JAZZ SAXOPHONIST WAYNE SHORTER TO BE HONORED WITH BEACONS
IN JAZZ AWARD
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2002 AT 6:30 PM AT THE SUPPER CLUB
Performers will include Jim Hall, Savion Glover, Jon Faddis,
Danilo Perez, Reggie Workman,
Peter Bernstein, Jane Ira Bloom, Donald Byrd, Houston Person, Joe Chambers,
and others
(New York, NY – February 4, 2002) New School University's Jazz
& Contemporary Music Program will honor jazz saxophonist and three-time
Grammy Award-winner Wayne Shorter in a gala evening on Tuesday, March
12, 2002 at 6:30 PM at Manhattan's Supper Club. Paul J. Weinstein,
chairperson for the Jazz Program, will also receive a Beacons Award. For
further information on the benefit evening, call (212) 229-5896, ext. 309. To
purchase tickets, call (212) 229-5662 x250.
The Beacons in Jazz awards gala raises scholarship money for
students in the New School Jazz Program. The evening will begin with a cocktail
reception at 6:30 PM, followed by dinner at 7:30 PM, performances and presentation
of the awards at Manhattan's Supper Club, located at 240 W 47th Street.
New School University President Bob Kerrey will offer welcoming remarks.
Honorary co-chairs for the evening are Senator and Mrs. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Performers who have signed up to pay tribute to Wayne Shorter include: Jim
Hall, guitar; Savion Glover, tap dancer; Jon Faddis, trumpet;
Danilo Perez, piano; Peter Bernstein, guitar and New School alumnus;
Joe Chambers, drummer and New School faculty member; Houston Person,
tenor sax; Donald Byrd, trumpet, Jane Ira Bloom, saxophone and
New School faculty member; and Reggie Workman, bass and New School faculty
member; among others. Actor Roy Scheider will be the evening's Master
of Ceremonies.
Since 1986, New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program
has recognized living jazz musicians whose extraordinary talent has significantly
contributed to the evolution of jazz with the Beacons in Jazz award.
Past recipients have included: Phil Woods, Jackie McLean, James Moody, Cab Calloway,
Milt Hinton, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Benny Carter, Max Roach,
Chico Hamilton, and George and Joyce Wein.
Beacons in Jazz recipient Wayne Shorter is a tenor and
soprano saxophonist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he began his musical
studies on the clarinet when he was 16. He received his Bachelor's of Music
Education degree from New York University in 1956. Around that time, he performed
briefly with Horace Silver. He met Joe Zawinul (who would later co-lead Weather
Report with Shorter) when he was a member of Maynard Ferguson's band. Shorter
began an association with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1959 –
1964. In 1964, he joined Miles Davis' quintet and remained with the group
until 1970. In 1964, he also recorded several landmark albums: Night Dreamer,
Ju Ju, and Speak No Evil. Later, in 1970, he founded Weather Report
with Joe Zawinul and played with the group until the 1980s. Shorter also toured
and recorded with Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Tony Williams
as the group V.S.O.P.
In 1985, Shorter reduced his activities with Weather Report and spent time
on recording, touring with his new group, and appearing in reunion concerts
with many of his colleagues from the 1960s.
Shorter made his acting debut in the film ‘Round Midnight, for
which he received one of his three Grammy Awards. In 1988, he led a Latin jazz-rock
group with Carlos Santana and toured with Herbie Hancock in the 1990s. Through
his solo career and his work with Weather Report, Shorter has helped to redefine
the new hybrid of music that borrowed from a variety of forms, from jazz and
rock, to classical and electronic.
Shorter's recordings include: High Life (Verve, 1995), Atlantis (Columbia, 1985), Ju Ju (Blue Note, 1964), and, with Weather Report, Mysterious Traveler (Columbia, 1973), Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1976) and Black Market (Columbia, 1976). He has also performed with rock artists such as Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan.
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New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program trains students for the artistic, technical and professional demands
of employment and performance in the music world. The Program grants a B.F.A.
degree in Jazz Performance and in Composition/Arranging. Students in the program
study with an internationally renowned artist faculty. The program encourages
and nurtures each student's unique talents, to help cultivate the future
generation of jazz leaders. Founded in 1986, New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program has produced some of today's newest jazz
talents, including Brad Mehldau, Larry Goldings, Roy Hargrove, Peter Bernstein,
and Susie Ibarra.
New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students
and 25,000 continuing education students, is comprised of seven academic divisions:
The New School, the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, Parsons
School of Design, Eugene Lang College, Mannes College of Music, the Robert J.
Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and the Actors Studio
Drama School, as well as the University's B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music.
New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online
courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School
University, call 877-528-3321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu