Not a good pick, but not as outlandish as it's being made out to be. She actually had/has great jazz piano and composition/arranging chops, did two really good albums on Prestige in the mid-70's (when she was like 20) with sidemen such as Joe Henderson, Hadley Caliman, Ndugu Leon Chancler, etc. Did great work on a Leon Thomas tribute album put out by Babatunde Lea, with Dwight Trible and Ernie Watts. She's totally legit when she does jazz, not a joke at all. But she does not have the canon to be an appropriate choice for the award.
I just think that her pop stuff was just awful; to me you don't admit someone who can perform that horribly into Master status. It's almost an ethical violation.
I suspect it's the style of her pop stuff you don't like. It's actually very good for the style it's in, but "Forget Me Nots" etc. is for a very different audience than yours.
Three years back while at the Garden Stage at Monterrey, this firebrand saxophonist Lakecia Jackson was tearing the house down with a powerful performance. Between numbers she would make remarks about things, like it was John Coltrane's birthday, and hence they swung some Coltrane. One of her comments was about how Patrice Rushen had sold out. Dig, those two early albums by Rushen smoked. On one of those album covers we see Ms Rushen on that same Garden Stage next to a piano, smiling. So, yes, if Lakecia says she sold out, she sold out.
I hear you. For three years I lived in Portland OR where on my way to or from work I might turn on the "jazz" station only to hear, say Stevie Wonder. Now I really like Stevie Wonder, but that's not what I want to hear when I want to hear "jazz." Apparently those responsible for KMHD radio felt if it's a black musician it's jazz.
When baby needs shoes, you do what you have to do, but I take your point. Promoting Fannie May doesn't have the same gravitas as dumpster-diving to make ends meet.
OTOH why is jazz more rarefied than fiction? Wm Faulkner, Elmore Leonard, Cormac McCarthy, as only a couple of many examples, did work for Hollywood while doing no harm to their reputation as brilliant novelists.
I wouldn,t dream of commenting on Rushen's contributions to jazz, only suggesting that commercial success or failure doesn,t necessarily tarnish talent
With so many more deserving potential recipients, how the NEA voters landed on Patrice Rushen beggars explanation. Are you trying to curry favor with those other than jazz purists? If so, count me out.
very perverse logic, btw. Let's redefine what the blues is - the King Family, The Osmonds, The Cowsills. All of a sudden we have an enormous audience. We could now popularize anything this way.
Not a good pick, but not as outlandish as it's being made out to be. She actually had/has great jazz piano and composition/arranging chops, did two really good albums on Prestige in the mid-70's (when she was like 20) with sidemen such as Joe Henderson, Hadley Caliman, Ndugu Leon Chancler, etc. Did great work on a Leon Thomas tribute album put out by Babatunde Lea, with Dwight Trible and Ernie Watts. She's totally legit when she does jazz, not a joke at all. But she does not have the canon to be an appropriate choice for the award.
John your comment nails it precisely.
I just think that her pop stuff was just awful; to me you don't admit someone who can perform that horribly into Master status. It's almost an ethical violation.
I suspect it's the style of her pop stuff you don't like. It's actually very good for the style it's in, but "Forget Me Nots" etc. is for a very different audience than yours.
well, if Picasso had, mid career, started painting by numbers or did clown pics, we would think much less of him now.
Three years back while at the Garden Stage at Monterrey, this firebrand saxophonist Lakecia Jackson was tearing the house down with a powerful performance. Between numbers she would make remarks about things, like it was John Coltrane's birthday, and hence they swung some Coltrane. One of her comments was about how Patrice Rushen had sold out. Dig, those two early albums by Rushen smoked. On one of those album covers we see Ms Rushen on that same Garden Stage next to a piano, smiling. So, yes, if Lakecia says she sold out, she sold out.
I hear you. For three years I lived in Portland OR where on my way to or from work I might turn on the "jazz" station only to hear, say Stevie Wonder. Now I really like Stevie Wonder, but that's not what I want to hear when I want to hear "jazz." Apparently those responsible for KMHD radio felt if it's a black musician it's jazz.
This isn’t jazz? https://youtu.be/T0rn4AG7RYk?si=B8-uyEUWG_yUuTru
this isn't jazz, and anyone who sells themselves this cheaply does not deserved to be called a Jazz Master: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMHsNhQBvI
When baby needs shoes, you do what you have to do, but I take your point. Promoting Fannie May doesn't have the same gravitas as dumpster-diving to make ends meet.
OTOH why is jazz more rarefied than fiction? Wm Faulkner, Elmore Leonard, Cormac McCarthy, as only a couple of many examples, did work for Hollywood while doing no harm to their reputation as brilliant novelists.
I wouldn,t dream of commenting on Rushen's contributions to jazz, only suggesting that commercial success or failure doesn,t necessarily tarnish talent
it doesn't. But it bothers me when a musician pretends that they are doing it to expand their art. That seems dishonest.
With so many more deserving potential recipients, how the NEA voters landed on Patrice Rushen beggars explanation. Are you trying to curry favor with those other than jazz purists? If so, count me out.
Widen the "audience for jazz" by re-defining what jazz is.
There is no past and no future, just the present.
Mission accomplished.
widen the audience for Trump by redefining what Democracy is. Everybody's happy. There is no history and no future. Mission also accomplished.
Ironic, right?
right. Irony does not often transfer well in print.
very perverse logic, btw. Let's redefine what the blues is - the King Family, The Osmonds, The Cowsills. All of a sudden we have an enormous audience. We could now popularize anything this way.