Robin Lloyd

James Demaria, photographer, filmmaker and soul searcher, became friends with trumpeter Kermit Ruffins about 5 years ago. They decided to try to make a film about Kermit’s musical upbringing in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood.

The result, "Treme Life," turned into a love letter to New Orleans.

Read more on Groove Notes.

Trumpeter, composer, bandleader and jazz educator Clark Terry will be 91 years old this week. His 70-plus year career is being celebrated with a couple of biographical events.

Read more on Groove Notes.

We Four and Sonando was an inspired Earshot pairing Saturday at Town Hall. The concert was a tribute to two “restless geniuses” of jazz in one night.

Read more on Groove Notes.

The Jazz Journalists Association held its annual awards ceremony on Saturday June 11.  A new award category was added this year:  Jazz Hero.  According to JJA,  Jazz Heroes are activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz who have had significant impact in their local communities.

Honored as a Jazz Hero this year was Seattle's John Gilbreath, executive director of Earshot Jazz, radio host, artistic director of the Bellevue Jazz Festival and Seattle Art Museum's Art of Jazz concert series.  Congratulations, John!

See the complete list of this year's winners, including Lifetime Achievement in Jazz and Musician of the Year.

April 2011 is the 10th anniversary of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), presented by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.  

The annual celebration pays tribute to jazz both as an historic and living art form, and encourages educators, jazz societies, musicians and the general public throughout the country to take part.

Last night at Tula's, Earshot Jazz presented the annual Golden Ear Awards for top achievements in Jazz for the past year.  The Kora Band, whose members split their time between Seattle and Portland, picked up an award for Northwest Recording of the Year for their OA2  Records release, Cascades. 

Vocalist Gail Pettis was named Northwest Vocalist of the Year for the second time, and Bill Anschell, a pianist, composer and arranger was also honored for the second time as Northwest Instrumentalist of the Year. 

The full list of Golden Ear Award winners, including inductees to the Hall of Fame:

www.earshot.org/Events/golden.html

 Billie Holiday, considered one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time, will be inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame later this year, on September 30-October 1, 2011 in Seneca Falls, NY, the birthplace of the American Women's Rights Movement.  Holiday, known for her deeply moving and personal vocals, remains a popular musical legend more than fifty years after her death.

The National Women's Hall of Fame, formed in 1969, has inducted 236 women including vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith.

Herman Ernest III, the beloved drummer and musical director for Dr. John lost his nearly 3-year-long battle with cancer on Sunday morning.  

A funeral service will be held in New Orleans on Saturday, March 12 at First Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1228 Arts Street, preceded by a viewing at the church starting at 8 a.m. Burial will follow at St. Louis No. 3, 3421 Esplanade Avenue.

Today at the White House, President Obama will present the National Medal of Arts to ten creative Americans, including Sonny Rollins and Quincy Jones.

"I'm very happy that jazz, the greatest American music, is being recognized through this honor, and I'm grateful to accept this award on behalf of the gods of our music," Rollins said of the award.

Other honorees include author Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird), actress Meryl Streep and singer/songwriter James Taylor.

Watch the ceremony today at 10:45am PT (1:45pm ET) at www.whitehouse.gov/live

Guitarist, singer, radio host and snappy dresser John Pizzarelli joins us for a Studio Session on Thursday, March 3 at 12:15pm.  Here's a clip of his appearance on the PBS  show "Legends of Jazz."

I'll be playing Nina Simone's "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" today at noon PT to start the Blue Plate Special.

Nina Simone's music inspired many, including a claymation artist.  This video comes from Aardman Animations, the folks who make Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. 

Does anyone else think the bass player in this video looks like George Mraz?

Reverend Gary Davis was a legendary country blues/gospel guitarist and songwriter.  His song If I Had My Way was performed by the Peter, Paul and Mary and by the Grateful Dead (as Samson and Delilah).

Peter Yarrow's daughter Bethany and her musical partner Rufus Cappadocia played it for our Studio Session back in November.

Ron Hudson, internationally known jazz photograper and Seattle resident, passed away yesterday.  He had a career spanning 30-plus years full of breathtaking images and music.  A memorial service is being planned. 

A collection of images from Ron's website

Ron Hudson's book Right Down Front

Irma Thomas celebrates her 70th birthday today.  She's been enthralling audiences for 50 years now, just as she delighted us with her Studio Session at KPLU last October.

Robin Lloyd will be playing a selection from that session on today's Blue Plate Special starting at noon.