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Announced yesterday: the third annual Doris Duke Performing Artist and first ever Impact Awards, providing substantial financial honorarium to 13 “jazz” musicians whose works take seriously the mission of exploration and experimentation, as well as dancers and “theatre” artists.

Saxophonist/composers Oliver Lake, Steve Lehman and Roscoe Mitchell as well as pianists Craig Taborn and Randy Weston and transformative harpist Zeena Parkins are recipients of the Artist awards, which comprise $275,000 total “investments” to each of them, featuring dedicated amounts for audience development and for “creative exploration during what are commonly retirement years.” Pianist/composer/AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist-composers Steve Coleman and Matana Roberts, guitarist Ben Monder, Cuban-born pianist Aruán Ortiz and vocalist Jen Shyu, an improviser with a specialty in endangered traditional styles of Southeast Asia, have been given Impact awards of $80,000 each.

Without exception, all these honorees are jazz convention-challengers, if not outright game-changers (one might argue that Randy Weston, the 88-year-old son of Brooklyn who grew up loving Monk and bebop and over the course of his career has emphasized the African ancestry of jazz, represents more continuity with jazz traditions that the others, but I don’t buy that notion: none of the musicians reject “jazz” history in any way, all are expanding upon traditions they understand, have experience in and respect). Rather than being mainstream maintainers, each of these Awardees is a conceptualist who has created his/her own approach by study, experimentation and interactions with like-minded others.

Several have personal connections: Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell have been associated since the beginning in 1965 of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), which Oliver Lake (as originally a member of the related Black Artists Group of St. Louis), and Matana Roberts have also been involved in. Steve Lehman has studied with George E. Lewis, trombonist and institutional biographer of the AACM, and Steve Coleman is a Chicagoan who grew up in AACM vicinities and has been at the center of his own loosely convened M-BASE musicians’ collective. Jen Shyu has sung with Coleman.

Akinmusire and Taborn, recorded respectively by Blue Note and ECM, recently released albums that have received considerable critical acclaim (including a Pianist of the Year Award for Tabor from the Jazz Journalists Association, which is celebrating Randy Weston  for his Duo of the Year with saxophonist Billy Harper). Only Zeena Parkins, currently a visiting professor at Mills College, has operated primarily outside “jazz-jazz,” having emerged from the NYC downtown improvisers world, toured with Bjork, etc. (I’m just pointing this out — it in no way disqualifies her from this Award!)

Doris Duke, tobacco heiress, in her will stipulated support for dance, theatre and jazz — these Awards are the result. As posted on the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation website, “The award is a deeper investment in the potential of dedicated artists, empowering them through the freedom of unrestricted support while celebrating past achievement.” Funds are made available over a three-to-five year period, and —

Doris Duke Artists will have access to Creative Capital’s goal assessment tools; financial and legal counseling; and conferences with peer-to-peer learning opportunities. Doris Duke Artists will also be able to allocate a portion of their funding to cover costs of professional development services including workshops to help artists expand their skills and practices (from strategic planning to fundraising to promotion); phone-in clinics that offer support for the business areas of artistic practices (legal, financial, tech, PR and business advice); memberships that provide opportunities for crowdfunding and fiscal sponsorship partners, as well as pro-rated fees for insurance or health care.

Nice deal, going to musicians who can have ongoing powerful impact on their peers and audiences, too. Previous Doris Duke Artists in jazz include Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Vijay Iyer, John Hollenbeck, Nicole Mitchell in 2012; Anthony Braxton, Billy Childs, Amir ElSaffar, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miya Masaoka, Myra Melford and William Parker (2013).

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Jazz is local and homey, as well as grand and global — that’s what a house concert last weekend in Brooklyn shouted out.

Transylvanian photographer Sánta István Csaba joined me at a “rare NYC performance” of 10³²K, the trio of trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy, bassist Kevin Ray and drummer Andrew Drury, at Drury’s apartment in Leffert Gardens. As his images show, the musicians were no less serious about their creative interaction for being in a living room decorated with childrens’ drawings, and the audience was as attentive as any at a well-known club, though they were only asked for a voluntary donation, and were invited to partake of chicken soup and/or bring our own beer.

10³²K — named for the Planck temperature of “absolute hot” theorized to be the condition of the universe just prior to the Big Bang —  is a serious and gratifying ensemble which has performed at Lincoln Center’s David Rubin Atrium and WinterJazz Fest, and recently got a 3.5 star review for its debut ep That Which Is Planted — Live in Buffalo and Rochester. On a cold Friday night about a dozen strangers gathered to hear the trio’s professionally presented two sets with intermission. Repertoire began with a piece by reedist Henry Threadgill, and then seldom-revived repertoire by drummer Steve McCall and bassist Fred Hopkins, Threadgill’s colleagues (both now deceased) in the highly esteemed 1970s-’80s trio Air.

Like Air, 10³²K conceptualizes its music-making as being the product of an equilateral triangle, so that the three members interact as full-time soloists rather than two being accompanists to a frontman. Lacy, who plays flugelhorn as well as trombone and when not blowing added percussive touches with a tambourine and a cymbal, is a sonic powerhouse, with a commanding tone, sensibility of selectivity regarding note choices and shapeliness of phrases. He’s been a strong voice in the Mingus Big Band — which comprises several rambunctious soloists devoted to large-scale works — among other ensembles. Here he had no reason to make an effort to stand out, choosing instead to listen intently to Ray and Drury, the better to forge the group sound.

Kevin Ray is a fluid bassist, able to move quickly on his instrument without losing sound quality, guiding the flow at several tempii. His abilities came in handy when the trio raced through the knotty melody of “Monk’s Dream” and laid down Coltrane’s anthemic theme “Expression,” from his final recording.

Andrew Drury’s style — loose and congenial but emphatic, structurally supportive but continuously improvising — provided the perfect third part. Each piece the band played, including as a finale Albert Ayler’s rousing “Ghosts,” had a narrative arc

that allowed even uninformed members of the crowd to hop aboard the tunes and stay with them as the band expanded its forays into fresh ground.

Once upon a time people made music in their homes as a matter of course — entertainment options were just so limited that doing it yourself was the only way to go. It’s unlikely that jazz featuring the level of virtuosity Lacy, Ray and Drury demonstrate would ever have come into being simply as a folk music, without  ambitions to reach full creative flower, and it wasn’t so long ago that players of high calibre endowed with an exploratory impulse came to understand that if they wanted to be heard by anyone but themselves, they likely had to produce the showcases on their own. That realization was acted on by bands such as Air,   nurtured by Chicago’s AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), as well as the free-thinkers who established NYC’s loft jazz scene and even Charles Mingus, who came up through nightclubs but eventually strove to control his own recording career and stage events like the Newport Rebels shows he produced in 1960 as a rear-garde action complementing George Wein’s  big official to-do.

Last Friday 10³²K had a choice: Rehearse their music and presentation format or perform for people eager enough to hear them that we ventured out to a residential neighborhood and joined the artists in typically private space. My ex- used to say a performance was worth 10 rehearsals, and I bet Lacy, Ray and Drury think that, too. They’re not the only ones opening doors to their apartments in efforts to have their music heard — Brooklyn resident singer Perez has just announced a schedule of 11 “Duo House Concerts” mid-afternoon on Sundays starting Feb. 16 with singer and saxophonist Amy Cervini, who will preview her about-to-be-released cd Jazz Country. Perez’s place is near my own, so attendance is easy (and if you want to attend, rsvp to Perezjazzmusic@hotmail.com). Also, Drury has planned further “Soup and Sound House” events, for his band Content Provider featuring saxophonists Briggan Krauss and Ingrid Laubrock and guitarist Brandon Seabrook on March 1, and Katt Hernandez’ Schematics quartet from Stockholm March 15 (opening act: Ras Moshe/Shayna Dulberger Duo). Lefferts Ave. is just a couple subway stops away, or a doable bike ride, and I can imagine going back for more.

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“Writing Jazz Biographies” is the third free, interactive webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 8 pm. edt, presented by the Jazz Journalists Association. Paul de Barros (Shall We Play That One Together? The Life and Art of Piano Legend Marian McPartland), Robin D.G. Kelley (Thelonious Monk: The LIfe and Times of an American Original),
and Peter Pullman (Wail: The Life of Bud Powell) will speak of research, subject-dedication and dealing with living people as sources of information in a 90-minute panel moderated by me.

The webinar is free, but pre-registration is necessary. Previous webinars, “Introducing Jazz Journalism Now” and “Covering Jazz Festivals” are archived and can be accessed without charge. Here’s a gloss on the topic:

Biographies are among the most challenging form of non-fiction written by jazz journalists and scholars. They typically require deep investigation into the subject’s world, which whether past or present will be multi-faceted and viewable from multiple perspectives. Biographies necessitate detailed research, and usually multiple interviews of people with whom the writer must carefully create ongoing relationships. To make vivid and comprehensible the life, times and accomplishments of a musician demands high level writing skills as well as special sensitivity to a vast ouevre. And biographies are not written quickly. So how does a writer select his or her subject? Are biographies sought by publishers? What are the challenges, and what are the rewards, to being a biographer?

The JJA webinars to date have attracted some 60 participants online, several from continents other than North America, despite problems of time zones. Questions for the panelists are accepted from particpants. Don’t be shy.

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The venerability, relevance and novelty of the “jazz standard” is being questioned in the jazzosphere, but I wonder about the dearth of new songs that are sticking in my latest column in CityArts-New York. In my just- previous column I reviewed recent albums by a few musicians gigging in NYC, and warned there’s no reason to expect them to do live what they committed to record.

Abiding by space limits on both these columns, I didn’t expand as I would have, to say that while there aren’t necessarily new songs that are sticking with us or being played scene-wide, there are a lot of current musicians coming up with personal sounds (for themselves and/or their ensembles). And if I wasn’t completely blown away by any of albums I surveyed by players  around town last month, there are a couple of dozen recent releases that are rewarded repeated listening, and I’ll have to write about them soon — watch this space!

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to attending the Newport Jazz Festival this weekend — it’s got a great lineup for Saturday and Sunday, and I’ll boil down a lot of impressions for coverage in my next CityArts-New York column, to be published Aug. 14.

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City Arts did post my column of record reviews

so please read what I wrote about Henry Cole and the Afrobeat Collective, Steve Lehman Trio, Less Magnetic (on Facebook, or view their show below), Esperanza Spalding, Michael Bates (plays Shostakovich), and Wayne Escoffrey.

Then, I urge you, check out samples of those artists online, and judge for yourselves (’cause you won’t know if I’m right otherwise).

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Etta James, who died today Jan. 20 at age 73, and Johnny Otis, who died Jan. 17 at 90,

 are rightly recognized as innovators and icons of American rhythm ‘n’ blues and soul.

But the jazz world — listeners, broadcasters and journalists, musicians and institutions up to and including the NEA — would be well-served to proclaim that Etta James and Johnny Otis are “jazz masters.” Their sub-genre identities remain within the greater mainstream of Afro-American music born about a hundred years ago, with blues becoming ever less a so-called “folk” form by engaging with other  musical and commercial influences, leaving rural isolation for urban hubbub, diverse developments and the ear of the world. Furthermore, Otis’s and James’s specific sounds emerged from America’s unique swing era stylings, in response to and generation of post-WW II U.S. cultural norms. As one with jazz.

Why would it matter if we called Otis and James “jazz masters”?

1. It would emphasize the structural girding jazz has provided for the past century  to all of American popular song. So pop audiences would be encouraged to recast their “jazz as dead” stereotype, comforting current jazz artists who complain they can’t make it ’cause their music is chained to the “n-word”. Indeed, such jazz musicians might learn something from Otis’ business sense and James’ dismal history.
2.  If we don’t recognize people like Otis and James on some official level as jazz masters, then as what? Heritage artists? That designation has been coded to mean ultra-traditionalists and conservationists. Nothing wrong with that — but Otis and James were more involved  with updates, revisions, hybrids, popularizations and other pragmatics of music-making than in revering its glories or protecting its legacies. They’ve been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame — fine and good, such recognition and honors for their links to jazz aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s beneficial to admit that categories aren’t rigid. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was a jazzman, too.
3. Johnny Otis and Etta James were jazz musicians from the start — jazz was their inspiration. Understanding them as such provides us with a truer vision of the breadth of jazz and its manifestations. It also prods us to enjoy their music in more depth, to take in its subtleties and appreciate the art.

Johnny Otis had six years of big band jazz experience before he convened his own 16-piece ensemble in 1945. The distance between mainstream jazz (if not that new thing, “bebop”) and pop music for dancing was quite close then. Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Billy Eckstine, Tommy Dorsey,  Bob Wills, Ella Fitzgerald, Big Joe Turner and Louis Jordan were among the genuinely popular stars of jazz.  Otis could hang with them; he  drummed with Lionel Hampton on “Flyin’ Home” as the climax of a 1950 broadcast, 24 minutes into the program —

Etta James wanted to be Billie Holiday. Holiday’s influence is palpable in all of James’ ballad singing, including her version of “At Last” (originally recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra)  — it’s in the way Etta phrases, hesitating behind or jumping ahead of the beat, how she wrings lyrics for layers of meaning and employs all the qualities of her voice despite a fairy limited octave range for nuance. James won a Grammy for Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday, and in her 2006 album All The Way she’s as credible with that Sinatra signature song as with Lennon’s “Imagine” and “What’s Goin’ On?” That’s a jazz artist’s adaptability. And though it was rare for her to record with swing-oriented backup, though she shouted out upbeat messages with gospel fervor rather than float through melodies like a horn, Etta James could improvise just fine, as when she joined Glady Knight and Chaka Khan, backed by B.B. King, in the Bessie Smith classic “T’aint Nobody’s Business,” which Billie Holiday also sang.

Otis and James were musicians who projected no pretense of performing high art, experimenting or abstracting.  They were on-the-road entertainers who, if they lacked probing and profound repertoire yet depended upon consistently performing real live music people would flock to and pay for night after night, everywhere, in pursuit of being made more relaxed, happier, less blue — transformed. Otis, in particular, was alert to trends in taste and the talented people who could fulfill listeners’ desires, and discovered several singers including Etta James but also Esther Phillips who brought jazz-derived edge to bluesy pop material. James was a balladeer for the working class, never very glamorous, often in her early work raunchy or a victim, but touching because she put emotions in her voice that rang so true.

Johnny Otis and Etta James may have ended up as the Godfather of R&B and the First Mama of Funky Stuff, but when they started those categories didn’t exist. They toiled in the fields of popular jazz. That they affected change in popular music coming from such background and never dishonoring it means, to me,  they were masterful enough to focus elements of the jazz arts into music of wide appeal, gathering audiences from across formerly divided demographic groups, turning definitions that hewed to conventions on their head.

Let me be clear: I am not suggesting that the National Endowment of the Arts issue posthumous honors holding up Johnny Otis and/or Etta James as embodiments of jazz originality or virtuosity. But I do submit that popular artists who employ jazz strategies, techniques, tactics, materials and values are also part of the jazz spectrum – as today the jazz industry (what’s left of it) and press (ditto) includes under the greater jazz umbrella, sometimes grudgingly, Kenny G., Boney James, Najee, Soul Live, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Jamie Cullum and countless others.

If we don’t, maybe we should. Because counting their sales boosts the bottom line on overall interest in jazz, and makes a mockery which is well-deserved of definitions which only have to do with marketing. Because playing them in a jazz radio show demonstrates the connections between the earthy and the esoteric. Because music is a stylistic continuum, and not series of separate bins.

If it’s vernacular music made in America since the 1920s, derived from African-American traditions and urban circumstances, engaging primarily with the marketplace rather than the academy or conservatory, depending upon knowledgable musicians to make it good in real time — then I say it’s fair to call it or at least reasonable to say it’s been informed by “jazz.” Whether you agree or not, please hail Johnny Otis and Etta James, find some of their music to listen to and dig.

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MC JazzMandel: At the Jazz Foundation of America’s Benefit Loft Party tonight (Oct. 29), 7 pm to midnight, Manhattan, my room has —

Tom Harrell‘s Quintet, pianist Marc  Marc Cary, preeminent bassist Ron Carter with fine guitarist Gene Bertoncini, turbanated organist Dr. Lonnie Smith with alto sax/Mardi Gras Indian Donald Harrison and N.O. drummer Herlin Riley (yeah!), magisterial Randy Weston’s African Rhythm Quintet, and DC-based blues/r&b updater Memphis Gold.

It’s a great lineup to raise funds for the nationwide safety-net for jazzers-in-need. If you can’t be there, you can still donate.

These parties have been annual big fun, with approx. 600 – 800 fervent fans milling about, including such major business & culture influencers as Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup and on President Obama’s economic advisory team, as well as chairman of the board of the Jazz Foundation. Dress is festive/casual. There’s food, beverages, usually a silent auction of jazz-related goodies, and more music: besides the roster in my “jazz room” there are simultaneous sets by the Black Rock Coalition w/electric guitar star Vernon Reid, legendary singer Ronnie Spector (! — model for Amy Winehouse), slide trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, writer-gtrst Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, surprise sitters-in, et al. in the adjoining spaces, looking out on the Hudson.

If you come, please pull my sleeve to say hi.

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