NEW SCHOOL UNIVERSITY JAZZ ANNOUNCES THE 2005 BEACONS IN JAZZ AWARDS

Arthur Barnes, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Heath, Hank Jones, and Dr. Billy Taylor to be honored at benefit evening on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at the Pierre

(New York, NY - December 20, 2004) New School University’s Jazz & Contemporary Music Program willhonor Arthur H. Barnes, jazz benefactor and senior vice president for External Affairs and Corporate Contributions at HIP Health Plans; vocalist Ruth Brown; tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath; pianist Hank Jones; and jazz pianist and educator Dr. Billy Taylor at the 2005Beacons in Jazzawardbenefit on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at the Pierre hotel. New School University President Bob Kerrey will welcome the audience, and Maurice DuBois, co-anchor of CBS 2 News at Noon and CBS 2 News at 6 PM, will emcee the evening.

The Beacons in Jazz awards gala raises scholarship money for promising students earning their Bachelor’s degrees from the Jazz & Contemporary Music Program.

The benefit evening will begin with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., and dinner at 7:30 p.m. The presentation of the awards and performances will follow the dinner at the Pierre hotel’s Grand Ballroom at Fifth Avenue and 61st Street in Manhattan.

Tables are available from $25,000 - $5,000, and single tickets range from $2,500 - $500. For more information, contact the Office of Special Events at New School University at (212) 229-5662, ext. 3568, e-mail [email protected] or visit the Web site at http://www.newschool.edu/beaconsgala.

Since 1986, New School University’s Jazz & Contemporary Music Program has recognized living jazz musicians and contributors to the field whose extraordinary talent has significantly contributed to the evolution of American music culture with the Beacons in Jazz award. Past recipients have included: Aretha Franklin, Ahmet Ertegun, Percy Heath, Johnnie Johnson, Wayne Shorter, 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.

ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES

Arthur H. Barnes has been HIP Health Plans’ Senior Vice President for External Affairs and Corporate Contributions since 1993. His primary responsibility is to promote the health and well being of the diverse communities that make up New York City. Through him, HIP provides grants, scholarships, contributions, sponsorships and in-kind services to nonprofit organizations striving to improve the quality of life for New York City residents. For almost twenty years before joining HIP, Mr. Barnes was President and CEO of the New York Urban Coalition. Throughout his career, Mr. Barnes has served on numerous volunteer boards. He is currently Vice President of the Police Athletic League Board of Directors, a member of the board of PENCIL (Public Education Needs Civic Involvement In Learning), Principal for a Day, and Chairman of the Friends of Charlie Parker gala. Born and raised in Harlem, New York City, Mr. Barnes attended the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn College.

Ruth Brown was known in the 1950s as “Miss Rhythm” and her only competition as a female rhythm & blues singer was Dinah Washington. Atlantic Records founders Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson signed her to Atlantic Records in 1948. During the 1950s, Ms. Brown dominated the R & B charts and crossed over into rock and roll. Some of her hits have included “So Long,” “Teardrops in My Eyes,” “Lucky Lips,” “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin.’” Born in Portsmouth, Virginia on January 28, 1928, she sang in the church choir and joined Lucky Millinder’s big band after winning a talent contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. While performing in a nightclub in Washington, DC, she gained the attention of a local deejay, who contacted Atlantic Records. The label offered her a contract. Enroute to New York City to sign the contact, Ms. Brown was involved in a serious car accident and ended up spending a year in a Philadelphia hospital. She recovered and began her affiliation with Atlantic Records. She recorded “So Long” in 1949. She was with the label until 1961, jumped to another label with mediocre success, and then retired. She enjoyed a career renaissance in the mid-1970s and started recording blues and jazz for a number of labels. She worked in the theater and won a Tony award for her role in the Broadway revue “Black and Blue.” She also appeared in John Water’s film, “Hairspray.” Ms. Brown hosted two National Public Radio shows - “Harlem Hit Parade” and “Blues Stage.” On January 12, 1993, Ruth Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Heath has long been recognized as a brilliant instrumentalist and a talented composer and arranger. He is the middle brother of the legendary Heath Brothers (Percy Heath, bass and Tootie Heath, drums). He has performed with nearly all of the jazz greats of the last 50 years, from Howard McGhee, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis to Wynton Marsalis. In 1948 at the age of 21, he performed in the First International Jazz Festival in Paris with Howard McGhee, sharing the stage with Coleman Hawkins, Slam Stewart, and Erroll Garner. One of the Heath’s earliest big bands (1947-1948) in Philadelphia included John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, Ray Bryant, and Nelson Boyd. During his long career, Jimmy Heath has performed on more than 100 record albums, including seven with The Heath Brothers and twelve as a leader. He has also written more than 125 compositions, many of which has gone on to become jazz standards. He was a Professor of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College for eleven years. He maintains an extensive performance schedule and continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. He has taught at the New School.

Hank Jones is the eldest of the renowned Jones Brothers (trumpeter and composer Thad and drummer Elvin). He was born in Michigan on July 31, 1918. He played in local bands as a teenager, and moved to New York in 1944 to play with trumpeter Hots Lips Page. While performing with such jazz artists as Coleman Hawkins and Billy Eckstine, he helped define what was called the Detroit piano school, which also includes Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, and Sir Roland Hanna. His distinctively elegant and bebop-influenced style gave him the flexibility to thrive in diverse jazz settings. During his career, Mr. Jones played in several Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, accompanied stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and Cannonball Adderley, and performed on thousands of recordings, many under his own name. He eventually joined the staff of CBS Studios in 1959, where he played for radio and television programs. Continuing to tour and record in jazz during his 17 years at CBS, Mr. Jones also shared his artistry with large audiences as conductor and pianist for the Broadway musical, “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” during the late 1970s. An impressive soloist and accompanist, Mr. Jones has been a musician in demand from the 1940s through the 1990s. With a recent string of acclaimed recordings, reissues, and his 1997 induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame, Hank Jones continues to bring his sophisticated and innovative music to audiences worldwide.

Dr. Billy Taylor encompasses that rare combination of creativity, intelligence, vision, commitment and leadership, qualities that make him one of our most cherished national treasures. The distinguished ambassador of the jazz community to the world-at-large, Dr. Billy Taylor’s recording career spans nearly six decades. He has composed over 350 songs, as well as works for theater, dance, and symphony orchestras. Playing the piano professionally since 1944, he got his start with Ben Webster’s Quartet in New York’s famed 52nd Street. He then served as the house pianist at Birdland, the legendary jazz club where he performed with such masters as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Since the 1950s, he has been leading his own Trio, as well as performing with the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. He has not only been an influential musician, but a highly regarded teacher as well, receiving his Master’s and Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and serving as a Duke Ellington Fellow at Yale University. He has hosted and programmed music for WLIB and WNEW radio stations in New York and for the award-winning series on National Public Radio. In the early 1980s, Dr. Taylor became the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. Dr. Taylor serves as Artistic Advisor for Jazz to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he developed the Louis Armstrong Legacy series and the annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, several Grammy nominations, as well as other prizes, such as the National Medal of Arts, The Tiffany Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Down Beat magazine, and election to the Hall of Fame for the International Association of Jazz Educators.

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