Jazz News: SF Fillmore Jazz Festival on again; Hamburg’s NDR hires Brit Nikki Iles; Night of the Cookers 60 yrs ago
This is Jazz News, a look at what’s news in jazz, music, and the arts.
There is NOTHING easy about promoting jazz, especially a jazz festival, especially a free jazz festival. A couple of weeks ago, organizers of the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco announced the nearly 40-year tradition was cancelled due to financial difficulties. Then, last week, according to SFGate, crypto-billionaire Chris Larsen stepped in to underwrite the $500,000 budget through his non-profit Avenue Greenlight. So says the Fillmore Merchant Association. The 12-block jazz party is back on for this Fourth of July weekend. (SOURCE: SFGATE/Culture/SF/Street Festival
Photo credit: Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The NDR Bigband out of Hamburg has named British bandleader, pianist, composer, and educator Nikki Iles (EYE-uls) as their principal conductor for the next two years. She came to the NDR’s attention when she submitted a score she had written for the UK’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra that was dedicated to Geri Allen.
(SOURCE: https:/UK Jazz News/Nikki Iles-Big Band/Hamburg)
Photo: Nikki Iles. Directing the NDR Bigband at Cadogan Hall, London, 2023. Photo credit Tatiana Gorilovsky
Sixty years ago this month, a jazz showdown in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, put two legends of the jazz trumpet face-to-face. Lee Morgan and Freddy Hubbard were both 27 and friendly rivals. The event was called “Night of the Cookers,” a gig produced and promoted by the wives of many of New York’s jazz musicians who wanted to see a more secure financial future for their talented husbands.
The New York Times chronicled the anniversary of the landmark musical happening, including a quote from Dr. Eddie Henderson, who was at the event, and is now a member of a group called The Cookers.
(Paid Link: NYTIMES - Night of The Cookers Freddie Hubbard & Lee Morgan)
Photo credit: Clarence Gatson/Gado, via Getty Images; Paul Hoeffler/Redferns, via Getty Images
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