Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Southern California Fires Hit the Jazz Community
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
Jazz Appreciation Month kicked off in Washington, D.C., Monday with piano great Ramsey Lewis taking center stage during the festivities.
Lewis called for a renewed commitment for jazz education in the schools as a bridge for ensuring future generations of players and audiences before he made a donation of archival materials from his career to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The items included photographs, publicity materials, news clippings and awards such as his 2007 designation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.
As part of the festivities, the pianist then sat down for a conversation with guitarist Larry Coryell about their careers. John Hasse, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian, and David Baker discussed “Jazz On The Nile,” a recent tour of Egypt by the Smithsonian Jazz Materworks Orchestra. And, harmonica virtuoso Frédéric Yonnet’s trio performed to an enthusiastic audience.
“Jazz is a truly American style of music that has played an important role in our heritage,” said Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History. “Through the Smithsonian’s Jazz Appreciation Month activities, we will highlight jazz and its history and how the genre has an important function in global diplomacy.”
Jazz appreciation Month began in 2001 as the brainchild of Hasse as a way to elevate the image of Jazz to wide audiences in the United States. Since that time, the celebration has blossomed into events in all 50 states and 33 nations around the globe.
More info: smithsonianjazz.org
Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.
Jan 21, 2025 7:54 PM
Roy McCurdy and his wife had just finished eating dinner and were relaxing over coffee in their Altadena home, when he…
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
The Old Country: More From The Deer Head Inn arrives 30 years after ECM issued the Keith Jarret Trio live album At The Deer Head Inn.
Jan 21, 2025 7:38 PM
Last November, Keith Jarrett, who has not played publicly since suffering two strokes in 2018, greenlighted ECM to drop…
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
If only because openings for JLCO’s 15 permanent positions appear about as frequently as sub-freezing days on the…
Larry Appelbaum with Wayne Shorter in 2012.
Feb 25, 2025 10:49 AM
Larry Appelbaum, a distinguished audio engineer, jazz journalist, historian and broadcaster, died Feb. 21, 2025, in…
