NEA Jazz Masters 2005 - Hearing Jazz Masters

Featuring the music and lives of...

Saturday, Jan. 1 - George Wein
Sunday, Jan. 2 - Shirley Horn
Monday, Jan. 3 - Artie Shaw
Tuesday, Jan 4 - Jimmy Smith
Wednesday, Jan. 5 - Slide Hampton
Thursday, Jan. 6 - Kenny Burrell
Friday, Jan. 7 - Paquito D'Rivera

The first week of the new year you can hear newly minted Jazz Masters on WBGO! Bandleader and arranger/composer Artie Shaw, jazz impresario and advocate George Wein, trombonist and arranger/composer Slide Hampton, guitarist Kenny Burrell, vocalist Shirley Horn, keyboardist Jimmy Smith, and clarinetist/saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera will be honored as 2005 NEA Jazz Masters at the 32nd Annual IAJE conference and on the air Jan 1 - 8 on WBGO.

Each year since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has selected living jazz legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz, to receive this nation's highest recognition and a one-time fellowship of $25,000. There are now 80 total Jazz Masters, and Jazz88 will spotlight one of the seven new 2005 Jazz Masters each day with interviews, music, and special features.

Shirley Horn

Shirley Horn began her career as a jazz pianist, but soon discovered the great expressive power of her voice. When Miles Davis discovered it as well, he brought her to New York, where she began opening for him at the Village Vanguard. Soon she was performing in major venues throughout the United States and recording with Quincy Jones for Mercury Records. She retuned to her native Washington DC to raise a family, but in the 1980's re-emerged with Grammy winning recordings and appearances worldwide.



Artie Shaw

Big band leader Artie Shaw rose to prominence in the 1930s. He made his breakthrough in his first appearance as a bandleader at a 1936 swing concert at Broadway's Imperial Theater. To fill a spot between headliners, he performed his chamber composition "Interlude in B Flat," scored for string quartet, three rhythm instruments, and clarinet, and created a sensation. He then added two trumpets, trombone, saxophone, and a singer, signed a recording contract, and led the first Artie Shaw Orchestra into New York's Lexington Hotel. During 1938, with a more conventional swing band line-up (which briefly included Billie Holiday as vocalist), he recorded Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine," which propelled him to the forefront of dance band leaders.



Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith personifies the jazz organ revolution. He raised the organ-specifically the legendary Hammond B3, over which he reigned during the 1950s and 60s-from a novelty instrument in jazz to primary status. Inspired by the great horn players of the day-Don Byas, Arnett Cobb, Coleman Hawkins-as well as by pianists Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, and Bud Powell, he cut the tremolo off and began playing horn lines on the organ with his right hand. He also created a new organ registration to simulate Garner's sound, establishing the standard for jazz organists who would follow.



George Wein

Jazz impresario George Wein is renowned for his work in organizing and booking music festivals and in particular for creating the Newport Jazz Festival, an event that in the words of the late jazz critic Leonard Feather started the "festival era." In 1950, he opened his own club in Boston, formed the Storyville record label, and launched his career as a jazz entrepreneur. In 1954, he was invited to organize the first Newport Jazz Festival. He subsequently played an important role in establishing numerous other international festivals.



Kenny Burrell

Kenny Burrell pioneered the guitar-led trio with bass and drums in the late 1950s. Known for his harmonic creativity, lush tones and lyricism on the guitar, he is also a prolific and highly regarded composer. While still a student at Wayne State University, he made his first major recording in 1951 with Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Percy Heath, and Milt Jackson. He went on to tour with the Oscar Peterson Trio and then moved to New York, where he worked with artists including Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins and Jimmy Smith. His compositions have been recorded by many artists. In addition to performing and recording, he is a professor of music and ethnomusicology at the University of California at Los Angeles. A recognized authority on the music of Duke Ellington, he developed the first regular college course ever taught in the United States on Ellington in 1978.



Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton's distinguished career spans decades of the evolution of jazz. At the age of 12 he was already touring the Midwest with the Indianapolis-based Hampton Band led by his father and comprising other members of his musical family. By 1952, at the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton Band. He then joined Maynard Ferguson's band, playing trombone and providing charts. As his reputation grew, he worked with bands led by Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and Max Roach, again contributing both original compositions and arrangements. A charismatic figure, master arranger and formidable trombonist, Slide Hampton holds a place of distinction in the jazz tradition.



Paquito D'Rivera

Multitalented, energetic and prolific, Paquito D'Rivera defies categorization. The winner of four Grammy Awards, he is celebrated as much for his artistry in Latin jazz as for his commissions as a classical composer. Born in Havana, Cuba, he was a child prodigy, performing at age 10 on the clarinet and saxophone with the National Theater Orchestra of Havana. He co-founded the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, as well as Irakere, a highly popular Cuban-jazz ensemble whose explosive mixture of jazz, rock, classical and traditional Cuban music had never before been heard. In 1981, while on tour in Spain, D'Rivera sought asylum in the United States. Since then he has toured the world with his ensembles-the Paquito D'Rivera Big Band, the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet, and the Chamber Jazz Ensemble. His numerous recordings include more than 30 solo albums. In 1988, he was a founding member of the United Nations Orchestra, a 15-piece ensemble organized by Dizzy Gillespie to showcase the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz. He has become the consummate multinational ambassador, creating and promoting a cross-culture of music that moves effortlessly among jazz, Latin, and Mozart.