Harvard Honors Wynton Marsalis

New Orleans jazz trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis received a Doctor of Music award from Harvard University at its commencement ceremonies on June 4, 2009.

Marsalis was one of ten distinguished leaders from their respective fields to receive an award, along with author Joan Didion, filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, philosopher Ronald Dworkin, anthropologist Sarah Hrdy and others.

Wynton played a beautiful rendition of “America the Beautiful” on stage with Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust and other distinguished guests looking on.

On his web site, Marsalis wrote, “It was a beautiful day made more vibrant by the diversity of colors that always attends tradition, pageantry and the integration of generations, cultures and aspirations.”

wyntonmarsalis.org

MIT Names Donal Fox Visiting Artist

Composer and pianist Donal Fox has been named Martin Luther King Visiting Artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the 2009-2110 academic year. 

The widely acclaimed classical jazz composer will teach a new course titled Musical Improvisation, in the Music & Theater Department. 

Course topics include jazz, non-western music, and improvisation in western concert music.  There will be guest lectures, and the course will culminate with one or more public performances.

MIT established the MLK program in 1995, and appoints visiting artists for the potential contributions to intellectual life on campus.  Actor and author Ricardo Pitts-Wiley has also been named an MIT visiting artist for the 2009-2010 year.

leonellismusic.com | mit.edu

NEA Awards Yusef Lateef Jazz Master

Dr. Yusef Lateef, professor at UMASS/Amherst, won a coveted 2010 Jazz Masters Award issued by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). 

The NEA noted that Dr. Lateef has been “a major force on the international musical scene for more than six decades, and was among the first to incorporate world music into traditional jazz through his mastery of Middle Eastern and Asian reed instruments.”

Lateef earned his doctorate in education at UMASS/Amherst in 1975, and has devoted much of his career to teaching.  He is an emeritus Five Colleges professor at U.Mass/Amherst and in 2007 was named the university’s Artist of the Year.

Dr. Lateef will receive the award next January, 2010, at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Yuseflateef.com | Arts.gov