Kenny Burrell, the renowned jazz guitarist and the director of the Jazz Studies Program at UCLA, has been named a 2005 Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Designation as an NEA Jazz Master is the nation’s highest honor in jazz. Burrell is one of seven to be named for 2005.
The award was presented on Jan. 7 by Dana Gioia, NEA chairman, at a gala ceremony and concert at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, Long Beach, Calif. The event was part of the annual conference of the International Association for Jazz Education.
Since 1982, the NEA has awarded the title annually to a handful of living figures in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the field of jazz as solo instrumentalists, rhythm instrumentalists, keyboardists, arranger-composers, big band leaders, vocalists or jazz advocates. The award includes a one-time fellowship of $25,000.
“Receiving this prestigious award from the National Endowment for the Arts is one of the high points of my career,� Burrell said. “I am delighted and honored to have been considered among the great musicians, both past and present, who have been given this recognition. I am most grateful to all concerned.�
Burrell received a 2004 Jazz Educator of the Year award from Down Beat magazine for academic achievement and excellence in jazz education. A professor in the departments of ethnomusicology and music at UCLA, he is a recognized authority on the music of Duke Ellington. In 1978 at UCLA he developed the first regular college course on Ellington ever taught in the United States. In 1997 he was appointed director of the Jazz Studies Program at UCLA, where he has brought to the faculty such jazz notables as George Bohanon, Billy Childs, Billy Higgins, Harold Land, Bobby Rodriguez and Anthony Wilson. The faculty also includes legendary composer/arranger Gerald Wilson and vocalist Barbara Morrison.
One of the most respected jazz artists in the world, Burrell has been active since 1951 as a guitarist and composer in a variety of musical contexts including solo, small combo, large ensemble and symphony orchestra. As a producer and recording artist, he has an extensive discography including the critically acclaimed “Guitar Forms,� “Ellington Is Forever� and “Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane.� He has recorded 96 albums under his own name and several hundred with other artists. He has performed and recorded with many of the most influential
musicians in jazz history including Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday and Quincy Jones.
As a composer, he has received several commissions, including one that resulted in a world premiere at New York’s Lincoln Center with the Boy’s Choir of Harlem. Burrell’s latest musical work, the “Ralph J. Bunche Suite,� was premiered at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall in June 2004. The piece was commissioned by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.
Born and raised in Detroit, Burrell found musical colleagues at an early age among Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Foster, Yusef Lateef, and the brothers Hank, Thad and Elvin Jones. While still a student at Wayne State University, he made his first major recording in 1951 with Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Percy Heath and Milt Jackson.
After graduation, he toured for six months with the Oscar Peterson Trio and then moved to New York, where he performed in Broadway pit bands, on pop and R & B studio sessions (with Lena Horne, Tony Bennett and James Brown), in jazz venues and on jazz recordings. Burrell went on to work with such artists as Ellington, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Jimmy Smith and Art Blakey.
Burrell pioneered the guitar-led trio with bass and drums in the late 1950s. Known for his harmonic creativity, lush tones and lyricism on the guitar, he is also a prolific and highly regarded composer. His compositions have been recorded by many artists, including Ray Brown, Grover Washington Jr., Frank Wes and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Burrell’s “Dear Ella,� performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater, won a 1988 Grammy Award. He is the author of two books, “Jazz Guitar� and “Jazz Guitar Solos.� The founder of the Jazz Heritage Foundation and the Friends of Jazz at UCLA, he is recognized as an international ambassador for jazz and its promotion as an art form.
The department of ethnomusicology at UCLA explores music from all the continents of the world, including traditional music, the music of America’s many ethnic groups, and contemporary forms of American popular and “world beat� music, including jazz. Ethnomusicologists focus on music as a cultural, social and political expression, while the systematic musicologists in the department examine scientifically and philosophically the fundamental nature of music, from acoustics to aesthetics.