For more info on the show or to purchase tickets please visit our website:
http://www.kpfk.org/pledgesupport/kpfk-hero-awards.html
This event launches the KPFK Hero Award and Tribute as an anuual fundraising event for KPFK. The long overdue celebration of the life and work of Billy Higgins has prompted an out pour from other legendary Jazz icons such as George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Charles Lloyd, Clayton Cameron, Poncho Sanchez, John Beasley, Leon Mobley, Kamau Daโood, Dwight Trible, Wil Calhoun, Phil Ranelin and special invited guests Charles Lloyd and Charlie Haden. John Densmore a founding member of the Doors will also be on hand to present a poem....
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For more info on the show or to purchase tickets please visit our website:
http://www.kpfk.org/pledgesupport/kpfk-hero-awards.html
This event launches the KPFK Hero Award and Tribute as an anuual fundraising event for KPFK. The long overdue celebration of the life and work of Billy Higgins has prompted an out pour from other legendary Jazz icons such as George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Charles Lloyd, Clayton Cameron, Poncho Sanchez, John Beasley, Leon Mobley, Kamau Daโood, Dwight Trible, Wil Calhoun, Phil Ranelin and special invited guests Charles Lloyd and Charlie Haden. John Densmore a founding member of the Doors will also be on hand to present a poem.
The KPFK Hero Award and Tribute is the brain child of Maggie LePique, radio personality and Music Director at KPFK. After a heartfelt on-air discussion with Charles Lloyd about Billy Higgins, LePique realized that we were nearing the 10 year anniversary of his death and thought how relevant it would be to celebrate his life and body of work. She enrolled Kasey Lovelace, Music Consultant and friend of the Higgins family to develop the idea into a full scale event. Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalinaโs Bar and Grill, honored her long-term friendship by donating her world renowned venue for the salute from Higginsโ esteemed contemporaries.
This event epitomizes the ideals of KPFK 90.7FM and its commitment to free-thinking, listener-sponsored radio and demonstrates why KPFK is the most powerful of the Pacifica stations and indeed is the most powerful public radio station in the Western United States.
Higgins, from Los Angeles, played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958. He then freelanced extensively with hard bop and other post-bop players, including Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Jackie McLean, Pat Metheny, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, David Murray, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Mal Waldron, and Cedar Walton. He was one of the house drummers for Blue Note Records and played on dozens of Blue Note albums of the 60's. On a whole, he played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk. In 1989, Higgins co-founded a cultural center, The World Stage, in Los Angeles to encourage and promote younger jazz musicians. The center provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as concerts and recordings. Higgins also taught in the jazz studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles.
For more info and tickets go to the Catalina Bar & Grill Jazz Club: www.catalinajazzclub.com
For any other info about this event please email: heroawards@kpfk.org
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