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On March 17, seven music greats were added to the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame at the Society's New York City offices at a special reception. The event was co-hosted by ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento and ASCAP jazz composer member John Clayton, a noted bassist and Director of Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl.
The event was highlighted by the induction of a Jazz Living Legend: pianist, bandleader and composer Hank Jones, who performed with his trio. The latest group of inductees also included six posthumous honorees: Sidney Bechet, Al Cohn, Nat "King" Cole, Peggy Lee, Teddy Wilson and Lester Young.
The children of Cohn, Lee, Wilson and Young were all in attendance, as were friends and relatives of the other inductees, along with a host of jazz performers and personalities. The selection of the inductees was made by the ASCAP Jazz Wall Committee: John Clayton, lyricist Alan Bergman and composer Johnny Mandel.
In addition, the reception also celebrated the first annual Young Jazz Composer Awards of The ASCAP Foundation. The program was established in 2002 to encourage the jazz creators of the future. The ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards recognize composers less than 30 years of age whose works are selected through a juried national competition. The judges for the competition were ASCAP members Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper and Maria Schneider. Two of the award-winners, Maurice Brown and Quamon Fowler, performed original works at the event. A list of the award recipients can be found on ASCAP's website, along with their ages and the titles of their award-winning works.
ASCAP member Hank Jones has been a major force in jazz for six decades as a pianist, composer and bandleader. Now 84, Hank Jones -- a product of the same family which also produced his brothers, drummer Elvin Jones and the late trumpeter, Thad Jones -- continues to perform and record.
Commenting on the Jazz Wall of Fame, ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman said, "Jazz is truly the music of America, and like the movies, one of our greatest home-grown art forms. The sheer diversity and magnitude of the individuals we honor this year -- among them are composers, instrumentalists and vocalists, each one an innovator -- speaks to the richness of this living and endlessly evolving musical genre. ASCAP is pleased to add all of these legends to our Jazz Wall of Fame. And it is most appropriate to couple this salute to jazz greats of the past with a celebration of the jazz of the future via the talented recipients of The ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards."
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