{"id":4977,"date":"2013-08-09T14:18:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T21:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=4977"},"modified":"2013-08-09T17:24:11","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T00:24:11","slug":"sandoval-gillespie-and-the-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2013\/08\/sandoval-gillespie-and-the-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandoval, Gillespie And The Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the White House has announced President Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Medal of Freedom winners for 2013, the sniping begins over his choices. Here is my snipe. Whatever Arturo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sandoval\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s merits as a musician, they are put in perspective by his biography in the White House announcement, which notes that the trumpeter and \"Sandoval<\/a>pianist was a prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 of Dizzy Gillespie. (They are pictured together). That shines a bright light on the fact that while he was alive and in the 20 years since his death, Gillespie has been ignored in the Medal of Freedom selections. The medals can be awarded posthumously, and three of this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s will be.<\/p>\n

Sandoval is an accomplished musician, but I suspect that the dramatic story of his escape to the United States from Castro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cuba carried more weight in his selection than his standing as an artist. Gillespie was among the most important figures of the twentieth century as a trumpeter, the leading theoretical teacher in the bebop movement, a pioneering international cultural ambassador for the US and a dynamic and inspirational presence in American life. Let us hope that in the 2014 round of medal deliberations, President Obama will give serious consideration to Gillespie and, while he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at it, to alto saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955), the genius who called Gillespie, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the other half of my heartbeat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

Here, alphabetically, is the complete list of 2013 Medal of Freedom Winners:<\/p>\n

Ernie Banks<\/strong>, the Chicago Cubs home run star and hall of famer.
\nBen Bradlee<\/strong>, former executive editor of The Washington Post.
\nFormer President Bill Clinton<\/strong>.
\nSenator Daniel Inouy<\/strong>e, (posthumous), first Japanese-American elected to Congress, WWII Medal of Honor winner.
\nDaniel Kahneman<\/strong>, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist.
\nRichard Lugar<\/strong>, former US Senator, bipartisan leader in the movement to reduce threat of nuclear weapons.
\nLoretta Lynn<\/strong>, country music vocalist.
\nMario Molina<\/strong>, chemist and environmental scientist.
\nSally Ride<\/strong> (posthumous), first US female astronaut in space.
\nBayard Rustin<\/strong>, (posthumous), pioneer of nonviolent resistance in the civil rights movement, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
\nArturo Sandoval<\/strong>, trumpeter, pianist, composer.
\nDean Smith<\/strong>, University of North Carolina basketball coach from 1961 to 1997, with two national championships and a record-setting number of wins.
\nGloria Steinmen<\/strong>, writer and women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s equality activist.
\nC.T. Vivian<\/strong>, minister, author, organizer, civil rights leader.
\nPatricia Wald<\/strong>, retired chief judge of US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
\nOprah Winfrey<\/strong>, broadcast journalist, talk show host, philanthropist.<\/p>\n

And here, for those who need a reminder, is nearly an hour of Dizzy Gillespie with the group of his peers known as the Giants of Jazz, in Copenhagen in 1971: Kai Winding, trombone; Sonny Stitt, saxophone; Thelonious Monk, piano; Al McKibbon, bass; Art Blakey, drums. We rarely post videos of this length on Rifftides<\/em>, but in most of the northern hemisphere it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too hot to be outside and in much of the southern, too cold. This will help you stay cool, or warm, or just right.<\/p>\n