The Artists at the 2009 Knoxville Jazz Fest
DONALD BROWN Pianist, composer, teacher, band leader and arranger, Donald Brown is a beam of bright talent on today’s jazz scene. His lyrical, original music has found favor among many masterful contemporary players. Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Brown began his career as a drummer, received a scholarship to Memphis State University as a trumpet player, and did not study piano until he attended college. Brown is part of the Memphis Three, a trio of exceptional keyboard talents that passed through Memphis State University in the 70s that includes James Williams and Mulgrew Miller. Brown gained essential experience and attention as a member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He has recorded over a dozen CDs with his own band and has worked as soloist and accompanist in the bands of Donald Byrd, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and Johny Griffin.
DON BYRON Though rooted in jazz, Don Byron's music is stylistically eclectic. He primarily plays clarinet, but also uses bass clarinet and saxophones. He has worked in many different musical genres, ranging from klezmer music and German lieder, to Raymond Scott's “cartoon jazz,” hard rock/metal, and rap. Most of Byron's albums have been conceptual, devoted to works of a particular musician and/or style of music. Byron is one of jazz's greatest practicing historians and some of his most successful albums (such as Plays the Music of Mickey Katz, Bug Music, and Ivey-Divey). have been recreations (in spirit) of forgotten moments in the history of popular music. Byron was nominated for a Grammy award for his bass clarinet solo on “I Want to Be Happy” from Ivey-Divey. Visit his website here.
JERRY COKER While pursuing a rich and varied career as a bandleader and sideman with Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, Jerry Coker took in two saxophone students who wanted to learn jazz forms and improvisation. He realized there were no books to support a formal study and proceeded to write them. The rest is history. Jerry Coker became one of the foremost jazz educators in the country, founding jazz programs at several universities, including the University of Tennessee. The Knoxville Jazz Festival is pleased to honor Jerry Coker for his contributions to the music as well as to jazz education. He will lead a band featuring several of his former students, now teachers at UT, as well as Donald Brown and his longtime friend and bandmate, Slide Hampton.
FREDDY COLE intended to play pro football but a hand injury interrupted that dream. He began playing and singing in Chicago clubs instead, and would have gone on the road at 18 but his mother insisted he continue his musical education. He is the youngest of five and his three older brothers were all musicians, the eldest being Nat “King” Cole. Visitors to their home included Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton. Cole moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music and was influenced by John Lewis, Oscar Peterson, and Teddy Wilson. He also credits Billy Eckstine as a major influence. “He was a fantastic entertainer,” Cole recalls. “I learned so much just watching and being around him.” Before launching his solo career, he went on to get the Masters degree at the New England Conservatory of Music and then spent several months on the road as a member of an Earl Bostic band that also included Johnny Coles and Benny Golson.
SLIDE HAMPTON A masterly arranger and trombone player, Slide Hampton's career is among the most distinguished in jazz. At the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton Band. As his reputation grew, he began working with bands led by Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, with horn players Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard and George Coleman. In 1968, he toured with the Woody Herman orchestra, settling in Europe where he remained until 1977. Upon his return to the US, he taught at Harvard, the University of Massachusetts, De Paul University and Indiana State University. He won a Grammy in 1998 for his arrangement of “Cotton Tail” for Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts honored Slide Hampton with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters. Visit his website here.
