Doin' Something New


NEA Jazz Master David Baker conducting at the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Photo by Tom Pich
NEA Jazz Master David Baker conducting at the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Photo by Tom Pich
Washington, DC What happens when you start a career on an instrument, become one of the leading performers on it, and then can't play it any more? If you're NEA Jazz Master David Baker, you move on to something new. When he could no longer play trombone due to an accident to his jaw, Baker took up the cello (one of the more challenging instruments to take up in one?s 30s). He also began focusing on composing, as he discusses in this excerpt from this week's Art Works podcast. Listen to the full podcast, as Baker discusses following J.J. Johnson in school in Indianapolis, his relationship with bandleader and theoretician George Russell, and the immense importance of jazz, among other things. Visit us again next week for the Art Works podcast on NEA Opera Honors recipient Carlisle Floyd

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