Dee Dee’s Jazzy Diary – June 16, 2008
The ASCAP Foundation, (established in 1914) is the first United States
performing rights organization ever established. This organization represents over eight and a half million musical compositions of every style and genre. ASCAP pays songwriters when their compositions are played onair, onstage, in motion pictures, etcetera. Recently ASCAP announced that the following inductees will be added to the Jazz Wall of Fame at Lincoln Center in New York. Celebrated as Living Legends, the recipients are Ron Carter, Bill Holman, Sonny Rollins, Bunny Berigan, Art Blakey and Tadd Dameron. Received these honors on June 11, 2008, Ron Carter is one of our most prolific, innovative, master, acoustic Jazz bassists. He has more than 2500 albums recorded. He lectures, teaches and still performs, composes and arranges. Carter’s on the Board of Directors of the Harlem Jazz Music Center. One of my alltime
favorite Cds by Ron Carter is his collaboration with Brazilian vocalist/musician Rosa Passos. Bill Holman recorded as a tenor saxophonist, but is best known as one of the finest arrangers in Jazz history. His recording titled “Brilliant Corners/The Music of Thelonius Monk” won a prestigious Grammy Award in 1997. The next recipient, born Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins, started his monumental career at age eleven and was playing tenor saxophone with pianist/composer Thelonious Monk before he was twenty.
He was a part of the amazing Clifford Brown/Max Roach quintet in 1955. He was
presented with a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. His
composition ‘St. Thomas’ has got to be one of my all time favorite Jazz tunes.
Bunny Berigan was a child prodigy raised in Wisconsin who became an
accomplished trumpeter. He made his mark as part of the Dorsey Brothers Band,
then as part of Glenn Miller’s aggregation and later joined Benny Goodman.
Often said to model his sound after his idol, Louis Armstrong, Berigan became
very popular after recording an outstanding solo on the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
hit single, “Marie.” Art Blakey (also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina) was one of
the finest drummers the world has ever known. He is praised as being one of the
inventors of modern Be Bop drumming and extremely influential in mainstream
Jazz. For over 30 years, his Jazz messengers group not only recorded
consistently but also introduced a number of up and coming young musicians to
the music scene. A recipient of numerous awards, Blakey was proud of his
Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award in 1991 and his Grammy Hall of Fame
induction for the album “Moanin’” in 2001. Speaking of the Be Bop era, this man
was often applauded as one of the most influential arrangers of that time. Tad
Dameron made his mark arranging for Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Jimmie
Lunceford, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan, to list just a few. He wrote
Sarah’s signature songs, “If You could See Me Now” and composed many other
songs. Congratulations to these dynamic talents and their outstanding
contributions to the American classical music called Jazz.
Speaking of dynamic talent, this past Saturday I witnessed a concert by the
amazing Bobby West in Leimert Park at the Lucy Florence Theater. Thanks to
Ken Moore and his Howling Monk Productions, this extraordinary Jazz pianist
made a dynamic return to Southern California and thoroughly entertained a
small, but appreciative audience, Saturday, June 14 th . His mastery and dexterity
at the keys recalled the beauty of Bud Powell, the power of Nina Simone,
embraced the history of Joplin’s Stride music, and wrapped it all up with the
innovation of his Louisiana roots. Bobby West showed the spellbound audience
that he could play it all. I went to his concert to relax and not to review it.
However, I was so completely captivated by his provocative style and talent, I
had to mention that if you haven’t heard of him, please go to CD Baby and pick
up his recording titled, “Hip Prophecy”. You’ll find one of Tad Dameron’s tunes
on this Cd. Bobby West was amply supported by Fritz Wise on drums and
James Leary on bass. The always Avant Garde and mesmerizing Dwight
Tribble made a guest vocalist appearance. A surprise addition to the ensemble
came in the form or the ever innovative Michael Sessions on Saxophone.
Sessions had the crowd on the edge of their theater seats. West received a
standing ovation after an energized two and a half hour performance. Bravo!
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Dee Dee McNeil
June 16, 2008

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