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National Council on the Arts July Session to Feature Presentation on Leadership Initiatives Including National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz MastersJazz Musicians Jimmy Heath and Jeb Patton to Participate July 7, 2003
Washington, D.C. -- The National Council on the Arts, the advisory body of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will meet in a public session on Friday, July 11, 2003 in Room M-09 of The Nancy Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the agenda is an extended presentation on the NEA American Jazz Masters program that will include remarks by Jimmy Heath, celebrated jazz saxophonist, composer and 2003 American Jazz Master, and a jazz performance by pianist Jeb Patton, a member of Heath's group, the Heath Brothers. Bill McFarlin, Executive Director of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), will also demonstrate the Association's Jazz Masters Web site. In addition to briefing the Council on American Jazz Masters, the Arts Endowment has invited Naj Wikoff, Director of the Healing and Arts Project at Dartmouth College and President of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, to present highlights from the Arts in Healthcare Symposium that took place on March 19-20, 2003 in Washington D.C. Information on the symposium and related concept paper is available on the NEA Web site at http://www.nea.gov/endownews/news03/AIHRelease.html. NEA Chairman Dana Gioia will update the Council on the National Endowment for the Arts' Shakespeare in American Communities initiative. This national initiative, slated from September 2003 to November 2004, will bring Shakespeare productions and educational programs from six professional theater companies to over 100 communities in all 50 states. AGENDA FOR OPEN SESSION: 9:00-9:15 am Opening Remarks 9:15-9:45 am Presentation: Shakespeare in American Communities 9:45-10:00 am Government Affairs Update 10:00-10:15 am Budget Update 10:15-11:15 pm Guest Presentation: American Jazz Masters:
-- Jimmy Heath, 2003 American Jazz Master Fellowship recipient 11:15-11:30 am BREAK 11:30-11:45 a.m. Presentation: The Arts in Healthcare Symposium: Naj Wikoff, Director, Healing & the Arts Project, Dartmouth College 11:45 am-12:00 pm Application Review 12:00-12:15 pm General Discussion 12:15 pm ADJOURN Members of the National Council on the Arts Donald V. Cogman, Patron/Trustee, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ex-Officio Members, United States Congress Senate Presenter Biographies
Jimmy Heath Jimmy Heath, recipient of an NEA American Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2003, has long been recognized for his contributions to jazz as an instrumentalist (saxophone), composer, and arranger. He has performed with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 50 years, from Howard McGhee to Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis to Wynton Marsalis. In 1948, at the age of 21, he performed in the First International Jazz Festival in Paris with McGhee, and shared the stage with Coleman Hawkins, Slam Stewart, and Erroll Garner. On of his earliest big bands in Philadelphia in 1947-48 included John Coltrane, Ben Golson, Specs Wright, Cal Massey, Johnny Coles, Ray Bryant, and Nelson Boyd. Early on, Heath acquired the nickname "Little Bird" due to the influence Charlie "Bird" Parker had on his style. During his career, Jimmy Heath has performed on more than 120 record albums, including seven with The Heath Brothers and 12 as a leader. He has also written more than 125 compositions, many of which have become jazz standards and have been recorded by other artists including Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, James Moody, Milt Jackson, Ahmad Jamal, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, J.J. Johnson, Blue Mitchell, McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon, and Chick Corea. He has also composed extended works -- seven suites and two string quartets -- and he premiered his first symphonic work, Three Ears, in 1988 at Queens College with Maurice Peress conducting. Among his most notable other works are the Suite of Evolution, CTA, and Gingerbread Boy. After retiring as Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College/City University of New York, Heath maintains an extensive performance schedule and continues to conduct workshops and clinics throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada. He currently serves on the board of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Washington, DC. "All I can say is, if you know Jimmy Heath, you know Bop." -- Dizzy Gillespie "Trane was always high on Jimmy's playing and so was I. Plus, he was a very hip dude to be with, funny and clean and very intelligent. Jimmy is one of the thoroughbreds." -- Miles Davis
Jeb Haynes Patton Jeb Patton is a jazz pianist and has been the fourth member of The Heath Brothers since 1998, having studied under Jimmy Heath and Sir Roland Hanna at Queens College/City University of New York. Prior to Queens College, he was a member of the Duke University Jazz where he performed with and/or arranged for more than 60 professional jazz artists worldwide. From 1994-96, he was Assistant to the Director of the Aspen Jazz Ensemble, and in the summers of 1995-96, he traveled throughout northern Italy as a member of the Paul Jeffrey Quartet. In 1996, he also played in a quintet in Monaco with Paul Jeffrey and Curtis Fuller. Since moving to New York in 1997, he has played classical music in the Black Composers Repertory ensemble under Coleridge Taylor Perkinson as well as playing with Etta Jones, the Faddis/Hampton/Heath Sextet, Winard Harper's group, and Antonio Hart's Quintet. Major international festival appearances with The Heath Brothers have included performances in Finland, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, and California. He also performed Duke Ellington's Black, Brown, and Beige Suite in Greece with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band in 2000. With The Heath Brothers and Jimmy Heath's Generations Quintet, Patton has toured throughout the United States and abroad, including a Jazz at Lincoln Center production honoring Jimmy Heath on his 75th birthday. Among other recordings, he can be heard on The Heath Brothers CD Jazz Family.
Bill McFarlin The International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) was founded in 1968 to ensure the continued growth and development of jazz through education and outreach activities. Its membership includes more than 8,000 teachers, musicians, students, music industry representatives, and enthusiasts in 40 countries. Programs include activities which promote the understanding and appreciation of jazz and its heritage; provide leadership to educators regarding curricula and performance; and assist teachers, students, and artists with information and resources, including publication of the Jazz Education Journal. The annual IAJE conference, held each January, is acknowledged as the largest yearly gathering of the global jazz community and is the occasion of the National Endowment for the Arts American Jazz Masters Fellowship award ceremony. Bill McFarlin has been associated with the administration of the IAJE since 1984. Previously, he administered the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in western Michigan, where he managed a National Public Radio station, coordinated the jazz instruction program, and directed a 6,000-seat performing arts facility. He is a recipient of the Berklee College of Music's Distinguished Alumni Award.
Naj Wikoff Naj Wikoff is a sculptor and President of the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, an organization established in 1991 to promote the incorporation of the arts as an integral component of healthcare. Membership includes more than 500 organizations and individuals, representing a broad cross-section of professionals including physicians, nurses, medical students, healthcare administrators, architects, designers, and artists. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Society sponsored a symposium in March 2003, a summary of which is available on each organization's Web site. Mr. Wikoff is also Executive Director of the Adirondack Film Society-Lake Placid Film Forum, and he served as the Founding Director of the Lake Placid Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Program Director of the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, Director Arts & Productions for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, Vice-Chairman of the National Fine Arts Committee for the 1980 Winter Olympics, and Executive Director of the Dutchess County Arts Council.
For more information, contact the NEA Office of Communications at 202-682-5570.
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