recognized as recipients of the fifth annual Doris Duke Artist Awards, presented by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF).
Appointed in recognition of an artist’s ongoing contribution to the fields of dance, jazz and theater, awardees will each receive $275,000 in flexible, multi-year funding as well as financial and legal counseling, professional development activities and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
This year, a total of eight jazz artists were honored with the prestigious award. Other winners in the jazz category include trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist-composer Wayne Horvitz, pianist Jason Moran, multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu and reedist Henry Threadgill, who in April won a Pulitzer Prize for music for his album In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi).
With the 2016 class, DDCF will have awarded approximately $27.7 million to 101 noteworthy artists.
According to its website, the mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to support the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of philanthropist Doris Duke’s properties.
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
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DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
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Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
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Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
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Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
