2019: The Year in Jazz

The year 2019 was robust in many ways. International Jazz Day brought its biggest stage to Australia. An important but long-shuttered jazz mecca was revived in a coast-to-coast move. ECM Records celebrated a golden year. The music and its makers figured prominently on the big screen. The National Endowment for the Arts welcomed four new NEA Jazz Masters. The jazz world said farewell to one other who was among the many industry-associated musicians and figures who passed away during the year, some under tragic circumstances.

International Jazz Day, Take Eight...

Australia's two largest cities—Melbourne and Sydney—hosted major components of 2019's International Jazz Day celebration. Sydney Opera House hosted free education and outreach programs on April 26. The All-Star Global Concert on April 30 took place in Melbourne's historic Hamer Hall. Performers included several Australians: trumpeter, trombonist (and co-artistic director) James Morrison, didgeridooist Will Barton, trumpeter Matthew Jodrell, pianist Paul Grabowsky and guitarist James Muller.

The many others in the Melbourne concert's multi-national lineup included singers Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit and Lizz Wright (all US); pianist (and co-artistic director) Herbie Hancock (US); saxophonists Igor Butman (Russia), Eli Degibri (Israel), Antonio Hart (US) and Tineke Postma (Netherlands); trumpeter Theo Croker (US); B-3 organ player Joey DeFrancesco (US); pianists John Beasley (musical director) (US), A Bu (China), Eric Reed (USA) and Tarek Yamani (Lebanon); bassists James Genus and Ben Williams (both USA); drummers Brian Blade (US) and Antonio Sanchez (Mexico); guitarists Jeff Parker (US) and Chico Pinheiro (Brazil); trombonists Mark Nightingale (UK) and Eijiro Nakagawa (Japan); and tabla player Aditya Kalyanpur (India). International Jazz Day, co-sponsored by UNESCO and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, includes events in more than 190 countries under its musical umbrella. Capetown, South Africa has been designated as Global Host City for International Jazz Day in 2020.

Jazzy centennials...

A significant number of jazz notables had their 100th birthdays noted posthumously during 2019. Those musicians included Art Blakey, Nat King Cole, Mercer Ellington, Israel Crosby, Babs Gonzales, Al McKibbon, Peck Morrison, Buddy Morrow, Herbie Nichols, Anita O'Day, Lennie Tristano, George Shearing and Snooky Young.

Awards and honors of note...

NEA JAZZ MASTERS: Pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim, bandleader and composer Maria Schneider, late singer-pianist-composer Bob Dorough and jazz critic Stanley Crouch were honored April 15 as 2019's class of National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. Crouch received the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy. Their recognition for lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz included $25,000 awards. The 2020 recipients will be honored April 2 at a tribute concert at SFJAZZ in San Francisco. They are singer Bobby McFerrin, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, bassist Reggie Workman, and jazz curator and producer Dorthaan Kirk. She will receive the Spellman award.

GRAMMY AWARDS: There was a wide range of jazz-related winners at the 2019 (61st annual) Grammy Awards, which were held February 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were Wayne Shorter Quartet, Emanon (Blue Note, 2018)—best jazz instrumental album; Cecile McLorin Salvant, The Window (Mack Avenue, 2018)—best jazz vocal album; John Daversa Big Band, American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom (BFM Jazz, 2018)—best large jazz ensemble album; John Daversa, "Don't Fence Me In" from John Daversa Big Band, American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom (BFM Jazz, 2018)—best arrangement, instrumental or a capella; Dafnis Prieto Big Band, Back to the Sunset (Dafnison, 2018)—best Latin jazz album.

Also, Steve Gadd, Steve Gadd Band (Varese Sarabande, 2018)—best contemporary instrumental album; Terence Blanchard, "Blut Und Boden (Blood And Soil)" from BlacKkKlansman (original motion picture soundtrack) (Back Lot, 2018)—best instrumental composition; Mark Kibble, Randy Waldman and Justin Wilson, arrangers, "Spiderman Theme," featuring Take 6 and Chris Potter; from Randy Waldman, Superheroes (BFM Jazz, 2018) —best arrangement, instruments and vocals; Quincy Jones, Alan Hicks and Rashida Jones, Quincy( (Netflix, 2018)—best music film. (With this award, Quincy Jones has won 28 Grammys, more than any other living artist.

LATIN GRAMMYS: There were four jazz-related winners at the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards on November 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Chucho Valdes, Jazz Batá 2 (Mack Avenue, 2018)—best Latin jazz/jazz album; Quinteto Astor Piazzolla, Revolucionario (East 54 Entertainment, 2018)—best tango album; Andrés Cepeda, Andrés Cepeda Big Band (En Vivo) (Sony, 2019)—best traditional tropical album; Tony Succar, Mas De Mi (Unity Entertainment, 2019)— best salsa album. The 20th annual awards aired live on Univision.

JJA AWARDS: Saxophonist Wayne Shorter led the honorees at the Jazz Journalists Association's 2019 Jazz Awards, the organization's 24th annual honors for excellence in music and music journalism. Shorter was voted Musician of the Year, Composer of the Year and led the quartet winning Mid-Sized Ensemble of the Year honors. Pianist Ahmad Jamal was honored for his Lifetime Achievement in Jazz. Bassist Linda May Han Oh was Up and Coming Musician of the Year and West Side Story Reimagined (Jazzheads, 2018) by Bobby Sanabria's Multiverse Big Band was voted Record of the Year. John Coltrane's Both Directions at Once: The Last Album (Verve, 2018) was Historical Record of the Year; ECM was voted Record Label of the Year. There were award recipients in 39 categories of jazz achievement and documentation in calendar year 2018.

JJA's journalism-related winners included writer John Szwed for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism; Maxine Gordon for best book, Sophisticated Giant: The Life and Legacy of Dexter Gordon ; British photojournalist Val Wilmer and Massachusetts-based broadcaster Tom Reney for career excellence, and Nate Chinen, editorial content director of WBGO, for Writing in 2018. DownBeat magazine was voted print periodical-website of the year. Adriana Mateo's portrait of the late Roy Hargrove smoking a cigarette while sitting at a piano in the Umbria Jazz Festival's ornate Teatro Morlacchi, was voted Photo of the Year.

GENIUS GRANT: Guitarist Mary Halvorson received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, better known as a "Genius" grant. Along with 25 other fellows announced on September 25, she receives a grant of $625,000 distributed over five years. Halvorson was the only musician to receive a MacArthur Fellowship in 2019.

DORIS DUKE AWARDS: Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and trombonist George Lewis were the jazz recipients of 2019's Doris Duke Artist Awards, which the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation bestows to accomplished artists in the fields of music, theater and contemporary dance. Each artist received $275,000 to spend without restrictions, with $25,000 reserved for savings, retirement or other later life needs.

HANCOCK COMPETITION: Guitarist Evgeny Pobozhiy, a 30-year-old Russian, won first prize at the 2019 Herbie Hancock International Jazz Competition, held in early December in Washington, DC. Pobozhiy won a $30,000 scholarship and a contract with Concord Records. The other finalists were Max Light of Bethesda, MD, who placed second, and Cecil Alexander of Muskegon, MI, who came in third. This Kennedy Center event was the first competition held under the name of Herbie Hancock. The 30 prior events were sponsored by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Because Monk's family withdrew his name usage. It's now named the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.

PERFORMANCE PLUS: Chamber Music America distributed more than $180,000 to 11 US-based female-led jazz ensembles through its new Performance Plus program, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The program connects each group with an experienced jazz artist-educator for six evaluative listening sessions designed to enhance their performance, followed by a high-quality demo recording session. Those bands are Amanda & Associates (Brooklyn, NY), Arco Belo (Potomac, MD), Aurora Nealand & the Royal Roses (New Orleans), The Bounce (East Lansing, MI), Camille Thurman Quartet (Newburgh, NY), Endea Owens & The Cookout (New York), Johnaye Kendrick Ensemble (Tacoma, WA), Kavita Shah Quintet (New York), Mara Rosenbloom Trio (New York), Nadje Noordhuis Ensemble (Brooklyn, NY) and Santa Bikini (Easton, PA).

SASSY AWARDS: Bronx, NY native Samara McLendon won the eighth annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition on November 4 in Newark, NJ. She received a $5,000 cash award and a guaranteed performing slot at the 2020 Newport Jazz Festival. The competition is part of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's TD James Moody Jazz Festival. SASSY Awards runners-up were Daniela Spalletta of Italy (second place) and Lithuanian-born, Paris-based Viktorija Gečytė (third place).

ELLA AWARDS: Melinda Rodriguez of Miami won the third annual Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition on April 27 in Washington, DC. The 2019 ELLA Awards runner-up was Emilia Zamuner of Naples, Italy. The event is sponsored by the Blues Alley Jazz Society, the Smithsonian Institution and the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation. Rodriguez, who won $1,500, is an adjunct professor at Illinois Wesleyan and a grad student at the University of Illinois, where she is working toward a master's degree in performance. She also was a 2019 competitor on NBC's "The Voice."

BMI COMPOSERS WORKSHOP: Drummer Dan Pugach's "Bianca" was chosen as the winning piece at the 2019 edition of the BMI Composer's Workshop. In addition to receiving its Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, Pugach was awarded the $3,000 Manny Albam commission to compose a new piece that will premiere at the June 2020 workshop.

MICHAEL BRECKER SAX COMPETITION: Los Angeles-based Alex Hahn won the inaugural Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition held August 26 at the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, Israel. Hahn is a graduate of the University of North Texas, the University of Southern California and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. He bested Alex Weitz and Artem Badenko in the competition's final round.

LIVING LEGACY: Trumpeter and bandleader Charles Tolliver received the BNY Mellon Jazz 2018 Living Legacy Award at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on October 11. This was the 25th anniversary of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation award that recognizes living jazz masters from the region who have achieved distinction in performance and education.

AMERICAN PIANO COMPETITION: The third time was the charm, for Emmet Cohen, who won the 2019 edition of the American Pianists Awards, an Indianapolis-based, months-long competition. He was a finalist in 2011 and 2015. The APA's Cole Porter Fellowship, awarded every four years, includes $50,000 in cash, two years of career management, a recording contract with Mack Avenue Records and the title of artist-in-residence at the University of Indianapolis for two years.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT: The Kid from Red Bank, bandleader and pianist Count Basie, was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on May 8 in Memphis. The Hall of Fame's 40th class of inductees also included singer Aretha Franklin and Booker T. & the MG's.

BMI ICON: Five-time Grammy winner, Oscar nominee, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard was honored as a BMI Icon on May 15 during the 35th annual Film, TV and Visual Media Awards of Broadcast Music Inc. With more than 33 albums and 50 film scores to his credit, Blanchard is one of movie producer Spike Lee's preferred composers. Those Lee collaborations included the documentary When the Levees Broke—about Blanchard's hometown of New Orleans during the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005. BANJO HALL OF FAME: The American Banjo Museum inducted Massachusetts-based Jimmy Mazzy into its Hall of Fame on September 5 during Banjofest in Oklahoma City. Mazzy is one of America's best-known traditional jazz banjoists and has been a popular attraction in the traditional jazz circuit since the 1970s. The four-string banjo wizard and singer is a member of The Paramount Jazz Band and the Wolverine Jazz band. He also freelances with other groups including the Yankee Rhythm Kings, the Magnolia Jazz Five and the Back Bay Ramblers. The Banjo Hall of Fame also honored trumpeter Bob Snow in the Promotion category for opening the Rosie O'Grady's jazz club in a derelict area of downtown Pensacola, FL. Two years later his concept also took root with Rosie O'Grady's Goodtime Jazz Band at Church Street Station in Orlando, FL.

GLENN GOULD PROTÉGÉ PRIZE: Opera singer Jessye Norman, winner of Toronto's twelfth Glenn Gould Prize, picked American jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant to receive the Glenn Gould Protégé Prize. The $15,000 (CAD) award is given to an outstanding young artist who shows the promise of an exceptional lifetime contribution to enriching the human condition through the arts, such as that exhibited by the young Glenn Gould. Salvant received the award from Norman on February 20 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. In 1993, Glenn Gould Prize honoree Oscar Peterson named pianist Benny Green as that year's Glenn Gould Protégé honoree.

ENABLING JAZZ TOURS: Thirty-one jazz artists were selected to receive $359,600 collectively from Jazz Road, a national initiative led by the Atlanta-based regional nonprofit South Arts. The program helps emerging and amid-career musicians perform in rural, isolated, and under-served communities, as well as more traditional venues. Artists selected in this first round, for tours between October 2019 and September 2020, include percussionist Fran Vielma and the Venezuelan Jazz Collective, who will play in Florida and Puerto Rico; trumpeter Jaimie Branch, who will tour in Arkansas and Tennessee, among other places; and an ensemble led by bassist William Parker, who will travel to rural Vermont. Jazz Road is a South Arts partnership with five other U.S. regional arts organizations. It is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Jazz venue ups and downs...

KEYSTONE KORNER: The West Coast jazz mecca that producer Todd Barkan ran from 1972 to 1983 in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, was revived in April with a move to the East Coast. NEA Jazz Master Barkan opened this new version, Keystone Korner Baltimore, in a joint venture with chef Robert Wiedmaier. The 200+ seat venue opened on April 30 (International Jazz Day) with bassist Ron Carter, pianist Donald Vega and guitarist Russell Malone. Wiedmaier and Barkan first met at the 2018 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Dinner, and soon began talking about the idea of opening a space together. The club succeeded Wiedmaier's former Mussel Bar at 1350 Lancaster St. in Baltimore's Harbor East neighborhood.

CAFÉ BOHEMIA: Back in the day, from 1955 to 1960, Café Bohemia in New York featured some of greatest jazz players in history, and a string of classic live recordings. Oscar Pettiford named his composition "Bohemia After Dark" after the fledgling club. A new jazz venue with the same name opened in October at its original Greenwich Village location, downstairs from the Barrow Street Alehouse. The intimate venue features live jazz, blues and folk music. "This is an opportunity to bring back some of the Village in a historical revival because so many jazz, blues and folk clubs have closed. It seems like the right time to bring things back instead of closing them," says managing partner (and singer/songwriter) Christine Santelli.

MADE IN NEW YORK: Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood got a new jazz club in October when Michael Brovkine opened his Made in New York Jazz Cafe and Bar. Brovkine produces the Made in New York Jazz Competition, a technology-driven, global jazz competition that is held entirely online. The club's opening weekend featured pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Lenny White and bassist Buster Williams. Brovkine said he opened the venue to bring high-quality acts to Kings County.

RISING RENTS CLAIM TWO BIG APPLE VICTIMS: The Cornelia Street Café in New York's Greenwich Village, a folk and jazz venue for 41 years, closed on January 2, 2019. The 700-capacity Highline Ballroom closed five weeks later, on February 8, after the landlord decided to not renew the lease. Highline Ballroom owner Steven Bensusan said he was looking for another location within the same Chelsea/Meatpacking District for the venue, which occasionally included jazz-related acts in its programming.

SAVING HERMANN'S: British Columbia's Arts on View Society has raised more than $90,000 (CAD) through a GoFundMe campaign and a benefit concert to save Hermann's Jazz Club in Victoria. The non-profit signed an agreement in April to lease and operate Hermann's for the next five years. Canada's longest-running jazz club was founded in 1986 by the late Hermann Nieweler. It faced an uncertain future in 2018 due to a family feud involving his three children.

TRUMPETS JAZZ CLUB: A September 28 appearance by Ty Stephens & SoulJaazz brought down the curtain at Trumpets Jazz Club & Restaurant in Montclair, NJ after a long run as New Jersey's most prominent jazz club. Trumpets opened in 1985. It had been known for some time that the club and its liquor license were up for sale by owners Enrico Granafei and Kristine Massari, who bought it in 1999.

TULA'S IN SEATTLE: A similar closure, one day later, befell the jazz community in Seattle, WA. Tula's Restaurant and Jazz Club in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, considered the hub for the area jazz community, shuttered after 26 years. The club has been operating on a month-to-month lease for six years, and its expiring licenses and insurance renewal became overwhelming. "We've run out of Band-Aids and duct tape," general manager Jason Moore told the Seattle Times. Pianist Bill Anschell's trio was featured at the final September 29 performance.

BLUE LLAMA: A major void in Ann Arbor, MI's jazz scene, since the 2004 closing of bassist Ron Brooks' Bird of Paradise club, was filled with the March 19 opening of the Blue LLama Jazz Club. The 100-seat space features both national acts and up-and-coming regional talent from Ann Arbor, Detroit and Chicago. The two capital Ls in the club's name are not a typo. They represent and represent "Love of food and Love of music." It is located on Main Street, next door to Ann Arbor's renowned folk music club The Ark.

The Blue LLama is now home to Miles Davis' deep blue "moon and stars" trumpet, one of three Martin Company horns that he commissioned in 1980 when returning from a five-year hiatus. Club owner Don Hicks bought the trumpet for $275,000 at a Christie's auction on October 29. He said the horn will be on display at his club—and visiting jazz musicians will get a chance to blow a few notes. "Musical instruments are meant to be played and meant to make beautiful sounds. Miles did it and we're trying to carry that forward," trumpeter and entrepreneur Hicks told Reuters.

MIDDLE C JAZZ: This 200-seat club opened in Charlotte, NC on October 31 to bring regional, national and international live jazz acts to South Brevard Street in the heart of uptown. It is the brainchild of father-son duo Larry and Adam Farber, Larry, a longtime local music entrepreneur, and Adam, a commercial real estate broker, said they hope to create a new music district for the city's live music fans. Middle C Jazz opened with a tango and Argentine folklore musical weekend featuring the Alejandro Ziegler quartet.

FORTE JAZZ LOUNGE: Singer and bandleader Joe Clarke opened this new club in Charleston, SC on August 1. He hopes to use the former Pure Theater space on King Street to highlight the area's many professional musicians and occasional visiting headliners. It will feature live performances every weekend, with established musicians offering two sets on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Charleston's history with jazz clubs dates to the 1970s. Most have come and gone, many of them lasting only a couple of years. Clarke has a different vision. It includes inviting music students across the community to the club for Sunday afternoon master classes and Sunday evening gigs.

JAZZ ON THE RIVER: On December 16, New Orleans' newest and biggest riverboat, the Riverboat Louis Armstrong, opened its doors with a performance by Deacon John and the Louis Armstrong Summer Jazz Ensemble. Indiana's City of Evansville" was repurposed into a floating entertainment venue with a 3,000 passenger capacity and four entertainment decks. It will feature a "Louis Armstrong Gospel jazz brunch" on Sundays and a "Jazzin' on the River Down in New Orleans" series of late night and moonlight Mississippi River cruises with live music. The ship's Foundation Room on the third level with Satchmo memorabilia on display.

JAZZURBANE IN BOSTON: Last January, guitarist and educator Bill Banfield announced plans to open JazzUrbane Cafe in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. It will be located within the historic Bolling Building in Dudley Square. The 1880s building is home to two other restaurants and the Boston School Department headquarters. Banfield envisions the café offering food and live entertainment at night while being a space for arts organizations and community groups by day. Banfield, director of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music, said he is planning a summer 2020 opening.

IVY LEAGUE JAZZ: Jazz at Princeton University, helmed by saxophonist (and the university's jazz director) Rudresh Mahanthappa, presented its first jazz festival on April 13. Bassist Dave Holland headlined the day-long event, performing with Princeton's Small Group I at a ticketed indoor concert. Free outdoor acts earlier in the day featured the Donny McCaslin Quartet, Joel Frahm, Tia Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, the Charenee Wade Quartet, and Pedrito Martinez Group.

SAINT LUCIA JAZZ FESTIVAL: The 27th edition of this Caribbean island festival, held May 5-12, was produced in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, in a first-of-its-kind partnership. It was Jazz at Lincoln Center's first full-scale live production outside the United States. J@LC programmed a lineup that will featured Gregory Porter, Dianne Reeves, Catherine Russell, Somi, the Baylor Project, Veronica Swift and members of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, among others. Christian McBride, Ledisi, Etienne Charles, Russell Hall and Patrick Bartley Jr were artists-in-residence. The festival included master classes and live performances by Saint Lucia School of Music students and local jazz musicians.

CONCORD JAZZ FESTIVAL REDUX: After a 15-year hiatus, northern California's Concord Jazz Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary on August 3, at the Concord Pavilion. Featured artists included pianist Chick Corea's Spanish Heart Band, Dave Koz & Friends Summer Horns, Esperanza Spalding, the Count Basie Orchestra and the Poncho Sanchez Latin jazz Band. The festival was last held in 2004. Auto dealer Carl Jefferson created the festival in 1969, which led to his formation of the Concord Jazz label four years later."

On the record...

ECM TURNS 50: Manfred Eicher's Munich-based ECM jazz label (Editions of Contemporary Music) marked its 50th anniversary in November, but there were celebrations throughout the year. They included more than 20 concerts by label artists as part of the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, TN, an ECM focus at New York's Winter JazzFest, and multiple-night concerts at Jazz @ Lincoln Center in New York City and SFJAZZ in San Francisco. There were also label salutes at La Fenice in Venice and Oslo's Victoria Nasjonal Jazz Scene, among others. On November 24, 1969, Eicher went into the studio to record the label's first album, pianist Mal Waldron's Free At Last. More than 1,500 recordings have followed.

TRANE'S BLUE WORLD: In 1964, the National Film Board of Canada asked saxophonist John Coltrane to record the soundtrack for a French-language film "Le chat dans le sac" ("The Cat in the Bag"). No announcement was made that the iconic jazzman was adding new performances to this film. That June, Coltrane's Classic Quartet entered Rudy Van Gelder's studio and recorded five previously recorded originals. For many years, viewers of the film who recognized the music thought that they were listening to the band's original recordings. In fact, these were new versions that and had never been heard—until Blue World (Impulse!, 2019) was released on September 27.

BIRTH OF THE COOL TURNS 70: Blue Note marked the 70th anniversary of Miles Davis' influential Birth of the Cool recording in a big way. A June 7 re-release, The Complete Birth of the Cool (Blue Note/Ume, 2019), includes all 12 studio sides the nonet recorded in 1949 and 1950, as well as the ensemble's only live recordings, recorded at New York's Royal Roost. It was released in two-LP vinyl and digital formats.

JAZZ FEST BOX: In honor of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's 50th anniversary this year, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation compiled a five-disc box set of archival live recordings. It was released five days after the festival's 2019 edition. Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Smithsonian Folkways, 2019) includes performances by Trombone Shorty, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and many others.

SATCHMO GOES TO COLLEGE: Sixty-three years after trumpeter Louis Armstrong played a concert for 4,000 fans at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA, a California boutique record company released recording of the concert that neither the college nor the Louis Armstrong House Museum apparently knew existed. Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars Live in 1956 (ORG Music, 2019) was released on November 29 as part of the 12th annual Record Store Day. The concert marked Armstrong's second concert visit to Allentown, this time to benefit the city's revived Allentown Police Athletic League. Jazz broadcaster Paul Roark of KUZU-FM in Denton, TX found the reel-to-reel concert tape on eBay and bought it for $9.99. The seller told him that she found it at a flea market. It was listed only as "Louis Armstrong concert Pennsylvania." After figuring out its origins, Roark played the tape on his radio show, then started shopping it to record companies. ORG took it on.

UMG RESTRUCTURES JAZZ DIVISION: Verve Label Group president/CEO Danny Bennett stepped down in March as Universal Music Group restructured its classical and jazz operations. Dickon Stainer, president/CEO of Universal Classics and Jazz, assumed oversight of Verve, adding it to a label stable that includes Deutsche Grammophon and the Decca Label Group. The company called the change part of a "move to further internationalize Verve." Bennett, son of singer Tony Bennett, continues to operate RPM Productions, the management company he founded in 1979. He took the reins of Verve in 2016, following a four-year run by producer/pianist David Foster.

Love for—and questions about—Kenny Burrell

The jazz community stepped up quickly and mightily after guitarist Kenny Burrell's wife, Katherine Goodrich-Burrell, launched a GoFundMe page on May 9 chronicling a series of overwhelming financial misfortunes. She cited substantial ongoing medical expenses after a 2016 accident, identity theft and litigation involving their community's homeowners association in Los Angeles. "We are facing possible foreclosure and homelessness," she wrote. The influential guitarist and UCLA educator was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2005. The online campaign surpassed its $100,000 goal in less than 36 hours—and double that number within a week.

The donation pace fell off dramatically after the Washington Post published an extensive article on July 11. It questioned the truthfulness of many of the claims after interviewing relatives, fellow musicians, fellow UCLA faculty members, friends and neighbors. GoFundMe donations exceeded $242,000 at the time of the Post's article, but by year-end had only raised a total of $249,671. Burrell, 88, is a Distinguished Professor of Music and Global Jazz Studies at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, where he directed the Jazz Studies program for 20 years. After a 2016 fall, in which Burrell reportedly suffered a brain bleed, he went on medical leave before taking a 2019 paid sabbatical. The university said he remains a full-time faculty member with related compensation and health benefits, and is scheduled to return to UCLA in March 2020.

In the jazz classroom...

NICOLE MITCHELL TO PITT: Flutist Nicole Mitchell was appointed director of the University of Pitttsburgh's jazz studies program in January 2019. She succeeded the late pianist and educator Geri Allen at Pitt. Allen passed away in 2017. "I feel that Geri did a lot of amazing work here and she left her spirit here really strongly," Mitchell said. "And somehow I feel that her hand was in this. I know that sounds strange but that's the way it felt." Mitchell taught at the University of California-Irvine for the prior eight years, also serving as its Vice Chair for the Council on Climate, Culture and Inclusion.

MIAMI RESIDENCY: Five-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master Maria Schneider was appointed artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. The appointment includes one-week residencies each semester. She said she seeks to inspire young writers and players "to think boldly, to search for the most expressive and create possibilities they can find, and to use this tremendous opportunity to discover potential and gather skills that they can build on for a lifetime."

FROST-JAZZ ASPEN SNOWMASS COLLABORATE: The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and Jazz Aspen Snowmass teamed up to expand the all-scholarship JAS Academy in Aspen, CO. Through this collaboration, underwritten by philanthropists Ed and Sasha Bass, the summer program for promising student musicians was expanded from one two weeks. The JAS Academy is led by two bassists: artistic director Christian McBride and newly appointed program director Chuck Bergeron.

GIVING BACK ORGANICALLY: Bassist Ben Williams honored his alma mater, Washington, DC's Duke Ellington School of the Arts, in a mighty unusual way. He donated a bass guitar crafted from 120-year-old heart pine that had been one of the school building's beams. He partnered with StoryWood Music, a North Carolina-based luthier, to salvage wood from the school in the midst of a three-year, $175 million renovation that was completed in 2017. The guitar was donated on June 12. "It has always been my belief that instruments, especially those made from organic materials, absorb the energy of their surroundings. I can only imagine the energy this bass already possesses," Williams said. "I have so much love for my alma mater ... and I can't think of a cooler way to give back than this beautiful instrument built from the very walls in which I honed my craft."

Jazz on film...

DAVIS DOCUMENTARY: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool a documentary about the trumpeter and bandleader, made its world premiere at January 2019's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. "Miles Davis is an undisputed musical legend, but what I hoped to discover was the man behind the myth," director Stanley Nelson said. "By unpacking his upbringing, his methodology, his relationships, and his demons, we begin to understand the man who would redefine the original American musical genre, jazz, and has influenced generations of musicians in rock, funk, and hip-hop."

THE GREEN BOOK: This sleeper won three Oscars, including Best Picture, for exploring the life and times of pianist Don Shirley. It followed a 1960s concert tour that the eccentric Jamacian-American made through the Midwest and South, chauffeured by Italian-American bouncer Tony Vallelonga. The "Green Book" refers to "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a black motorists' guide to motels, restaurants and other establishments that would serve them. Pianist Kris Bowers composed the "Green Book" score, played the parts, and taught actor Mahershala Ali the basics of keyboard technique he needed to portray Shirley.

BOLDEN: This Dan Pritzker film, with music by Wynton Marsalis, reimagined the mysterious life, music and passions of cornet player Buddy Bolden at turn of the 20th Century New Orleans. Boldenwas released May 3. Marsalis said mythologies aside, Bolden was a rock star of his time. A lot about Bolden's life is unknown. The horn player, considered the first king of New Orleans jazz, was committed to a mental asylum in 1907, where he died 24 years later. No recordings of him exist.

KAMASI TIME: Tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington's short film, As Told to G/D Thyself, premiered in January 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. It was inspired by his most recent album Heaven and Earth (Young Turks, 2018). The film was directed by a collective called the Ummah Chroma, including Washington, cinematographer Bradford Young, writer and director Terence Nance, filmmaker Jenn Nkiru, and director Marc Thomas.

BILLIE HOLIDAY'S WOES: Filming began in Montreal in October on Lee Daniels' biopic The United States Vs. Billie Holiday. Actress-singer Andra Day is cast as Holiday. The film focuses on the events surrounding Lady Day's narcotics arrest at her New York City home in 1947, and the legal woes and drug addiction leading to her death in 1959 at age 44. Co-star Garrett Hedlund plays the first U.S Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics head Harry J. Anslinger in the film.

In the jazz archives...

CHICO O'FARRILL: Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies acquired Cuban jazz great Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill's music and personal archives. The collection includes O'Farrill's "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite" and other compositions essential to the history of both Latin music and jazz. "Chico would've been honored to know that his work is now available to scholars and students of jazz history," Chico's son, pianist Arturo O'Farrill, said in an announcement from the Institute. The O'Farrill acquisition is the first major Latin jazz collection to become part of the 60-year-old institute's archives. It includes original music manuscripts, photographs and sound recordings.The trumpeter, composer and arranger, born to an Irish father and German mother in Cuba, died in New York City in 2001 at age 79.

DAN MORGANSTERN HONORED: The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, named historian, writer, and educator Dan Morgenstern as its "executive director emeritus" to honor his 90th birthday on October 24. It also created the Dan Morgenstern Institute of Jazz Studies Distinguished Fellowships in his honor. In addition to directing the Institute for 36 years until his retirement in 2012, he was a prolific author, jazz reviewer, educator and was editor of three different jazz magazines during his career.

The one-year Morganstern fellowships were awarded to vibraphonist Stefon Harris, author and jazz broadcaster Sheila Anderson and saxophonist, educator and jazz historian Loren Schoenberg. Harris will lecture and teach a master jazz class. Anderson will moderate panel discussions, give a seminar, and produce her podcast. Schoenberg will write and help plan a spring 2020 symposium on Morgenstern's life and legacy.

Historic preservation ups and downs...

JOHN COLTRANE'S CHILDHOOD HOME: In August, a marker was unveiled at the High Point, NC house where saxophonist John Coltrane lived from infancy until he graduated from high school in 1943. Its recognition as a historic landmark earmarks the Underhill Street structure for future preservation, possibly as a Coltrane museum.

RANDY WESTON AND BETTY CARTER: A city block in Brooklyn, NY was co-named on September 29 for pianist and NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston, who died in 2018. The block near Lafayette and Grand avenues is now known as Randy Weston Way. He lived on Lafayette Avenue when he was growing up. A week earlier, Brooklyn officials gathered to open Betty Carter Park in honor of the jazz singer. The small green space that used to be known as BAM Park near the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Carter was once a resident of the neighborhood.

CAB CALLOWAY'S ROOTS: Bandleader and singer Cab Calloway's former teenage home on Druid Hill Avenue in Baltimore and adjacent long-vacant buildings were earmarked for demolition under a plan announced by the city. Razing the stretch of dilapidated rowhomes will create space for Druid Heights Cab Calloway Park, which supporters say will revitalize the neighborhood and honor Calloway's legacy.

BUDDY BOLDEN'S HOUSE: New Orleans-born musician PJ Morton formed a non-profit corporation called the Buddy's House Foundation, hoping to restore the endangered double shotgun house where trumpeter Buddy Bolden lived. The Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church acquired the property after Hurricane Katrina but had no idea at the time that Bolden had lived there. Morton said the church agreed to turn the house overs to the Buddy's House Foundation in perpetuity. His parents are senior pastors of the church. After stabilizing the structure, he said he plans to restore the property to its original 19th-century state and open it to the public as a small museum to Bolden's legacy. Morton said he plans to convert the neighboring house into a small recording studio and workshop where aspiring musicians can learn the business of music-making from visiting professionals.

NINA SIMONE: The National Trust for Historic Preservation designated singer-pianist Nina Simone's childhood home in Tryon, NC a "national treasure" and in July asked the public to contribute to efforts to save the place where she started teaching herself to play piano at age three. The Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund seeks to preserve sites with important connections to African American history. In this case, it wants to develop a preservation plan, perform urgent stabilization work on the exterior of the dilapidated house and "identify future uses and protection" for the site.

SOUTH RAMPART STREET: GBX Group, a Cleveland-based real estate firm that specializes in historic preservation, stepped in to save a big chunk of the 400 block of South Rampart Street in New Orleans. It includes a grouping of key sites in the birth of jazz. They include the Eagle Saloon, where Buddy Bolden played, the Iroquois Theater where Louis Armstrong won a talent show and Jelly Roll Morton and Bessie Smith performed, and the Karnofsky Building, where young Armstrong worked and was encouraged to pursue his love of music. GBX CEO Drew Sparacia. said the Iroquois Theater and the Karnofsky store will be fully restored. His hope is that they will be repurposed in a way that reflects their history, perhaps as nightclubs or lounges that feature jazz, along the lines of the nearby Little Gem Theater. "The use is going to incorporate the history of jazz," he said. "We want the whole block to celebrate that history."

HONORING RICHARD DAVIS: A new street on Madison, WI's east side was unveiled on July 20 and named after bassist Richard Davis, a retired music professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was lauded for his successful career and his work toward ending racism in the community. A plaque on Richard Davis Lane will give the public more information about his life, career and contributions to the community.

HONORING A TRUMPET GREAT: The city of Detroit renamed Randolph Street at Madison on August 29 as Marcus Belgrave Drive in honor of the trumpeter whose work ranged from Motown sessions to a wide array of jazz greats. His street naming has good company: it's a stone's throw from Aretha Franklin Way and around the corner from from a new Stevie Wonder mural gracing Music Hall in the Motor City's theater district. Belgrave died in 2015.

BLUE BIRD INN: Efforts are underway to preserve the former Blue Bird Inn, a popular jazz bar on Detroit's West Side, which has stood empty for more than a decade since its owner's death. The nonprofit Detroit Sound Conservancy wants to transform the building as its new home, as well as a depository for its archives of Detroit music history, and a live music venue. In late spring, more than a dozen volunteers met at the Blue Bird to get the project going by shoveling debris, pulling weeds and cutting the overgrown backyard. The Detroit Sound Conservancy salvaged and restored the stage from the Blue Bird several years ago.

Crime log...

LAWRENCE LEATHERS DEATH: Grammy-winning drummer Lawrence Leathers was found dead in a stairwell outside his Bronx, NY apartment on June 2. His girlfriend, Lisa Harris, 41, and mutual friend Sterling Aguilar, 29, were arrested the next day and indicted on manslaughter charges a month later. Authorities said Aguilar grabbed Leathers in a chokehold for about 30 minutes after the musician and Harris argued inside their apartment, and Harris sat on Leathers' chest and repeatedly punched him. Harris later dumped Leathers' body in the stairwell of their apartment building and never called authorities, the criminal complaint said. Leathers was the drummer in singer Cecile McLorin Salvant's band, the Aaron Diehl trio. He also presided over late-night jams at Small's Jazz Club and Dizzy's Club Coca Cola.

GLEN DAVID ANDREWS: New Orleans trombonist and singer Glen David Andrews posted a $32,500 bond after his July 4 arrest on charges of armed robbery and second-offense domestic abuse. His lawyer said the accusations of armed robbery, stemming from a November 2018 incident, stem from a dispute between Andrews and an ex-manager. The domestic abuse case involved a May 22 incident. While Andrews was visiting his child, police claim, he got into an argument with the child's mother. Andrews was accused of slapping the woman and spitting in her face.

BUSKING ARREST: A well-known local trumpet player was arrested July 8, following a call from a New Orleans bookstore owner who said a brass band was blocking the entrance to his store. A furor erupted because of a live-streamed Facebook video. It showed Eugene Grant, known locally as "Little Eugene," pinned to the ground by a Taser-wielding police officer. The 27-year-old black musician, who is autistic and has developmental delays, was arrested for obstructing a public passage and resisting an officer. He had been performing with the Young Fellaz Brass Band. The charges against Grant were dropped the next day. The incident happened on Frenchmen Street, a bustling corridor of jazz clubs and live music venues where sidewalk concerts by brass bands draw enthusiastic crowds.

Jazz and art...

THREE-STORY SATCHMO: Renowned Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra painted a 45-foot-tall close-up painting of wide-eyed trumpeter Louis Armstrong on the back wall of a century-old building at 300 S. Rampart St. It is located in a stretch of the New Orleans known for jazz-era nightclubs and the tailor shop owned by the young Armstrong's employers, the Karnofsky family. The building is being converted into a boutique hotel that will be called The Rampart. The hotel developers, the Kupperman Company, said they wanted an artist "who would make a bang, a splash." Kobra and two assistants spent a week in the Crescent City, from July 25 to August 2, creating the painting.

THE JAZZ MAILMAN: A new mural in Washington, DC honors late tenor saxophonist Buck Hill. The 70-foot, nine-story-tall, mural at 14th and U Streets NW captures the essence of a man in a U.S. Postal Service uniform leaning against a brick wall. He's playing a tenor saxophone, with his mailbag resting at his feet. It was dedicated on August 27. Hill, a lifelong Washingtonian died in 2017 at age 90. He began performing in local jazz clubs in the 1940s and recorded with jazz greats but passed up offers to perform in other cities and countries in favor of staying close to home. Hill also spent more than 40 years as a mail carrier with the postal service. Tucson, AZ-based artist Joe Pagac worked with local historians and the city to come up with the design.

GRAPHIC JAZZ: The nonprofit Philadelphia Jazz Project in late November began a new tactic to win over new ears to jazz. It published a graphic novel. Philadelphia Jazz Stories Illustrated: Volume One is a colorful book based on interviews and personal essays about the city's jazz scene. It vividly relates the emotional impact of the music and what it felt like to be in the room when the masters played long lost Philly clubs including Pep's on South Broad and The Earle at 11th and Market. Jazz Project founder and director Homer Jackson said the graphics underscore that no simple words can describe how a listener felt at a live performance. Many of the book's central subjects—Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Rufus Harley, Byard Lancaster and McCoy Tyner—are featured with swirling collages of colors and instruments.

Miscellaneous...

BLANCHARD GOES OPERA: Trumpeter Terence Blanchard's new jazz-related opera, "Fire Shut Up In My Bones," made its world premiere in mid-June at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The work is based on New York Times' Opinion columnist Charles Blow's memoir of the same name. New York's Metropolitan Opera announced in September that it will be the first opera by an African-American composer to be staged at the Met, possibly as soon as the 2021-22 season.

BROTHER THELONIOUS: North Coast Brewing Company's Brother Thelonious Belgian-style abbey ale returned to the market in February after halting production in 2018 while a lawsuit played out. Thelonious Monk's estate, through his son, drummer T.S. Monk, accused the Northern California beer company of unfairly profiting from his father's image. North Coast was donating profits from sales of the beer to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, but the estate took issue with the company selling collateral merchandise featuring Monk's likeness on T-shirts, sweatshirts, and mouse pads. Under the settlement, North Coast agreed to donate a portion of the sale of every bottle and keg of the "bottled bebop" ale to the jazz education programs of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Monk's name and likeness remain on the redesigned labels, which describe the beverage as "bottled bebop." The new licensing agreement also allows for the sale of merchandise featuring the ale's label.

WINE AND JAZZ: German trumpeter Nils Wülker signed on in September as the first partner for L'Édition Musique, a new sparkling wine issue for which he will write a specific piece that will be attached to each bottle on a USB stick. Under the new concept "L'Édition Culturelle de Geldermann," the winery in Breisach am Rhein, Germany has committed to using it's a special vintage of its sparkling wine to highlight various facets of culture in the next few years. Jazz was the first stage.

QWEST TV TURNS TWO: Two years ago, producer Quincy Jones and French jazz impresario/TV producer Reza Ackbaraly launched Qwest TV, the world's first subscription video-on-demand platform dedicated to jazz and related music forms. On December 17, celebrating the platform's second anniversary, they announced a distribution deal with Amazon Fire TV, an expansion into Japan, and a new education partnership program. Qwest TV Japan will feature 200 additional programs curated specifically for the local market by the SONG X JAZZ label's Makoto Miyanogawa, plus playlists created by Japan's major jazz clubs (including Blue Note Tokyo, Cotton Club, and Motion Blue) to reflect their performance schedules. The education partnership gives students enrolled in select universities and conservatories worldwide free access to Qwest TV for free. The initial partners include Princeton University, the University of the Arts, University of Central Oklahoma, Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, and University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.

CAVE DIVING TRAGEDY: Munich-based jazz singer Marina Trost disappeared in a cave-diving accident in the South Pacific when she was exploring a cave on the tip of a small island in Tonga on August 11. The singer was traveling with film-maker Sebastian Jobst and a crew to make a film called Ama'ara, the Song of the Whales, in which her singing was to be combined with that of humpback whales. Trost, 40, had been exploring a cave called the Cathedral on the northern tip of 'Eua. She had dived from a whale-watching boat with another woman and a dive-guide, who returned to report that Trost had left them and ascended some time earlier. She never surfaced. Her weight belt and a fin were found on the floor of the cave.

POP(S) GOES THE TRUMPETER: The Philly Pops Orchestra has appointed trumpeter Terell Stafford as artistic director for jazz. In this new role, he will expand the orchestra's "Pops in Schools" program to bring credentialed jazz musicians to schools throughout the Philadelphia school district and create programs to bring student performers into the concert hall. In addition to directing the Philly Pops Jazz Orchestra, he is Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University.

SINATRA'S CAR: A 1985 Chrysler Le Baron Town & Country Turbo "Woody," the last car owned by singer Frank Sinatra, was sold in an online auction for more than $6,500 in early February. H&H Classics, an auction house dedicated to the sale of vehicles for collectors, said Sinatra often chauffeured around Los Angeles in the vehicle during the final decade of his life, and that it was one of his favorites. The car came with the certificate of title, featuring Sinatra's name, signature and his address in Rancho Mirage, CA.

JAZZ AS MARKETING TOOL: The NBA's Utah Jazz kicked off 7-foot-1-inch center Rudy Gobert's successful 2019 Defensive Player of the Year campaign with the April 5 release of Gobert/Encore 2019. The decorative vinyl record-themed package was reminiscent of John Coltrane's eponymous Prestige 7105 album. There was no music on this record, which was used to underscore the French basketball player's defensive prowess. Gobert was voted Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.

2019 Final Bars

The jazz world lost many musicians and industry-related people during 2019, including one of its NEA Jazz Masters: writer, editor, historian, producer and educator Ira Gitler.

Here's a comprehensive compilation.

Accordionists Marcel Azzola, Mihály Tabányi; accordionist, pianist and saxophonist Al Warner.

Bandleader, composer, arranger and pianist Ib Glindemann; bandleader, trombonist and educator Jean-Marc Lemaire.

Banjo players Gavin Belton, Bobby Day; banjo player, guitarist and singer Bud Black; banjo player and bandleader (Jelly Roll Jazz Band) Ted Shafer.

Bassists Jeff Andrews, Skip Beckwith, Frank de la Rosa, Bira do Jô (Ubirajara Penacho dos Reis), Bill Folwell, Michel Gaudry, Fred Hunter, Donald Jackson, Doug Lubahn, Clifford Murphy, Billy Pillucere, Eddie Piper, Frank Pullara, Tetsu Saitō, Frank Savarese, William Slapin, Bruce Yaw; bassist and educator Lisle Atkinson; bassist, guitarist, tuba player and broadcaster Harry Harman; bassist and producer Ruud Jacobs; bassists and singers Bob Damon, Wilen Tokarew; bassist, arts administrator and jazz programmer (Smithsonian, Louis Armstrong House) Julian Euell; bassist, promoter, Polish Jazz Federation president, club co-operator (Krakow's Helikon Club) and publicist Jan Byrczek; bassist and photographer Ellen Powell.

Bassoonist, bassist and educator James L. Mason.

Cellist, conductor and educator Peter Brown.

Clarinetists Jim Beatty, Frank Casty, Tom Duncan, Jerry Fuller, Tony Palumbo, Roy Pellett, Jerry Senfluk, Sol Yaged; clarinetist, composer, musicologist and educator Gino Stefani; clarinetist and record executive (Capitol, Decca) Tippy Morgan; clarinetist, instrument maker and writer Gustav Arne Kramer.

Composers Jonathan Goldstein, Jerry Herman, Gershon Kingsley; composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator and pianist Stanley Applebaum; composer and percussionist Michael Colgrass; composer and orchestrator Sid Ramin.

Cornetist Allan Kennedy Colter; cornetist and bandleader Jim Cullum Jr.; cornetist, educator and French Quarter Festival co-founder Connie Jones; cornetist and Uptown Lowdown trad jazz band founder Bert Barr.

Dancer Norma Miller (a lindy hopper).

Drummers Jose Anahory, Ginger Baker, Hal Blaine, Jerry Carrigan, Chris Criscitiello, Bob Dekker, Atilla Engin, Alvin Fielder, Walther Großrubatscher, Lawrence Leathers, Zezé Ngambi, Sergei Ostroumov, Cleve Pozar, Robbie Scott, Horst Seidelmann, "Farmer Bill" Thayer, Paolo Vinaccia; drummer and percussionist Ramon Banda, Raul Padro; drummer, composer, record label founder (Dreambox Media), jazz advocate and writer Jim Miller; drummer, saxophonist and educator Chris Johnson; drummer, photographer and jazz producer (Halifax, Canada, Jazz Festival) Artie Irwin; drummer and photographer Tito Villalba; drummer, big band leader, filmmaker, photographer, producer and jazz club co-owner (Munich, Germany's Spectacle) Peter Wortmann; drummer, club founder (London's East Side Jazz Club) and educator Clive Fenner; drummer, talent agent, artist manager, producer and club owner (Los Angeles' Strip City, Jazz City, The Crescendo and Avant-Garde) Maynard Sloate; drummers and educators Fred Buda, Kenny Reed, Dave Wickins.

Educator Tom Beckwith; educator, composer and arranger Allan M. Wright.

French hornist Brooks Tillotson.

Guitarists John Anthony, Vinnie Bell, Paul Carey, Ed Bickert, Harold Bradley, Todd Duke, Eddie Duran, Boon Gould, George Hanepen, Jiří Jirmal, Vic Juris, Johnny Lambizzi, Oliver Mtukudzi, Christoph Oeding, Reggie Young; guitarist and bandleader Mose Se Sengo (aka Mose Fan Fan); guitarist and composer Martin Böttcher; guitarist and pianist Justin Haynes; guitarist and saxophonist Ralf Benesch; guitarist, singer, songwriter and bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto; guitarist and singer Jean van den Berg; guitarist and educator Peter Prisco; guitarist and producer Bob Aves; guitarist and writer Davey Williams; guitarist, producer and photographer Romek Hanzlik; guitarist and sound engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Harmonica player and magician Johnny Thompson.

Jazz poet and writer Jules Deelder.

Keyboard players Edwin Birdsong, Ingo Bischof; keyboard player and singer Art Neville.

Kora player Solo Cissokho.

Lyricist, playwright and educator Herbert Martin. Multi-instrumentalist Mike Cohen; multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Clive Stevens (aka Mystery Man).

Musicologist, composer and educator J.H. Kwabena Nketia; musicologist and harpist Vivian Perlis.

Percussionists Arnold Goldberg, Jack Jennings, Eryk Kulm; percussionist, pianist, composer and arranger Dave Carey; percussionist, bandleader and producer Djaduk Ferianto (Indonesia's Ngayog Jazz Festival); percussionist and producer Hossam Ramzy.

Pianists Claes Andersson, Randy Cannon, Barbara Sutton Curtis, Maurice Drouin, Eddy Frankie, Einar Iversen, Greg Kogan, Gianni Lenoci, Mike Markaverich, Tony Monserrat, Christoph Mudrich, Zeke Mu;;ins, Jack Phelan, Harly Rajaobelina, Paul Reid, Lee Russo, Janusz Skowron, Richard Wyands; pianist, composer and conductor Andre Previn; pianists and composers Bob Kaye, Michel Legrand, Armen Merabov, Ellis Pough, Bob Szajner, Alona Turel, Daniel Wayenberg, Larry Willis; pianists and arrangers Jacques Loussier, Phil Mattson; pianist, singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Dr. John (Mac Rebennack); pianist, singer and saxophonist Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum; pianist and bandleader John Hughes; pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, musicologist and writer James Dapogny; pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Les Reed; pianists, composers, arrangers and musical directors Tex Arnold, Milcho Leviev, John Oddo; pianist, composer and writer Andre Asriel; pianist and flutist Joël Vandroogenbroeck; pianist, saxophonist, bandleader and educator Bob Macar; pianist, saxophonist, composer and musical director Geoff Harvey; pianist, trombonist, big band leader, composer and arranger Vic Vogel; pianist, composer and actor Grenoldo Frazier; pianist, trumpeter, musical director and educator Darius Smith; pianist and artist Cal Massey; pianists and singers Ruby Bishop, Frantz "Fanfan" Courtois, Sunny Raye; pianists, composers and educators Harold Mabern, Stepan Shaqaryan; pianist, singer and educator Debra Mann; pianists and educators Bobby Cardillo, Frank Caruso, Marjorie Crenshaw, Paul Faure, Gary Williamson; pianist, concert producer, historian and writer John Worsley; pianist and broadcaster Willi Bischof.

Saxophonists Spot Barnett, Carlos Barruso, Jimmy Cavallo, Issa Cissokho, Jim Coile, Brooks Coleman, Molly Duncan, Kadri Golpanath, Steve Hooks, Gene Jefferson, Jerry Jumonville, Gary Klein, Rod Kokolj, Ray Kopczyk, Connie Lester, Arno Marsh, Turk Mauro, Joe McQueen, Mike Migliore, Fritz Novotny, Max Pierre, Joe Rigby, Brian Sjoerdinga, Kenny Soderblom, Sy Suchman, Ray Swinfield, Buddy Terry, Eric Traub, Bob Wilber, Ralph Wilcox, Roy Willox; saxophonist, percussionist and AACM founding member Joseph Jarman; saxophonist, percussionist, singer and educator George Delgrosso; saxophonist, pianist and composer Andy Scherrer; saxophonist and trumpeter Chuck Kercher; saxophonists composers and arrangers Roland Keijser, Duncan Lamont; saxophonist, bandleader and educator Roger Hewitt; saxophonist, composer, educator and Boston's John Coltrane Memorial Concert co-founder Leonard Brown; saxophonist, arranger and educator Ray Santos; saxophonists and educators George Benson, Bob Dranasite, Fred Foss, Mickey Golomb, Karlheinz Miklin, Chris Vadala, Irv Williams; saxophonist and painter Robert Ryman; saxophonists and writers Don Albert, Julius Heikkilä.

Singers Ed Battle, José Mário Branco, Annie Brazil, Beth Carvalho, Baby Jane Dexter, Leigh "Little Queenie" Harris, Nancy Holloway, Joe Longthorne, Jacqui Magno, Toni Manieson, Dorothy Masuka, Celia Mur, Carlos Fernando Nogueira, Astrid North, Janet Pagliuca, Shunna Pillay, Reinaldo (Reinaldo Gonçalves Zacarias), Maria Rivas, Mansur Scott, Marina Trost, Mayra Caridad Valdés, Wanda Warska, Saalik Ziyad; singer, songwriter, alto saxophonist, keyboardist and music director Katreese Barnes; singer, bandleader, producer and record executive (EMI, World Records) Chris Ellis; singer and bass guitarist Delores Robinson; singer, songwriter and guitarist Leon Redbone; singer, guitarist and writer Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi; singer and saxophonist Harry Woodward; singer and trumpeter John Amoroso; singers and actors Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Doris Day; singer and jazz club owner (Ethel's Place in Baltimore) Ethel Ennis; singer and educator Faith Winthrop; singer and broadcaster Elton Medeiros.

Songwriter, artist and art director Allee Willis.

Trombonists Roy Brewer Jr., Ken Hunsley, Christian Kellens, Joe Lentino, Garrett List, Paul Munnery, Leopoldo Pineda, Danny Repole, John Sanders, Jack Schnupp, Daldumar Roberto Vieira (Mazinho do Trombone); trombonist and bassist Bill Evans; trombonist, vibraphonist, composer, arranger, bandleader and educator George Masso; trombonist and violinist Lewis Kahn; trombonists, arrangers and educators Reppard Stone, Jim Wyckoff; trombonist, broadcaster and writer Erling Wicklund.

Trumpeters Danny Barber, Julio Barbosa, James Benford, Ado Broodboom, Clora Bryant, Clifford Buggs, Mike Canonico, Brian Clarke, Sal Furman, Ike Iacometta, Herbert Joos, German Lukianov, Tom Pletcher, Murray Rothstein, Tony Speranza, Pete Wood; trumpeter, producer, composer and arranger Dave Bartholomew; trumpeter, singer and actor Jack Sheldon; trumpeter, bandleader, composer and arranger Paul Lopez; trumpeter and bandleader Bert Barr; trumpeter, composer and vibraphonist Geoff Nichols; trumpeters, composers and educators Gary Barone, Dexter Morrill; trumpeter and composer Urban Koder; trumpeter, recording engineer and educator Joe Hostetter; trumpeter, educator and writer Willie Thomas; trumpeters and educators Larry Harrison, Steve Madaio, Sy Platt, Marcos Antonio Urbay.

Tuba player Bill Taggart; tuba player and singer Earl Mckee; tuba player and educator Sam Pilafian.

Vibraphonists Dave Samuels, Joe Venuto; vibraphonist and percussionist Emil Richards.

Violinist Julai Tan; violinist and composer Ramsey Ameen.

Jazz club co-owner (New York's Sweet Basil and Lush Life), label owner (44 Records), producer, promoter and painter Horst Liepolt; jazz club owner (New Orleans' Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro) and Storyville Stompers brass band grand marshal Wesley Schmidt; jazz club owner (Braunschweig, Germany's Jazz-Kneipe Baßgeige) Norbert "Bolle" Bolz; jazz club founder and director (Paris's New Morning) Eglal Farhi; jazz club co-owner (Paul's Mall and The Jazz Workshop in Boston), artistic director (Tanglewood Jazz Festival and Scullers Jazz Club), concert producer and promoter Fred Taylor; producer, broadcaster and writer Kiyoshi Koyama; producer and photographer Ralph Jungheim; concert producer, John W. Coltrane Society co-founder and "Cousin Mary" inspiration Mary Lyerly Alexander; Brownsville TX Latin Jazz Festival founder, performing arts champion and broadcaster George Ramirez; promoters Nathaniel Holmes Morrison III, Roy Brewer Jr., Wolfgang Orth, Anders Stefanson; vintage film preservationist Ron Hutchinson.

Record company founder and producer (DRG) and writer Hugh Fordin; record producer, label founder (SRI), promoter, writer, personal manager and guitarist Shelly Liebowitz; record label owner (Criss Cross Jazz) and drummer Gerry Teekens; record label head (Warner Bros, Elektra, Capitol) and writer Joe Smith; record producer, promoter and historian Jacques Morgantini; record producer (Tempo) and writer Tony Hall; recording executive (Capitol Records in Brazil and Warner Latin America) and producer André Midani; recording engineer, label co-founder (Telarc), trumpeter and educator Jack Renner; record executive (Warner Bros.), artistmanager and bassist Gary LeMel; publicist and record executive (Concord, Monarch Records), concert producer and artist manager Merrilee Trost; San Francisco Bay-area record store owner (Berigan's Records and Vagabond Jazz LPs) Berigan Taylor; artist manager, producer and educator Mary Ann Topper; artist manager and producer Lupe De Leon; concert producer Al Quiñones; producer and discographer Manfred Scheffner; artistic director (Halkidiki, Greece's Sani Festival) Olga Tabouris-Babalis.

Album cover designer, illustrator and photographer Roslaw Szaybo.

Broadcasters John Bohannon, Chuck Cecil, Mike Dawson, Jeff Duperon, Harold Ehlers, Bob Houlihan, Bo Leibowitz, Mesh Mapetla, Yves Prefontaine, Gary Shivers, Bob Slade, Tony Soley, Radames "Mike" Villafañe; broadcaster and Word Jazz originator Ken Nordine; broadcaster, jazz archivist, record collector and dealer (G's Jazz) Gary Alderman; broadcaster, congressman and jazz advocate John Conyers.

Music licensing executive (SESAC) Stephen Swid.

Photographers Lenny Bernstein, Robert Freeman, David Sinclair, Guy Webster.

Writers Chris Albertson, Ray Comiskey, Barbara Gardner, Reiner Kobe, Rainer Köhl, Scott Timberg, Nick Tosches; writer, editor, historian, producer, educator and NEA Jazz Master Ira Gitler; writer, editor and publisher (New York Latino) Alfredo Alvarado; writer, broadcaster and producer André Francis; writer and broadcaster Larry Englund; writer and lyricist Jane Lankes Vollmer; writer and jazz poet Steve Dalachinsky; writer, broadcaster, promoter and producer Nonito Pereira Revuelta; writer and photographer Paul Howard Nelson.

Blues, gospel and R&B artists, and industry figures Earl Bernhardt, Spencer Bohren, Earl "Good Rockin'" Brown, Kofi Burbridge, George "Pops" Chambers, Tony Glover, Henry "Blues Boy" Hubbard, James Ingram, Lisa Kindred, Clydie King, Sleepy LaBeef, Jerry Lawson, Mike Ledbetter, Clancy "Blues Boy" Lewis, Cash McCall, Quintus McCormick, Clay McMurray, Willie Murphy, Ronnie Peterson, Julian Piper, Gary Sappier, Jackie Shane, Bill Sims, Paul "Lil Buck" Sinegal, Eddie Taylor Jr., Beverly Watkins, Marva Whitney, Andre Williams.

This Final Bars list was compiled from many sources including local newspapers, the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt newsletter, AllAboutJazz.com, Wikipedia, the New York Times, Legacy.com, Rolling Stone, Variety, JazzTimes.com, blogs, listserves, Facebook pages, Twitter and European publications.

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