Articles by Dan Morgenstern
Inside the 5th NEA Jazz Masters Awards
by Dan Morgenstern
The 32nd class of National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters was formally inducted on January 14, 2013. Numbering just four, this was the smallest class since the threesome of 2003. The following year, new NEA Chairman Dana Gioia upped the ante to six and added the new category of the A. B. Spellman Jazz Advocacy Award, which writer Nat Hentoff was the first to receive. For each of the next three years there were seven, for 2008 ...
Continue ReadingEvery Now and Den
by Dan Morgenstern
It's been so long since the last Den that it should perhaps be renamed, “Every Now and Den." But here I am with some of the events that stand out from the past five months or so, not necessarily in chronological order.I've never missed the annual Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans, and the August 12 edition was, as always, a delightful experience, climate down yonder notwithstanding. Among the excellent seminar participants from up North were David Ostwald, who ...
Continue ReadingGoodbye Phoebe and Hello Timme
by Dan Morgenstern
Phoebe Jacobs, who left us on April 9, 2012 just a couple of months shy of 94, was a most remarkable lady who did so much for the music and its makers, as so well-documented in last month's Big Band in the Sky.I first encountered Phoebe when she was handling press and taking care of the musicians at Basin Street East. Our shared love for Louis Armstrong made us friends, as we remained for more than 50 years. ...
Continue ReadingA Swell Farewell... and Onward
by Dan Morgenstern
On April 13, Rutgers University-Newark threw a swell party for me on the occasion of my retirement as director of the Institute of Jazz Studies. I won't go into the social and musical details here, but do want to thank all my friends who showed up, and the many others who sent regrets--notably Sonny Rollins, whose gratifying message was read by Dr. Clem Price, director of the Rutgers Institute of Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience.Clem did such ...
Continue ReadingDiscovering Discover and Doing a Double-Header
by Dan Morgenstern
It took me only 27 years to discover the annual Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington, VT, but now, having attended part of the 28th, I must say it was about time! Burlington, where Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream was whipped up, is a charming college town. For 10 days in June, the festival dominates the community, featuring concerts by major artists and loads of free music performed outdoors at stages in the heart of town.The main drag is ...
Continue ReadingSonny Brings the Presents to His Own 80th Birthday
by Dan Morgenstern
Sonny Rollins threw himself an 80th birthday party at New York's restored Beacon Theater on September 10---he was born on the 7th---and it was he who brought the gifts. And what a cornucopia! This was one of those rare times when you know that you're in the best of all possible places in the world. In inspired form, from first note to last, he never left the stage and, as is his wont, took no intermission. The silver--maned and bearded ...
Continue ReadingA Hot Night in the Old Town
by Dan Morgenstern
What might well be the most spartan jazz club anywhere (if you didn't know it was there, you'd walk right past it) is The Stone, way down at Avenue C and East 2nd Street in Manhattan. Founded by John Zorn, the avant-garde composer, arranger and record producer, as a venue for intrepid music, it's a new kind of jazz club where no refreshments or merchandise is sold, only music, and all nightly revenues go to the musicians. The door charge ...
Continue ReadingBig Awards Day in Gotham
by Dan Morgenstern
It's been a while since we last met in my Den, so I thought I'd share a very special summer doubleheader with you.June 16 was a big jazz day in New York. It began in mid-afternoon at the Jazz Standard, with the 13th Annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards. Arriving not long after starting time, I found the joint already jumping with jazz scribes, nominees and acolytes, most of them on line for the club's very good food, ...
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