06.20.06 (AP) Saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins took the top honors at the 10th annual Jazz Awards, notching a double victory as musician and tenor saxophonist of the year. The 75-year-old Rollins re-established himself at the top of the Jazz scene during the past year with his Grammy-winning CD, "Without A Song: The 9/11 Concert," his first live recording in nearly 20 years. Rollins might have won a third award for album of the year at Monday's ceremony at B.B. King's Blues Club And Grill were it not for two departed Jazz legends. "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" (Blue Note), released after tapes of a 1957 concert by the short-lived but historically significant group were discovered in the Library Of Congress vaults, was chosen as the year's top album. Several generations of drummers also figured prominently at this year's awards, which were based on votes cast by more than 400 members of the Jazz Journalists Association worldwide. The 81-year-old Roy Haynes received the award for lifetime achievement in Jazz, while Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto was named up-and-coming musician of the year. Paul Motian was chosen the year's top drummer. Conga player Ray Barretto, who died in February at age 76, was chosen percussionist of the year, with his wife and son accepting the award on his behalf. Barretto's last album, "Standards Rican-ditioned" -- also the final recording by pianist Hilton Ruiz, who died earlier this month after leaving a New Orleans club -- is due out in August featuring an all-Puerto Rican lineup of musicians playing straight-ahead Jazz standards. He wanted "to show how his people have also touched and affected this music ... because he always believed that jazz is something that comes from all people, not necessarily white, not black," Barretto's son Chris said. A trio of octogenarians also were recognized for their contributions. The 87-year-old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes, now based in Sweden after serving as musical director of Havana's pre-Castro Tropicana nightclub, garnered the award for Latin jazz album of the year for "Bebo de Cuba" (Calle 54). Gerald Wilson, also 87, whose career as a big band leader and sideman goes back nearly 70 years, received the award for top large ensemble. Belgian-born Toots Thielemans, 84, who pioneered the harmonica as a jazz instrument, was voted the top player of an instrument "rare in jazz."

06.12.06 (MusicPortal.com) ELVIS COSTELLO & ALLEN TOUSSAINT have commenced a month-long tour in support of "The River In Reverse," which was recently released via Verve Forecast Records. Elvis Costello And The Imposters, featuring the piano and songs of Allen Toussaint with his Crescent City Horns and guitarist Anthony "AB" Brown, began the trek June 10th, with a 22-date tour extending through July 12th. Costello & Toussaint will also make a headlining appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 30th, performing with Toussaint's band. That date marks their first visit back to New Orleans together since the December 2005 recording sessions for the new album. Since those sessions, Costello & Toussaint have delivered knockout performances at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February and The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in New York City in March. The spirited and deeply soulful "The River In Reverse" is comprised of seven songs from Toussaint's matchless catalog; five newly written by the two; and one new song, the title track, written by Costello. "Putting The River In Reverse," a new short film documenting the making of the album, has also been included as a bonus in the initial pressing of the album. Shot and directed by Matthew Buzzell and produced by Brian Gerber, "Putting The River In Reverse" follows Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint as they travel from Hollywood to New Orleans, a city still under curfew in the chaotic aftermath and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The film captures the recording of songs written in and about the beleaguered city. Tour Dates: 06/13 Ann Arbor, MI [Hill Auditorium (Summer Festival) • 06/15 Vienna, VA [Wolftrap] • 06/17 Manchester, TN [Bonnaroo Festival] • 06/18 Los Angeles, CA [Hollywood Bowl] (Playboy Jazz Festival) • 06/20 Oakland, CA [Paramount Theater] • 06/21 Saratoga, CA [Mountain Winery] • 06/22 Jacksonville, OR [Britt Pavilion] • 06/24 Aspen, CO [Jazz Aspen] • 06/25 Seattle, WA [Chateau St. Michelle] • 06/26 Vancouver, BC [Orpheum] (Vancouver Jazz Festival) • 06/28 St. Paul, MN [O'Shaughnessy Theater] • 06/29 Milwaukee, WI [Sun Fest] • 06/30 Columbus, OH [Promowest Pavilion] • 07/03 Montreal, PQ [Salle Wilfred] • 07/05 Hyannis, MA [Cape Cod Melody Tent] • 07/07 Niagara Falls, ONT [Casino] • 07/08 Niagara Falls, ONT [Casino] • 07/10 New York, NY [Beacon Theater] • 07/11 New York, NY [Beacon Theater] • 07/12 Boston, MA [Fleet Center]
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06.07.06 (AP) Jazz pianist and composer HILTON RUIZ, who excelled in a wide variety of styles from Afro-Cuban rhythms to Blues, died early Tuesday in New Orleans, Louisiana - never regaining consciousness after a fall in front of a French Quarter bar. He was 54. Ruiz, who had come to New Orleans from his home in Teaneck, N.J., to work on a Hurricane Katrina benefit project, had been comatose at East Jefferson General Hospital since he fell early May 19th. He died about 3:50 a.m. Tuesday, agent Joel Chriss said in a telephone interview from New York. A jam session had been planned for Tuesday in New York before he died, as a benefit to help pay his medical expenses. Now it is also a memorial, said trumpeter Lew Soloff, a founding member of The Manhattan Jazz Quintet. Although there were early reports that Ruiz might have been beaten, police said witnesses and other evidence indicated he fell. Attorney Mary Howell, retained by his ex-wife, Aida Ruiz, and daughter, also named Aida, said last week that they, too, were convinced that Ruiz had accidentally tripped or fallen. But his ex-wife and daughter said late Tuesday that they had retained a new attorney, Scott Galante. They referred calls to Galante, whose home number is unlisted and whose office was answered by a machine. Capt. John Bryson, a police spokesman, said Tuesday, "All the evidence indicated that he fell. If anyone saw anything else, we beg them to come to us." Ruiz has been described as one of the most versatile musicians in jazz. "He's one of the few musicians on the scene that is equally at home in both the jazz genre and the Afro-Cuban genre in a complete sense. He really could play the blues, too. For real," said trombone player Steve Turre, a long-time friend. "There's a lot of people who dabble with both worlds, but very few can authentically deal with both. And he's one of them." The many musicians with whom Ruiz worked included Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus. He was featured on the 1997 video "The Best of Latin Jazz," and his song 'Something Grand' was included on the soundtrack to the film "American Beauty." "I was pretty lucky in being exposed to a lot of different kinds of music, and studying them with good teachers," Ruiz said in a biography on the Telarc International Corp.'s website. Playing with Ruiz, bass player Leon Dorsey said, "I always knew I had to bring my 'A' game to the table all the time. His musicality, artistry, passion - all those things were just melded, and they all happened at a very high level. All worked in perfect symmetry."

[Jazz News: May 2006]
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