Saxophonist Wayne Shorter triple winner in 2013 Jazz Awards; Smith jazz musician of the year - Entertainment - Times Colonist

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Saxophonist-composer Wayne Shorter is a triple winner in the 2013 Jazz Awards presented by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Shorter was a member of Miles Davis' legendary mid-1960s quintet and co-founded the fusion band Weather Report. He won awards for lifetime achievement in jazz, top soprano saxophonist and best small ensemble.

Veteran trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has been recognized as jazz musician of the year and best trumpeter. Smith's civil rights-themed composition "Ten Freedom Summers" was a 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Saxophonist Wayne Shorter triple winner in 2013 Jazz Awards; Smith jazz musician of the year - Entertainment - Times Colonist

Female jazz acts are the real Cool Japan

One of the highlights of my Golden Week this year was a concert by the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Jazz Orchestra at Blue Note in Tokyo. Reuniting her big band for the first time in a decade, Akiyoshi rolled back the clock with a superb set and some witty banter. The high point of the Sunday nightshow was “Kogun,” with her husband, Tabackin, delivering a superb performance on flute.

Akiyoshi was a trailblazer — literally. She become the first Japanese musician to be accepted to study jazz in the United States, and has received numerous accolades since. Seeing her perform, with such a command of the stage, I wondered why the government’s Cool Japan campaign doesn’t tout her achievements more often.

Female jazz acts are the real Cool Japan

Home, in the Key of E

—Tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, 82, is recipient of the National Medal of Arts and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His songs "St. Thomas," "Oleo," "Doxy" and "Airegin" have become jazz standards. He is currently working on a new album, "Road Shows, Vol. 3," for release in 2014. He spoke with reporter Marc Myers.

I moved to Woodstock, N.Y., about four months ago for the heat. For the past 40 years I lived on the other side of the Hudson River in Germantown, N.Y., in a small farmhouse built in the late 1880s. My wife, Lucille, and I first moved up there from New York in 1972.

Home, in the Key of E

Google Doodle honors jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald

Google Doodle honors jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald

NYTimes: Richie Havens, a Soulful Folk Singer Who Riveted Woodstock, Dies at 72

Merton Simpson Possessed Valuable Art but No Burial Money - NYTimes.com

Merton Simpson Possessed Valuable Art but No Burial Money - NYTimes.com: "Family and friends gathered in Charleston, S.C., on Friday for the funeral of the New York-based artist Merton D. Simpson, a painter and pioneering champion of African art who accumulated a collection said to be worth millions of dollars. Gathering in the city of his birth, eulogists celebrated Mr. Simpson’s expertise on the saxophone, his generosity and his visionary artistic taste."

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Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala - Veinte Anos - YouTube

Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala - Veinte Anos - YouTube: ""
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Romance en la Habana. Bebo Valdés. El arte del Sabor

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Romance en la Habana. Bebo Valdés. El arte del Sabor. 

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Bebo Valdés & Javier Colina - Lágrimas Negras - YouTube

Bebo Valdés & Javier Colina - Lágrimas Negras - YouTube

BBC News - Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdes dies aged 94

BBC News - Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdes dies aged 94: "Bebo Valdes, who started his career in the nightclubs of the Cuban capital, Havana, in the 1940s, was a central figure in the golden era of Cuban big band music.

A pianist, he also composed and arranged songs, and led two big bands, as well as creating his own rhythm, the batanga.

He died in Sweden, where he had lived since the 1960s.

Valdes came to fame as the musical director of the Tropicana club in Havana. From 1948 to 1957, he worked as singer Rita Montaner's pianist, also arranging many of her songs.

During his time at the Tropicana, he also performed with US artists Nat 'King' Cole and Sarah Vaughan"

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Jazz Articles: Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Bandleader and Conductor, Dies at 65 - By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

I have many fond memories of spending time with and around Butch Morris as well as his brother Wilbur, particularly in the early eighties when he conducted the David Murray Big Band.  He was an innovative conductor and really nice guy.  May he rest in peace.

John H. Armwood

Jazz Articles: Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Bandleader and Conductor, Dies at 65 - By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

GRAMMY® WINNER TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON PAYS HOMAGE TO DUKE ELLINGTON'S MONEY JUNGLE

GRAMMY® WINNER TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON PAYS HOMAGE TO DUKE ELLINGTON'S MONEY JUNGLE: ""

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Jazz Articles: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter Named UCLA Professors - By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

Jazz Articles: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter Named UCLA Professors - By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles: ""

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Chico-amp-Rita - NYTimes.com

Chico-amp-Rita - NYTimes.com

Chico and Rita - Every lover of Afro-Cuban music or jazz must see this film. It is set in the reality of the birth of Latin Jazz with the real pioneers of the music playing their music. Chico is in real life the father of the great pianist Chucho Valdez. This is not to be missed. It is on Netflix but any jazz or Latin lover will want this film in their collection.