Tag: Kennedy Center Honors

Kennedy Center After Sonny: Who’s Next?

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Now that Sonny Rollins has been honored by the Kennedy Center as one of the leading performing artists of our time, who would be the next jazz musician in line for the honor? One of the obvious ones, not based on his music as much as his contribution to reviving jazz commercially, would be Wynton Marsalis. He’ll get his eventually, but he’s a relatively young guy and should have to wait. Among musicians here are a few names to ponder: Horace Silver, Ornette  Coleman, Wayne Shorter. To me, those are the most viable candidates. I would imagine Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea would also get consideration. None of them, in my eyes, is in the same category as Sonny Rollins but, to be fair, a few years ago the honor went to Benny Carter and I didn’t think he was worthy either. What do you think?

Sonny Rollins Kennedy Center Tribute: Inspiring/Disappointing

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Did you watch the Kennedy Center Honors last night? It was great to see Sonny Rollins being recognized on national television and in front of the President and the world’s artistic community as one of the most important and influential artists of the past half -century. It was certainly moving and well deserved and, knowing how humble Sonny is, it must have been a tribute that he felt deeply. As I fan, I know I did. I had goose bumps just seeing Sonny up there.

Having said that, I found both the biographical tribute and the musical tribute to be really uninspired and disappointing. This was the one opportunity to explain to the country why, among all of the thousands of jazz musicians in the world, it was Sonny Rollins who was being honored on that stage. Even in just a couple of minutes with the opportunity Bill Cosby had in his introduction and in the video tribute, there was so much that could have been said that wasn’t. Here are some of the things I would have said:

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Cool Struttin’, Giant Steps and Other Jazz Classics

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Let’s catch up on some of the interesting rare jazz vinyl we’ve been watching at Jazz Collector. Big Bear apparently put a magnifying glass to this record and found that it was not necessarily an original pressing: Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’, Blue Note 1588. In addition to the question about the “original-ness” of the record there was also some concern expressed here about the lack of information about the listing. The record wound up selling for $1,913.88 in M- condition, which is probably significantly less than it would have received if it had been offered by a reputable seller with a strong reputation, such as Jazz Record Center or Euclid. Nonetheless, it is still quite a hefty price, particularly if it is not a first pressing. This one came from the same seller and failed to sell: Paul Chambers, Bass on Top, Blue Note  1569. I tried the magnifying glass trick myself but to no avail: Either my magnifier was faulty or my eyes were faulty or, more likely, a combination of the two. I couldn’t figure out if this was original or not. Perhaps other potential bidders had the same problem. Nobody was willing to hit the start price of $500.

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Clinton Toasts Rollins For Kennedy Center Honors

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One more reminder for our readers in the U.S.: The Kennedy Center Honors featuring the tribute to Sonny Rollins will be broadcast on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. I’ll probably do one more reminder on the day of the broadcast. At one of the events, Sonny was toasted by Bill Clinton. I always figured that Sonny would have been honored while Clinton was President since he was a sax player would and have obviously known about Sonny’s importance in the history of jazz. But I don’t think the President actually has that much influence in who gets selected. In any case, Clinton clearly does know the music, as can been seen in the toast below:

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Rollins Receives Kennedy Center Honor

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The actual Kennedy Center Honors took place last night, the one in which Sonny Rollins received his long-overdue and much deserved recognition. In looking over various accounts of the festivities, it seems as if it was a lovely evening all around. Bill Cosby did the honors of introducing Sonny and I saw a clip on one of the sites where I recognized Jimmy Heath and Joe Lovano, among others, playing tribute. Sonny was asked why the evening was so special. “It’s very nice to be recognized here in our country, which is the birthplace of jazz,” he said. “It’s where we started jazz, and people love jazz all over the world. It’s a peaceful expression of the spirit, of love, of everything.” In the U.S. there will be a two-hour broadcast of the evening on Dec. 27 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

AP Video

Bravo!!! Kennedy Center To Honor Sonny Rollins

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Good news for regular readers of Jazz Collector and for the jazz world at large. The Kennedy Center has announced its 2011 winners of the Kennedy Center Honors awards and guess what: Sonny Rollins is one of the five honorees! We say this is good news for Jazz Collector because we’ve been vocal advocates that Sonny needed to be honored as the greatest living jazz artist, and it’s so nice to see that we may have had even the most marginal of impacts just by mentioning it in the first place. It’s great for the jazz world because we will now get to see our music and, in particular, the music of Sonny, celebrated as a prime time television event for all to see. We’ll post more on this story as we let it all sink in, but we wanted to share the information just now, as we heard it. Congratulations to Sonny, of course, for an honor that is well-deserved and long overdue.

Kennedy Center Honors: Still No Sonny!

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I just did that post on Sonny Rollins a few moments ago and, in looking through the archives I found this piece bemoaning the fact that the Kennedy Center Honors last year once again failed to honor Sonny: Kennedy Center Honors: Where’s Sonny? So just for the hell of it, I went over to the site for the Kennedy Center Honors and it turns out they just announced this year’s recipients. And guess what? Still no Sonny. I, for one, believe this is an outrage. Sonny has not only been a leader and innovator in jazz for more than 60 years, he is a link to Bird and Dizzy and the bop era and he is still playing as well as ever. His influence is really unparalleled and he deserves the kind of broad recognition and acknowledgement that goes with this honor. The honorees this year are Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman and Bill T. Jones. Let’s see if we can somehow use the power of the Jazz Collector community to see if we can push for Sonny to be honored next year. I think this would be a worthy effort, don’t you?

Dave Brubeck LP: And The Winner Is . . .

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Time to complete our latest giveaway contest. As you may recall, we are giving away a copy of the following record: The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Music From West Side Story and Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra, Columbia 8257. This is a reissue, very nice pressing, of the album Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein. We offered it in recognition of Brubeck being chosen as a recent recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. Did anyone happen to catch the broadcast? It was actually very warm and touching and the musical tribute was pretty good, featuring, among others, John Faddis, Bill Charlap and Brubeck’s sons. After the tribute I asked my wife and son: “So who do you think wrote Take Five?” They looked at me like I was nuts: “Dave Brubeck, of course.” It’s just the way these things go, I suppose. Most people also assume Duke Ellington wrote Take The A Train. In any case, we are ready to give away this very nice Brubeck LP. As always, the criteria for the giveaway are simple: To be eligible

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Brubeck Honored: Kennedy Center & Jazz Collector

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Time for our next giveaway. Here’s the record: The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Music From West Side Story and Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra, Columbia 8257. This is a reissue, very nice pressing, of the album Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein. We are offering it in recognition of Brubeck being chosen as a recent recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. The broadcast of the event will be tomorrow evening in the States, on CBS. They usually keep it a surprise as to who the performers will be, but CBS has put up a brief video on You Tube with Brubeck’s four sons playing Blue Rondo A La Turk from the seminal Take Five album. We’re sure it will be quite moving, especially since the actual event took place on Dec. 6, Brubeck’s 89th birthday. As for the Jazz Collector giveaway:

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The Sound of Sonny Rollins: The Winner Is . . .

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Okay, it’s time to announce the winner of Jazz Collector’s latest giveaway. This time, you may recall, we are giving away a copy of Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny, Riverside 241. This is not an original pressing and is an OJC pressing. Yet it is in near mint condition and it is great jazz vinyl featuring some fantastic Rollins from the mid-1950s. We had put this up as a way of honoring Rollins in the wake of yet another snub by the Kennedy Center Honors. Anyway, as with all of our giveaways, all you have to do to be eligible to win is to comment on the Jazz Collector site, anywhere, in response to anything, as long as the comment is made during the duration of the contest. The eligible contestants this time are:

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