Jazz
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Two jazz musicians, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah and Somi Kakoma, were among six creators who were named Doris Duke Artists on Monday at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. Oscar- and Grammy-winning rapper Common hosted the event.
The Doris Duke Foundation also announced the doubling of the prize money associated with the award. Each recipient is receiving an award of $550,000, up from $275,000, in recognition of their contributions to the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theater.
This year’s other Doris Duke Artists are director Charlotte Brathwaite and playwright and performer Kristina Wong in the theater category, and choreographers and performers Ayodele Casel and Rosy Simas in the dance category.
“When artists thrive, we all thrive,” Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation, said at the event. “Tonight we evolve the Doris Duke Artist Award from an award to a platform—a platform to advocate and fight for the future of artists.”
“What a decade of this award has revealed to us is that if you trust extraordinary artists like the ones here tonight and give them the conditions to thrive, they will go beyond the boundaries and expectations that you or anyone else could set for them,” added Maurine Knighton, chief program officer at the Doris Duke Foundation.
Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, 39, is a jazz trumpeter, composer and producer. Has received six Grammy nominations since 2008 – three for best contemporary instrumental album, two for best improvised jazz solo and one for best contemporary jazz album.
“Receiving the Doris Duke Artist Award offers me the ability to dedicate more time and care to what I truly love, which in itself is the most valuable gift a person can receive,” Chief Adjuah said in a statement. “Not only is this tremendously meaningful for myself, it also puts me in the position to create new opportunities throughout my community. Growing up, I often heard elders use the phrase ‘Take my song and pass it along,’ and I look forward to embodying this spirit in passing along this gift to others.”
Somi Kakoma, 41, is singer, songwriter, playwright and actor. In July 2020, Somi released Holy Room – Live at Alte Oper on her own Salon Africana label. The live album, which featured the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, was nominated for a 2021 Grammy for best jazz vocal album. It also won the 2021 NAACP Image Award for outstanding jazz album, vocal.
“As a proud daughter of immigrants, I have never fit neatly into a ‘here’ or ‘there’—nor has my music,” she said in a statement. “Receiving this award is affirmation that this journey has not been in vain. Knowing that it was determined by a panel of my peers is especially meaningful—I feel seen, understood, supported, and so very grateful. This award will allow me to pursue or formalize more of my artistic projects on the African continent in spaces where the local cultural economy doesn’t always have the resources in place to support them.”
The event included performances by six members from the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artists: Vijay Iyer, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Bebe Miller, Nicole Mitchell, Eiko Otake and Basil Twist.
The Doris Duke Artist Awards program supports approximately six performing artists annually with unrestricted individual grants. Recipients may use funds on anything: work space, travel, study, a new home, health care, exploring new collaborations or retirement savings.
The increase to the grant amount from $275,000 to $550,000 per artist reaffirms the Doris Duke Foundation’s commitment to investing in individual artists as the lifeblood of the performing arts. Gill announced the increase to an audience of around 400. He additionally revealed that the foundation has locked in a $30 million commitment to carry the program forward.
Established in 2012, the Doris Duke Artist Award is the largest national prize dedicated exclusively to individual performing artists. Since its inception, 129 Doris Duke Artists have received a total of $35.5 million in Doris Duke Artist Awards. This includes a total of $12.6 million in funding to 44 jazz artists.
The program was originally launched as a five-year program in 2012 as part of a $50 million special initiative but was made a core part of the foundation’s arts funding strategy in 2018. It was, and continues to be, the largest national prize dedicated to individual performing artists. It was also one of the first grant programs to offer a unique matching feature for up to $25,000 of the award to encourage artists to invest in late-career savings given the limited benefits programs available to them.
The Doris Duke Foundation operates five national grantmaking programs—in the performing arts, the environment, medical research, child and family well-being, and mutual understanding between communities—as well as Duke Farms and Shangri La, two centers that serve the public directly.
The Doris Duke Foundation is one of only two foundations to have received the National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts. To learn more, visit www.dorisduke.org.
To learn more about the Doris Duke Artist Awards and the six new Doris Duke Artists, visit: DorisDukeArtistAwards.org.
Samara Joy can now call herself a Grammy-winning artist. During the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 5), past winner Olivia Rodrigo presented the 23-year-old jazz singer with the best new artist award.
“I’ve been singing all of my life. Thank you so much for this honor, thank you to everyone who has listened to me or supported me,” she told the audience in her acceptance speech, as fellow nominees Anitta, Latto, Måneskin and more watched on. “All of you are so inspiring to me, and so to be here because of who I am … all of you have inspired me because of who you are. You express yourself and exactly who you are, authentically. So to be her here by just being myself, by just being who I was born as. I am so thankful.”
In addition to winning the coveted best new artist award, a stiff category that featured nine other nominees across different genres, Joy also won best jazz vocal album for her sophomore album, 2022’s Linger Awhile. It’s quite a feat, considering she began singing jazz just a mere five or six years ago, according to the singer herself.
After taking home two Grammys, Joy thanked not only the Recording Academy for recognizing her talent, but also her fans for cheering her on and lifting her up. “The best night of my life. Thank y’all so much for supporting me,” she wrote via Instagram, along with a red heart emoji.
So who is Samara Joy? Below, Billboard compiled five things you should know about the artist.
Kamasi Washington and Leon Bridges lead the lineup for the 2023 Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival, set for June 17-18.
Also confirmed on the bill is West Coast Get Down, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, Digable Planets, Poncho Sanchez, Aziza, Soul Rebels with Big Freedia, Samara Joy, Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato, Boukman Eksperyans, Butcher Brown and many others.
The full lineup and single-day tickets will be available from Tuesday, March 14.
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Hosted by Arsenio Hall and presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn., the two-day fest celebrates its 43rd year at the Hollywood Bowl.
Sax virtuoso Kamasi Washington, winner of the inaugural 2016 American Music Prize for his triple-CD odyssey, The Epic, is co-curator of the fest alongside legendary keyboardist Herbie Hancock, the LA Phil’s creative chair for jazz.
“I was thrilled when the LA Phil asked me to co-curate this festival with Kamasi and explore his extraordinary artistic vision,” comments Hancock, a 14-time Grammy Award winner. “Our celebration this year includes so many artists—both emerging and established—at defining moments in their musical journeys.”
Together, “we hope to create community and connection through the music we make and leave audiences feeling uplifted and inspired.” Hancock won’t perform at the fest; his next LA Phil concert is Sunday, April 2 at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Adds Washington said, “Herbie is one of the greatest musicians to ever live and I am so grateful to be working with him on this special show. Herbie and I have been working with the LA Phil team to create a one-of-a-kind experience that we hope will leave the audience with excitement, joy, life, soul and most of all great music.”
Returning package holders can buy tickets now at hollywoodbowl.com. Two-day packages will be available from Feb. 7, with single tickets and groups sales available from March 14.
The 16th annual Jazz in the Gardens Festival will continue its “sweeter level” celebration of Black music and culture this spring in Miami Gardens, Fla. Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Jodeci, Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, Ari Lennox, El DeBarge, Sean Paul, Mike Phillips and the Adam Blackstone Experience lead the stacked lineup of R&B, neo-soul, reggae and gospel artists, which also includes a special soulful Sunday performance by Chandler Moore, Kierra “Kiki” Sheard and Pastor Mike Jr.
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The two-day festival will return to the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, March 11, and Sunday, March 12.
“Over the years, Jazz in the Gardens has evolved on many levels. Now, in our 16th year, the festival continues to showcase some amazing talent and different genres of music for all those who attend to enjoy,” said Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris in a statement. “People come from all over for this unique experience. Jazz is the means by which we celebrate grandly music, food, and culture, together.”
On top of live performances, the 2023 Jazz in the Gardens Festival will feature exotic cuisine and offer exquisite retail buys in the Merchandise Village.
Last year, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige and Miami Gardens native Rick Ross performed at the Jazz in the Gardens stage following the festival’s two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Mayor Harris declared March 13 as “Rick Ross Day” during the festival in honor of his global success as an entertainer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Tickets are currently on sale at Jazz in the Gardens’ official website.
Kim Simmonds, founder of Savoy Brown, died on Tuesday (Dec. 13), according to a statement released by the band. He was 75 years old.
“Kim Simmonds passed away peacefully in the evening of December 13th — may he rest in peace,” the group shared on social media. “Please note one of Kim’s last requests was to thank the fans of Savoy Brown — your support was and shall always be immensely appreciated.”
In August, the blues guitarist announced that he had been fighting stage 4 colon cancer — specifically, a a rare form called signet cell colon cancer –for more than a year. He noted that the chemotherapy he was receiving had made it difficult for him to play his instrument due to the side effect of “peripheral neuropathy which has now deadened the nerves in my fingers and hands (feet too).” At the time, Brown explained that his type of cancer “is rarely found early enough to provide a chance for cure,” and occurs in less than one percent of cases.
While Simmonds initially formed The Savoy Brown Blues Band in 1965 with singer Brice Portius, bassist Ray Chappell, drummer Leo Mannings, keys player Trevor Jeavons and harmonica player John O’Leary, he remained the sole constant member of the band throughout nearly six decades of lineup changes. Throughout their career, the band released more than 40 studio albums with the two most recent — Ain’t Done Yet and Taking the Blues Back Home: Live in America — arriving in 2020.
Read Savoy Brown’s tribute to Simmonds below.
Robert Glasper had quite the busy October… or should we call it Robtober? From Oct. 4 to Nov. 6, the pianist took over New York’s legendary Blue Note Jazz Club for his fourth annual “Robtoberfest” residency.
Over the course of 26 nights, the Grammy winner performed 52 shows, with special guests including Dave Chappelle, Jill Scott, Andra Day, Lalah Hathaway, Common, Rapsody, Miguel and more. “My approach to Robtober is kind of, like, anything goes,” Glasper says of organizing the residency. “I get to curate my favorite musicians, my favorite artists. Literally, it’s a musical playground, so it’s like all of the thoughts that are in my head, I can actually do those.”
Blue Note’s director of programming Alex Kurland tells Billboard: “This year’s fourth iteration of Robert Glasper’s annual month-long fall residency at Blue Note was another mesmerizing experience. Every night was a feast of unbelievable artistic and culturally iconic moments led by Robert. This residency is more than a series of shows, it’s a playlist of unique happenings and experiences within our intimate jazz club setting with the greatest artists and bands bobbing and weaving in and out of Blue Note, and on and off stage.
“Robert is a legend and embodies what it means to be authentic as an artist and as a person,” he continued. “With this iconic residency, we are literally watching history unfold in real time – led by truly the coolest person alive.”
Glasper’s five-week run of shows also attracted many a famous face to the longstanding Greenwich Village hotspot, from Chris Rock, Lupita Nyong’o and married couple Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost to Questlove, Sway and more.
Below, check out exclusive videos of Glasper performing with Chappelle, Hathaway, Day, Scott and more — plus, see the backstage perspective as A-listers rub elbows before and after the shows. Take a step inside the residency with these clips.
Christian McBride & Inside Straight were the top winners at the inaugural Jazz Music Awards, which were held on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta. McBride & Inside Straight received two of the eight competitive awards — best mainstream artist and best duo, group or big band. McBride, 50, an eight-time Grammy winner, was on the road in Europe and unable to attend the event.
The show, dubbed Celebrating the Spirit of Jazz, was co-hosted by Dee Dee Bridgewater and actor Delroy Lindo. Terri Lyne Carrington was the show’s musical director and co-executive producer.
A mid-show medley of “songs of social justice” featured Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jazzmeia Horn, and Ledisi. Reeves opened the segment with her 1994 composition, “Endangered Species,” which gained notice at last month’s Primetime Emmy Awards when Sheryl Lee Ralph sang it in her acceptance speech.
Vocalist Somi, one of two winners of the best vocal performance award (due to a tie), performed a Miriam Makeba tribute, “House of the Rising Sun.”
A presentation of a lifetime achievement award to influential jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter included a medley of his songs and Shorter’s heartfelt video message.
The show closed with an affecting performance by Lizz Wright and Tia Fuller of “Georgia on My Mind.”
Carrington’s All-Star Band played throughout the show. The group included pianist Orrin Evans, bassist James Genus, guitarist Mark Whitfield, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, alto saxophonist Braxton Cook, trumpeter Milena Casado, keyboardist Ray Angry, drummer Nikki Glaspie, and DJ/percussionist Kassa Overall.
Presenters included Reeves, Horn, Jean and Marcus Baylor of The Baylor Project, Brandee Younger, Ben Tankard, Orrin Evans, Ragan Whiteside, Tia Fuller, and Bob Baldwin.
Many in attendance were sobered by the more than 100 jazz greats listed in the In Memoriam tribute. All died between the latter part of December 2019 and October 2022.
The Jazz Music Awards is a nonprofit division of Jazz 91.9 WCLK at Clark Atlanta University, owner and licensee of WCLK.
The second Annual Jazz Music Awards is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023.
Here’s a complete list of nominees in the eight competitive categories:
Best Mainstream ArtistJoey DeFrancesco, More MusicKenny Garrett, Sounds From The AncestorsWINNER: Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Live at the Village VanguardBrandee Younger, Somewhere Different
Best Contemporary ArtistBrian Bromberg, A Little Driving MusicBen Tankard, SHINE!Lindsey Webster, “I Didn’t Mean It”WINNER: Ragan Whiteside, “Off the Cuff”
Best Duo, Group, or Big BandThe Baylor Project, GenerationsJazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force, Dear LoveWINNER: Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Live at the Village VanguardCount Basie Orchestra, Live at Birdland(under the direction of Scotty Barnhart)Kevin Eubanks and Orrin Evans, EEE (Eubanks-Evans-Experience)
Best New Jazz Artist (Contemporary or Mainstream)Simon Moullier, CountdownJulieta Engenio, JumpKazemde George, I InsistWINNER: Samara Joy, Samara Joy
Best Vocal PerformanceThe Baylor Project, GenerationsCO-WINNER: Somi Kakoma, Dreaming ZenzileCO-WINNER: Stacey Kent, Songs From Other PlacesShawnn Monteiro, You Are There
Best Mainstream AlbumThe Baylor Project, GenerationsCO-WINNER: Orrin Evans, The Magic of NowCO-WINNER: Kenny Garrett, Sounds From the AncestorsBrandee Younger, Somewhere Different
Best Contemporary AlbumWINNER: Bob Baldwin, The Stay at Home Series, Volume 1Brian Culbertson, The Trilogy RedSonny Emory, Soul AscensionGabriel Mark Hasselbach, Tongue & Groove
Song of the Year (Fan Vote)WINNER: Norman Brown, “Back at Ya”Brian Culbertson, “Feel the Love”Justin-Lee Schultz, “Gruv Kid”James “PJ” Spraggins, “Up From Here”
Janet Thurlow, the jazz singer and widow of famed trombonist Jimmy Cleveland who performed with Lionel Hampton’s orchestra and helped give Quincy Jones an early career boost, has died. She was 96.
Thurlow died Oct. 4 congestive heart failure at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California, her family announced.
Thurlow first met Cleveland in 1951 when she joined Hampton’s band and he was playing with the vibes legend. They married two years later and performed together often until his death in 2008 at age 82.
The first of five children, Janet Lorraine Thurlow was born in Seattle on May 21, 1926. She received violin, piano and voice lessons as a youngster and played violin on a radio talent show hosted by Major Edward Bowes.
She began as a song stylist with Robert “Bumps” Blackwell’s Seattle-based band in 1949 before she was recruited by Hampton. She then pushed the bandleader to hire Jones, a trumpeter and friend from Seattle.
In August 1951, Thurlow and Jones were prominently featured as “Two Seattleites” on the bill of a Hampton show at the city’s popular Trianon Ballroom.
She later recorded “I Can’t Believe You’re in Love With Me” with Hampton for the Decca label, making her perhaps the first white singer to front an all-Black big band.
The skilled Cleveland fronted several albums of his own and recorded with the likes of Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, James Brown, Miles Davis, Teddy Edwards and Diana Washington.
He and his wife moved from New York to Lynwood in 1967 when he began playing in the band on The Merv Griffin Show.
Survivors include her sister, Carolyn, nieces Carol and Julie and nephew Martin. A memorial service will be held at noon Saturday at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Gate, California.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.