• IAJE Evening 3 - NEA Jazz Masters and Christian Scott

    January 12, 2008. Posted by David Tallacksen.

    Add new comment | Filed under: IAJE 2008

    Tonight's activities ran the gamut: first up was the NEA Jazz Master Awards Concert. David Baker (himself an NEA Jazz Master) led the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra through some great Quincy Jones tunes and arrangements, and Kurt Elling joined them on some Sinatra favorites. Throughout, all six newly-inducted Jazz Masters were honored (being introduced by the likes of Nancy Wilson, Jon Hendricks and others), and the concert concluded with Paquito D'Rivera, Candido Camero and Joe Wilder joining the band for the classic Walkin'.

    NEA Jazz Masters concert

    Then, it was on to see Christian Scott, who's no stranger to WBGO - he's performed live on WBGO from NJPAC, and done a studio session as well. The average age of the audience for Christian Scott was markedly younger than that of the Jazz Masters concert. But so was the average age of the performers. While the NEA Jazz Masters represent what has gotten Jazz to where it is, I'd like to think Christian Scott and his contemporaries represent the future. And it's an exciting direction. Take a listen to the studio session that Christian did, I think you'll agree.

    Christian Scott at IAJE 2008

    - David Tallacksen

    © 2008 WBGO

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