3 Jazz Greats to Receive NEA Honor

Bassist Ray Brown, drummer Roy Haynes and pianist-composer Horace Silver--who collectively have played with almost every giant of jazz, from Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker to John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson--have been named recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts 1995 American Jazz Master Fellowships. The award honors living jazz legends who have made a significant contribution to the art form.

The trio will be honored Jan. 13 during the International Assn. of Jazz Educators convention, which takes place Thursday through Jan. 15 at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers in Anaheim. Brown, Haynes and Silver join such past American jazz masters as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey who have been recognized since the award was instituted in 1982.

Besides Brown and Silver, other L.A.-based recipients include Gerald Wilson, Melba Liston, Dorothy Donegan, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Louie Bellson. Fellowship winners receive a $20,000 award.

“I’m happy, excited and honored, of course,” Silver said. “The list of the previous honorees reads like a who’s who of jazz, and I’m glad to be acknowledged as one of the heavyweights. I’ve heard of the award, but I never dreamed this would happen to me.”

The American Jazz Masters Fellowships are nominated by an NEA-appointed committee of musicians and one lay person, and the recommendations are reviewed by the NEA’s National Council on the Arts. (The public may nominate artists by sending a one-page letter stating why a player should be nominated to NEA Music Program, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Room 702, Washington, D.C. 20506. The deadline is Jan. 20.)

Though Brown, Haynes and Silver won’t perform at the convention, 178 other artists will, from luminaries such as Nancy Wilson, Charlie Haden, Roy Hargrove, Bellson and the Yellowjackets to such talented lesser-knowns as singer Kitty Margolis and Kate McGarry, and trombonist Joey Sellers. There are dozens of high school and college ensembles appearing as well, many from Southern California.

The convention is expected to draw 5,000 musicians, educators, students and jazz aficionados from as many as 35 countries. While the convention is designed for members, non-members can have full access for $170, which includes a one-year $45 membership to the association.

Concerts featuring the Yellowjackets, Hargrove and Margolis on Thursday and Bellson, Haden and Eddie Daniels on Jan. 14 have a limited number of tickets ($20) available to the public.

The convention will be something of a circus, with performances, clinics and panel discussions, some held simultaneously, in 14 locations within the Hilton. One can watch drummers Peter Erskine and Steve Houghton give tips on their craft, observe guitarist Peter Leitch delve into “Zen and the Art of the Single Note” and listen to pianist-bandleader Bob Florence ponder “Where Do Ideas Come From?”

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The thrust of the convention, said Bill Lee, IAJE’s executive director and a jazz pianist, is to “bring the membership up to date on the cutting edge of the field of jazz.” This year’s focus is on the use of electronics and computers in the art form.

The convention is titled “A Tribute to the Bird,” referring to Charlie Parker, the be-bop alto saxophone master, who would have been 75 this year--he died in 1955. “He was like the Bach of the 20th Century, the hinge between Dixieland and ragtime and swing and what came later, with John Coltrane and others,” said Lee, who played with Parker in New York in 1950. “We’ve asked all the performers to play a Bird tune, and most of them probably will.”

For convention information call: (913) 776-8744. For concert tickets call: (213) 480-3232.

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Haynes Returns: Drum whiz Roy Haynes, 69, makes his first L.A. appearance as a leader in three decades when he fronts a trio Thursday at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. Not only will he bash it out with pianist Billy Childs and bassist John Clayton, he’ll field questions.

“People always want to know things from someone like myself, who has played with important people like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker or Sarah Vaughan,” Haynes said from his home in Long Island, N.Y.

“They may want to know . . . what I might have to say about someone like Louis, in whose big band I played for one week in 1946. Now that’s a short time, but I was there.”

Haynes recalls listening to an Armstrong reissue lately and being stunned by its modernity. “He played a riff, and I could hear that same riff the way Roy Eldridge played it, and then Dizzy and Bird and on to someone like Chick Corea, who actually picked it out and used it in his tune ‘Bud Powell,’ ” Haynes said. “I could relate it all to that one little lick by Louis.” For information call: (310) 271-9039.