Award / Grant News

The Winner of the #SXSW Music Accelerator Is...

Source: HypeBot
March 18, 2011

The Grand Prize winner of the SXSW Music Accelerator is Roqbot. It is a new company and mobile app that enables you to vote for which songs should be playing in bars, restaurants, and cafes, making you the DJ. The runners-up were RootMusic and Next Big Sound, two companies that should be familiar to the Hypebot readers. The second award, for Best Bootstrapped Company, went to Air Guitar, which is an interactive game that enables you to partake in a ...

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Jazz Singer Billie Holiday Being Inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
March 10, 2011

Billie Holiday, famed American jazz vocalist, is one of eleven women being inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame later this year, on September 30-October 1, 2011 in Seneca Falls, NY, the birthplace of the American Women's Rights Movement. Holiday (1915-1959) was considered one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time, noted the press announcement, writing: “Billie Holiday forever changed the genres of jazz and pop with her unique style. Holiday began her career as a singer in ...

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Dr. John, Tom Waits Among Rock Hall of Fame Inductees

Source: Groove Notes
March 6, 2011

There are a handful of jazz musicians who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. These musicians include Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, Nat “King" Cole, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jelly Roll Morton, Les Paul, and Dinah Washington. Crossover artists Dr. John and Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next Monday, March 14th. Bios from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website read: New Orleans' own Dr. John has ...

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SundayWax Bits

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 6, 2011

Well, it doesn't get much better than this—being awarded the National Medal of Arts by the President of the United States on March 2. Of course, being named a Kennedy Center Honoree this year would certainly be icing on the cake for Sonny Rollins. The tenor saxophonist was awarded the prestigious medal along with Quincy Jones at the White House. Sonny, 80, is one of the last performing links to the start of post-war jazz and a musician who has ...

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Apologies Will Get You Nowhere: Steve Stoute and Neil Portnow's Joint Grammy Statement

Source: We All Make Music
March 5, 2011

People have been making fun of the Grammys for years. It's been called out of touch, irrelevant, worthless and stupid by both pros and joes, and this has been going on for so long that the very debate about the Grammys' relevance is itself irrelevant. So why has the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) suddenly started trying to tackle the criticism? Yesterday, Grammy president Neil Portnow and music executive Steve Stoute issued a joint statement proclaiming that ...

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Sonny Rollins and Quincy Jones Receive National Medal of Arts from President Obama at White House

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts
March 4, 2011

President Barack Obama presented the National Medal of Arts to two jazz giants—saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and musician and composer Quincy Jones—at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, March 3, 2011.

See story by Patrick Jarenwattananon of A Blog Supreme on NPR, and a video of the awards ceremony below.

Other winners from Massachusetts included James Taylor, the singer/songwriter from the Berkshires, Jacob's Pillow Dance, for their outstanding contributions to ...

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Sonny Rollins Honored at the Whitehouse

Source: RJ on Jazz by R.J. DeLuke
March 3, 2011

The Man, who personified art, gets a medal for it. At last. “Jazz is life," the legend, Sonny Rollins, told me a couple of years back. “It's what happens every minute of every day. It's fresh and new. Creative, just like life itself." It's kind of a summary, and yet the tip of the iceberg with Sonny, who at age 80 is still going strong. Breathing fire. Shaking tree limbs to see what falls. Taking what comes through his head ...

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Sonny Rollins Among NEA Honorees

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
March 2, 2011

Today at the White House, President Obama will present the National Medal of Arts to ten creative Americans, including Sonny Rollins and Quincy Jones. From the announcement by the National Endowment for the Arts, here is the complete list of 2010 recipients:Robert Brustein, theatrical critic, producer, playwright, educator; Van Cliburn, pianist, music educator; Mark di Suvero, sculptor; Donald Hall, poet; Quincy Jones, musician, music producer; Harper Lee, author; Sonny Rollins, jazz musician; Meryl Streep, actress; James Taylor, singer, songwriter; Jacob's ...

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