The following news release arrived late yesterday:
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced the recipients of the 2011 NEA Jazz Masters Award–the nation’s highest honor in this distinctly American music. For the first time in the program’s 29-year history, in addition to four individual awards, the NEA will present a group award to the Marsalis family, New Orleans’ venerable first family of jazz. All of the 2011 recipients will be publicly honored at the annual awards ceremony and concert on January 11, 2011 at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and receive a $25,000 fellowship award.
The 2011 NEA Jazz Masters are:
Hubert Laws Flutist
David Liebman Saxophonist, Flutist, Composer
Johnny Mandel Composer, Arranger, Trumpeter, Trombonist
Marsalis Family:
Ellis Marsalis, Jr. Pianist, Educator
Branford Marsalis Saxophonist, Composer, Bandleader
Wynton Marsalis Trumpeter, Composer, Educator, Bandleader
Delfeayo Marsalis Trombonist, Producer
Jason Marsalis Percussionist, Vibraphonist
Orrin Keepnews, a jazz producer and author from El Cerrito, California, will receive the 2011 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
If ever a musician exemplifies the words swing and lyricism it is Johnny Mandel. His writing for big bands has always thrilled me, and the melodies he writes are beyond compare.
His ballad “Emily” grabbed me the first time I heard it in a theater as part of the score for The Americanization of Emily. Zoot loved it, and played it nearly every night. When Zoot was too ill to make gigs with Al Cohn, Al played it for him, with so much heart it made me cry.
Jim Brown