News Archive
When jazz drummer-composer Dafnis Prieto answered his telephone’s ring one day in October 2011 to find the director of the MacArthur Foundation on the line — informing him he’d been awarded one of the creativity fostering organization’s prestigious fellowships — he was “shocked, elated, humbled and proud all at the…
Dave Douglas
“You have to develop your language somewhere. For me, that happens when I’m composing. Putting something on paper means ‘I wouldn’t mind hearing this again.’ That takes guts and develops the inner ear,” explains Dave Douglas. The 44-year trumpeter is a musician of many parts with almost two-dozen albums available…
BMI Jazz Giants Score in Down Beat 2007 Critics Poll
BMI composers dominated the 2007 Down Beat Critics Poll, winning 69% of the awards. Celebrated bassist and bandleader Dave Holland was a multiple winner, taking home honors both for Bassist of the Year and Band of the Year for his quintet. The late pianist Andrew Hill was inducted into the…
BMI Awards $10K Monk Prize to Jazz Pianist Kálmán Oláh
Congratulations to jazz pianist Kálmán Oláh, grand prize winner of the 2006 BMI-sponsored Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composer's Competition. The $10,000 award was presented during the Thelonious Monk Institute's 20th Anniversary Gala held Sept. 20 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Oláh's winning work, performed by…
BMI Jazz Greats Sweep ‘Downbeat’ Critics Poll
Once again, BMI members swept the jazz world's annual "best of" list presented by Downbeat magazine, the voice of jazz since 1934. BMI's dedication to the advancement of original forms of American music exists as a cornerstone of the organization's very conception, and remains a priority today.