HISTORY:
1975 | 1977
| 1979 | 1980
| 1981 | 1982 to present
1979
Ideas among LVJS members, led by Monk Montgomery, furthered jazz in the valley.
1979 saw a three-part series of concerts, "A Tribute to the Late Greats." The
first was a Duke Ellington tribute in April, 1979, commemorating the Duke's
80th birthday. The concert at Artemus Ham Hall featured Kenny Burrell with the
Buck Monari Orchestra, a big band of Las Vegas' top musicians, and a large choir
from local churches. LVJS bolstered the budget with a grant from the Expansion
Arts Program of the NEA.
Carmen McRae gave the second tribute, to Billie Holiday, in the Desert Inn Crystal
Room on July 9, 1979. As LVJS founder Monk Montgomery noted, Carmen performed
the concert (just after her highly successful tour in Japan) for two reasons:
first, Billie was her artistic role model and inspiration; and second, Miss
McRae was a friend of LVJS who wanted to help it grow. The show was reviewed
by Leonard Feather in the LA Times as being "charged with emotion." Film clips
of Billie showing progressive stages of her life and career were interspersed
with McRae's singing. Also performing was clarinetist Garvin Bushell, then 76,
who had played alongside Miss Holiday's guitarist father in the Fletcher Henderson
Orchestra.
John Coltrane was the third "late great" honored in the series. The concert
featured The Jazz Professors of Rutgers University, September 30, 1979 at Ham
Hall. The UNLV Jazz Ensemble with director Frank Gagliardi opened the concert
and TV star Greg Morris was MC. Singer and scatmaster Jon Hendricks was a special
guest and the Bill Berry Band played. Musician and LVJS board member John Palmer
coordinated the event. Photo: Jon and Judith Hendricks,1979
The Coltrane tribute was expanded to encompass a weekend jazz clinic with the
Jazz Professors at UNLV. A bus was arranged to transport music students from
high schools around the valley to the clinic. The Professors included (from
left, below) Ted Dunbar, guitar; Kenny Barron, piano; Larry Ridley, bass; (Monk
in the center); Frank Foster, sax; Freddie Waits, drums. They were touring the
country at the time with the dual purpose of education and performance. As Heymon
Washopnin' wrote in a Think Jazz review of the concert, "They cooked from the
first note."
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Vegas Jazz
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