Huge congratulations to our “fearless leader” Flip on such a well-deserved honor, what a great opportunity to show how much we appreciate all that you do for our youth and our community.
The 2014 LA Jazz Tribute Awards sent music echoing well into the night at the beautiful Alex Theatre as we paid tribute to Shelly and Flip Manne. The Tamir Hendelman Trio with Sammy Miller, Kevin Kanner and the talented Katie Thiroux on bass effortlessly tied the first half of the evening together while Tierney Sutton and Carmen Bradford got the show off to an amazing start with their divine vocals. Our lively (albeit limping!) musical director John Clayton led the way through an incredible musical celebration of Shelly; from the Alumni Trio featuring Mike Wofford, Chuck Berghofer, and Clayton Cameron, to the fun Drum Tribute arranged by Paul Kreibich and featuring Peter Erskine, Clayton Cameron, Kevin Tanner, Sammy Miller, and Alex Smith. The standout surprise performance of the evening would have to be Sarah Reich’s tap dance tribute to Flip; she was electric! Our Shelly Manne All Star Big Band closed the show off with an impressive set; their take on “The Pink Panther” was a clear crowd favorite. A special part of the evening was also the presentation of the Shelly Manne Memorial Tribute Award to young trombonist Nick Lee who also performed with Tamir’s trio. The new format was a huge success all around and we will be tapping our feet to the memories for days.
Special appreciation to our Tribute Host, The Herb Alpert Foundation, and our friends Jackie & Howard Banchik, Carole & James Barrall, Cathy & Howard Stone, Barbara Abell, Michael Lazaroff with The Jazz Cruise, Remo Inc., KJAZZ, Helen Erickson, John & Martha Mandel, Flip Manne, Albert & Angela Nassi, Lois Saffian, Cecilia Brown, Jim & Anita Bennie, Anastasia Mann, Local 47 Musicians Union, Cherie Mann and Tim Simonec for your generous support.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for continuing to share these special moments with us, and for supporting the perpetuation of jazz culture in our community, here’s to the music!
