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Herb Alpert To Be Honored By President Obama!

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Jazz Fan

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The White House announced today that Herb will be among those honored with the National Medal of Arts Award, along with George Lucus, Elaine May & Renee Fleming & others. The ceremony will take place next week at the White House in the East Room. Congrats to Herb on getting this prestigious honor!

gI_147298_Herb%20Alpert%20copy.jpg


Shere Siegel
 
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George Lucas, Frank Deford, Herb Alpert among 2 dozen to be honored for arts, humanities work


By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, July 3, 6:00 PM
WASHINGTON — Musician Herb Alpert, sportswriter Frank Deford and filmmaker George Lucas are among 24 people who have been chosen to receive national medals for their contributions in the fields of the arts and humanities.
President Barack Obama will award the medals next Wednesday (July 10) during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

Playwright Tony Kushner, musician Renee Fleming and the Washington Performing Arts Society have also been selected to receive a National Medal of Arts.
Other recipients of the National Humanities Medal include author Joan Didion and actress Anna Deavere Smith, along with Kay Ryan, a former poet laureate of the U.S., and Robert B. Silvers, editor and co-founder of The New York Review of Books.
A total of 23 individuals and one organization will be recognized.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...b31bf2-e42b-11e2-bffd-37a36ddab820_story.html
 
It's about time. And nice that Tony Kushner will be amongst the honorees, too, since Mr Alpert was a producer for Angels om America.
 
It's also neat that musician Allen Toussaint is also being honored, since he wrote the song "Whipped Cream" (under the pen name of Naomi Neville).



Capt. Bacardi
 
HIP HOP HOORAAAY! This is great news! About time that Herb got this recognition! However, let me get a clarification here: this is not the medal that that is given out yearly by the president for the contribution of an artist to the arts,where they have a televised gala ceremony(like what Led Zeppelin got last year) is it? Or is this just a different prize, and it's a private ceremony in an office in The White House? Would like to know!

Anyway, I'm glad that Herb is officially getting acknowledged for his vast contributions to American popular culture. It's about time!
 
jazzdre said:
HIP HOP HOORAAAY! This is great news! About time that Herb got this recognition! However, let me get a clarification here: this is not the medal that that is given out yearly by the president for the contribution of an artist to the arts,where they have a televised gala ceremony(like what Led Zeppelin got last year) is it? Or is this just a different prize, and it's a private ceremony in an office in The White House? Would like to know!

Anyway, I'm glad that Herb is officially getting acknowledged for his vast contributions to American popular culture. It's about time!
Click to expand...

No, this a ceremony that takes place at the White House in the daytime & no gala. It's the Kennedy Centre Honors that has the gala & it takes place every December. Congratulations to Herb on getting this prestigious honor!

Shere Siegel
 
Well, whenever this takes place--day or night--I'm glad to be finally tipping my sombrero to Herb in congratulations for receiving this honor; I know, I say it's about time, too--but what better than now?!


-- Dave :tiphat:
 
FYI

The ceremony will be streamed live: http://whitehouse.gov/live. CSPAN does not currently show its full broadcast calendar for the 10th, as their first commitment is to live broadcast of the House and Senate, but I suspect they'll play it at some point, too.

So if you were doing producing or doing a media report, what Alpert tune would you segue? "Song for Herb" would be mine - it has long been a favorite of mine.

Regards, David Smedley
 
It's about time Herb got recognized for all the donations to music and music education he has contributed to. Congratulations to a well deserved and wonderful musician!!!
 
Congratulations Herb. You must have felt as good as a musician getting a Herb Alpert Arts award. What a year. ...See you at the Hollywood Bowl. P.S. Wear your medal :righton: Rim Kasputis.
 
It's about time Herb has gotten some recognition for his work in supporting the arts. Just think, he has supported Berklee School of Music, UCLA music department & his last achievement with Harlem School of the Arts. Not to mention all the individual scholarships and his Educational Village. Herb is doing the work the government refuses to do by keeping arts programs alive and this country is better off for it!!! This honor was long overdue! Congratulations, Herb!!
 
Here's a nice article from DownBeat magazine: http://downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=2169

Herb Alpert, Allen Toussaint Receive National Medals of Arts

Posted 7/10/2013

On July 10, President Obama awarded the 2012 National Medal of Arts to trumpeter Herb Alpert and pianist Allen Toussaint. Alpert was cited for his varied contributions to music and the fine arts, and Toussaint was acknowledged for his contributions as a composer, producer and performer. The two musicians were among 12 National Medal of Arts recipients who were honored in the East Room of the White House by the President and First Lady.

The annual National Medal of Arts awards were established by Congress in 1984 to honor artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The National Council of the Arts and the Arts Endowment’s advisory council recommends individuals and organizations to the president.

“My dreams of being a professional artist never included the Medal of Arts Award,” said Alpert. “I am deeply touched.”

Alpert is a music icon, accomplished sculptor and painter, and through his creativity and inspiration, he has enriched America’s cultural life. The musician behind the Tijuana Brass phenomenon and co-founder of A&M Records, which launched several storied careers, Alpert is also a philanthropist who shares the power of arts education with young people across our country.

As a multi–disciplinary artist, Alpert has never stopped being a musician. He has sold more than 72 million albums over the course of his career. An eight–time Grammy winner, Alpert is preparing to release his 34th studio album, Steppin’ Out (Almo Sounds), and he will perform with his wife, singer Lani Hall, at the Hollywood Bowl on July 17. His art exhibition In·ter·course is currently at the Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station, in Santa Monica, Calif.

Alpert and Hall are mutually involved in the work of The Herb Alpert Foundation, which was formed in the early 1980s to support music and arts education, jazz studies and organizations that work toward creating a compassionate and empathetic society. It has given out more than $125 million in grants.

As an all-around musical eminence who emerged in New Orleans in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Toussaint’s greatest contribution was in not allowing the city’s old-school r&b traditions to die out while keeping pace with developments in the rapidly evolving worlds of soul and funk. He brought the New Orleans “carnival” sound to the national stage.

Toussaint came into his own as a studio auteur for the Minit and Instant labels from 1960–’63. He produced, arranged and sometimes wrote a string of classic sides for such New Orleans r&b artists as Lee Dorsey, Jessie Hill, Ernie K-Doe and Chris Kenner. After a stint in the Army from 1963–’65, Toussaint picked up where he left off, forming Sansu, a production company, with partner Marshall Sehorn. A string of soul/r&b singles from singer Lee Dorsey followed in 1965–’66, including “Ride Your Pony,” “Working In The Coal Mine” and “Holy Cow.”

Toussaint groomed the top-drawer New Orleans quartet the Meters, which served as the Sansu house band while releasing funky instrumentals under their own name. In 1973, Toussaint and Sehorn built their own Sea-Saint studio, which attracted local musicians like Dr. John and the Neville Brothers and other established stars. Labelle recorded its 1975 chart-topper “Lady Marmalade” at Sea-Saint with Toussaint. Various Toussaint-penned songs (published under his own name and the pseudonym Naomi Neville) have been covered by Alpert, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs, Little Feat, Al Hirt and Glen Campbell.

Toussaint has recorded under his own name as well. His solo discography includes the instrumental albumThe Wild Sound Of New Orleans (RCA), released in 1958. Two of his early instrumentals later became standards for other artists: “Java,” a 1964 hit for Hirt, and “Whipped Cream,” which served as the title track of the third album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in 1965. Toussaint cut a trio of contemporary r&b albums for Warner Bros. in the 1970s.

Toussaint’s most recent recordings include the Grammy-nominated 2006 pop/vocal album The River in Reverse (Verve Forecast), a collaboration with Elvis Costello, and the 2009 album The Bright Mississippi(Nonesuch), for which Toussaint assembled a band of New Orleans all-stars and other highly regarded jazz players.

On Sept. 24, Rounder will release Songbook, featuring performances of 25 of Toussaint’s songs captured on CD and DVD. The album and accompanying DVD were recorded over two nights in the fall of 2009 at the venerable New York City nightspot Joe’s Pub.

Toussaint’s work has been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists, and he has appeared nationally on TV and radio, notably in the HBO series “Treme.”
For a complete list of the 2012 National Medal of Arts awardees, click here.1


AllenToussaint-HerbAlpert_2169.jpg




Capt. Bacardi
 
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