KPFK 90.7 Launches the Inaugural Hero Awards & Tribute

A Benefit Awards Series for L.A.-Based Pacifica Station KPFK

Honoring Jazz Musician Billy Higgins

Live! Charles Lloyd, George Duke, and Stanley Clarke
with Music Director, John Beasley. Including performances by Will Calhoun,
Clayton Cameron, Kamau Daaood, John Densmore, Leon Mobley, Phil Ranelin,
Eric Reed, Poncho Sanchez, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Dwight Trible and Trevor Ware.

 May 1, 2011 at Catalina Bar and Grill

6725 West Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California 90028

$125 Admission and VIP Reception: http://tktwb.tw/hwfRS6

$75 General Admission: http://tktwb.tw/eLzzJy

April 19, 2011 – North Hollywood, CA. KPFK 90.7 is Pacifica Radio for Southern California, known for its mission to further peace and social justice and to lift up the community and celebrate excellence through music and the performing arts. This commitment is exemplified by the launch of this the 1st Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute Concert on May 1, 2011 at Catalina Bar and Grill, 6725 West Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, California 90028, honoring Jazz musician Billy Higgins. The event will begin with a VIP reception at 5:30pm, followed by a Musical Tribute that starts at 7:00pm. The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute is a new fundraising series for the listener-sponsored radio station which, through its broadcast operations, is dedicated to encouraging the creative skills and energies and serving the cultural welfare of the community. Billy Higgins’ life and work embodied these goals through his musicianship and prolific recordings, his role as Jazz educator at UCLA, and his mentoring of young musicians at The World Stage. When considered as a whole, these activities reveal a profound love of art and an active desire to connect the diverse communities of Los Angeles through music, making Billy Higgins a natural first Hero Award recipient.

This groundbreaking and long-overdue celebration of the life and work of Billy Higgins has prompted an outpouring from other legendary Jazz icons who will perform in tribute to Higgins – Charles Lloyd, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, John Beasley, Will Calhoun, Clayton Cameron, Kamau Daaood, Leon Mobley, Phil Ranelin, Eric Reed, Poncho Sanchez, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Dwight Trible, Trevor Ware and a special video tribute by Cedar Walton. John Densmore, one of the founding members of The Doors, will also be on hand to present a moving poem to Higgins. The entire night will be hosted by KPFK’s own Mark Maxwell and the TheJazzCat.net’s LeRoy Downs. KPFK DJ Carlos Niño, host of Spaceways Radio, will spin during the VIP reception.

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 in the 60s. On a whole, he played on over 700 recordings, including recordings of rock and funk. In an effort to encourage and promote younger Jazz musicians, Higgins co-founded in 1989 The World Stage, a culture center in Los Angeles that provides workshops in performance and writing, as well as facilitating concerts and recordings. Higgins also taught in the Jazz Studies program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

KPFK 90.7 FM is a member station of the Pacifica Foundation, which consists of five radio stations, over 100 affiliate stations, and the Pacifica Radio Archives, responsible for preserving the voices of artists, activists and progressive journalists since 1949, when the foundation was established by peace activist Lew Hill. To further peace through broadcasting activities, Hill determined that radio sponsored by individual listeners would be the best way to ensure editorial freedom. The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute is a means to both raise funds and advance the Pacifica Mission. The idea for the series was the result of a heartfelt on-air conversation between KPFK Music Director Maggie LePique and musician Charles Lloyd about Billy Higgins, during which LePique thought it would be relevant for KPFK 90.7 to mark the upcoming 10^th anniversary of Higgins’ death by celebrating his life and body of work. She enlisted Kasey Lovelace, Music Consultant and friend of the Higgins family to develop the idea into a full-scale event. Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalina Bar and Grill, honored her long friendship with LePique and Higgins by donating her world-renowned venue for the tribute by Higgins’ esteemed contemporaries.
Event Page at KPFK.org: http://bit.ly/dNRTAu

EVENT CONTACT:

Kasey Lovelace, Media Consultant

KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute

818-331-6217 cell

KPFK MEDIA CONTACT:

Maggie LePique, Music Director

KPFK Radio 90.7 FM

Ph. (818) 985-2711 ext. 326

Email: mlepique@kpfk.org