Composer Grant for Benny Carter, 82; ‘Jazz Goes to School’ Gets Under Way

Tally up another kudo for the indefatigable Benny Carter.

The 82-year-old composer/saxophonist/trumpeter, who just last week was in New York to conduct his orchestra at the “Hearts for Ella” American Heart Assn. benefit at Avery Fisher Hall, is one of 18 jazz artists, and the sole Los Angeles resident, to receive a grant from the 1989 Meet the Composer/Rockefeller Foundation/AT&T; Jazz Program.

The grants, which total $283,000 and were announced recently, pair the composers with a sponsoring music and performing arts organization for which the composers create original works and then serve as artists-in-residence to oversee the work’s performance.

“We look forward to the results of these creative collaborations, and to continuing our support of Meet the Composer in this initiative to stimulate exchanges between jazz composers and artists working in other art forms,” stated Alberta Arthurs, director of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Arts and Humanities Division, in a press release.

Carter, who received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1989, was awarded $15,000 to write two 20-minute pieces to feature vibraphonists Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. The commissions, sponsored by the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts in New York, will be debuted at a later, unscheduled date with the 16-piece Classical Jazz Orchestra.

Other recipients included pianist Billy Taylor, who will write a 15-20 minute work to be performed by his trio and the Juilliard String Quartet on a national tour; saxophonist Julius Hemphill, who will concoct a 45-minute work for IMP ORK, a 30-piece improvisational orchestra, also to be performed nationally; guitarist Kenny Burrell, who is currently appearing at the Indigo Jazz Club in Compton, who will write a work featuring the Boys Choir of Harlem; and pianist Stanley Cowell, who will compose a 15-20 minute jazz piano concerto to be performed with the Toledo (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra.

Meet the Composer was founded in 1974 to foster the creation, performance and recording of works by contemporary American composers and to develop new audiences for these works. The group sponsors over 4,000 such performances a year. Information: (212) 787-3601.

Carter, whose latest LP is “Cookin’ at Carlos 1” (Musicmasters), can be heard leading a superlative mainstream band--pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ray Brown and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and singer Sylvia Sims are among the members--on NPR’s American Jazz Radio Festival, which airs locally on KLON-FM (88.1), March 2, 10 p.m. The group plays such Carter classics as “Key Largo” and “Easy Money.”

The International Assn. of Jazz Appreciation (IOAJA) has kicked off its third annual “Jazz Goes to School,” a seven-week program that brings jazz and jazz history to students in Los Angeles elementary and junior high schools. Conceived and conducted by drummer Washington Rucker, JGTS utilizes various musicians to demonstrate subjects such as “The Blues,” “Boogie Woogie & Swing to Be-Bop” and “The Future of Jazz” to enthusiastic youngsters at schools that included La Salle Elementary, Foshay Junior High and 54th Street Elementary.

“The program is really progressing and each year we increase the size and the scope of it,” said Ruth Roby, IOAJA’s executive director. “And the kids love it. The letters we get from them are incredible. A lot of them say things like, ‘We thought jazz would be old folk’s music, but we like it.’ And we get high praise from teachers and principals as to what it does for the children.” Information: (213) 469-5589.

Any discographers out there looking for work? G.K. Hall & Co. is establishing a 17-volume “Jazz Discography Series” and is seeking contributions from published discographers, or those with substantive works in progress. These ardent folks will be asked to ferret out such facts as dates and locations of recordings, listing of all released and unreleased tracks, identification of soloists, etc., for recording sessions by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Chambers, Sonny Rollins, Artie Shaw and Thelonious Monk. Information: Gary Carner, G.K. Hall Jazz Discography Series, 18 Becket Road, Belmont, Mass. 02178-3905.

The thumping two-beat sounds of Dixieland and traditional jazz will be served up at the 11th annual Pismo Beach Mardi Gras Jazz Festival, being held Friday-Sunday. Tickets are $30 for all concerts. Information: (800) 443-7778, (805) 773-4382.