General Articles

2012: The Year in Jazz

By
KEN FRANCKLING,
Ken Franckling

Ken Franckling

Concert/Festival Reviewer since 2004

Ken Franckling is an award-winning jazz writer and photographer who has been covering the mainstream jazz scene for more than 25 years.

Recent articles (65 total)

Published: January 5, 2013

On the plus side of the equation, renowned architect Frank Gehry signed on as pro bono designer of a new home for the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles's Culver City neighborhood. A $10 million fundraising campaign is underway for the Jazz Bakery, which lost its lease at the Helms Bakery complex in 2009. Its new home will be next to the Kirk Douglas Theater. SFJAZZ's new SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco is set to open on January 21, 2013. New York's Kitano New York hotel expanded its jazz programming with an adjacent new supper club, Jazz at Kitano. Two years after the Cape May Jazz Festival folded due to financial and organizational woes (after presenting 34 weekend festivals in 17 years), a full-blown event returned to New Jersey's southernmost point in November with the Exit 0 International Jazz Festival. Producer Michael Kline's Spy Boy Productions plans to make the event a twice-a-year phenomenon like its predecessor.


Credit Where Credit is Long Overdue

"Solar" is a classic Miles DavisMiles Davis Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet
composition, right? Wrong. Library of Congress's jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum found proof that the instrumental was actually written by Chuck WayneChuck Wayne Chuck Wayne
b.1923
guitar, electric
. The guitarist failed to register the song for copyright, which was filed in 1963 by Prestige Records identifying the composer as Davis. Appelbaum found a recording from 1946 in the Chuck Wayne Collection in which one clearly hears the famous theme. The tune is titled "Sonny" after Sonny BermanSonny Berman Sonny Berman
b.1925
who also can be heard on the record. Ironically, the "Solar" melody of this song ended is engraved on Davis's tombstone.


Stamp of Approval

In June, the United States Postal Service and its French equivalent, La Poste, released a joint pair of commemorative stamps, one honoring Miles Davis, the other honoring singer Edith Piaf. The Davis stamp featured David Gahr's classic profile photograph that became the cover of the trumpeter's A Tribute to Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1970).


Stamp Perpetual Honors for Brownie, Mingus and Davis

Wilmington, DE officials dedicated a statue in Kirkwood Park November 9 to honor native son, trumpeter Clifford BrownClifford Brown Clifford Brown
1930 - 1956
trumpet
, who died 56 years ago at age 25. Groundbreaking was held last April for a memorial to Charles Mingus in Nogales, Ariz., where the bassist was born in 1922. The memorial is set to open in April 2013 during the Charles Mingus Hometown Jazz Festival. The city of Alton, Ill., announced plans to honor native son Miles DavisMiles Davis Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet
with a life-sized statue of the trumpeter in the heart of the downtown entertainment district on Third Street.


Awards Galore

Drummer Jack DeJohnetteJack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette
b.1942
drums
, saxophonist Von FreemanVon Freeman Von Freeman
1922 - 2012
sax, tenor
, bassist Charlie HadenCharlie Haden Charlie Haden
b.1937
bass, acoustic
, singer Sheila JordanSheila Jordan Sheila Jordan
b.1928
vocal
, and trumpeter and jazz advocacy activist Jimmy OwensJimmy Owens Jimmy Owens
b.1943
trumpet
were honored in January 2012 as National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. 2013 honors will be bestowed in January 2013 to singer/pianist Mose AllisonMose Allison Mose Allison
b.1927
composer/conductor
, saxophonist Lou DonaldsonLou Donaldson Lou Donaldson
b.1926
saxophone
, pianist Eddie PalmieriEddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri
b.1936
piano
and Village Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon.

Sonny RollinsSonny Rollins Sonny Rollins
b.1930
saxophone
won musician of the year, tenor saxophonist of the year and best record honors with Road Shows, Vol. 2 at the Jazz Journalists Associations' 2012 Jazz Awards. Pianist Horace SilverHorace Silver Horace Silver
b.1928
piano
received the JJA's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jazz-related winners at the 54th Grammy Awards in February were Chick CoreaChick Corea Chick Corea
b.1941
piano
for "500 Miles High," off Forever (Concord, 2011) (Best Improvised Jazz Solo); drummer Terri Lyne CarringtonTerri Lyne Carrington Terri Lyne Carrington
b.1965
drums
for The Mosaic Project (Concord, 2011) (Best Jazz Vocal Album); Corea, bassist Stanley ClarkeStanley Clarke Stanley Clarke
b.1951
bass
} and drummer Lenny WhiteLenny White Lenny White
b.1949
drums
for Forever (Best Jazz Instrumental Album). Singers Tony BennettTony Bennett Tony Bennett
b.1926
vocal
and Amy Winehouse won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for their take on "Body and Soul."

Trumpeter/composer Arturo SandovalArturo Sandoval Arturo Sandoval
b.1949
trumpet
won the Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album for his Dizzy GillespieDizzy Gillespie Dizzy Gillespie
1917 - 1993
trumpet
tribute CD, Dear Diz (Every Day I Think Of You) (Concord, 2011). Sandoval was touring Spain with Gillespie in 1990 when he defected from Cuba. Chick Corea won the Best Instrumental Album category for his Further Explorations (Concord, 2012), with bassist Eddie GomezEddie Gomez Eddie Gomez
b.1944
bass
and drummer Paul MotianPaul Motian Paul Motian
1931 - 2011
drums
. Conguero, bandleader and salsa singer Poncho SanchezPoncho Sanchez Poncho Sanchez
b.1951
congas
and singer/songwriter Milton NascimentoMilton Nascimento Milton Nascimento
b.1942
guitar
received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Latin Recording Academy during the weeklong Latin Grammy Awards celebration in Las Vegas in November.

Drummer Jamison RossJamison Ross Jamison Ross
won first place at the 25th annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in September. Drummers Justin BrownJustin Brown Justin Brown
and Colin StranahanColin Stranahan Colin Stranahan
finished second and third respectively.

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