Jazz legend bassist Percy Heath will be honored May 17 and 18 by his hometown Wilmington, NC, with a star and an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
At 4 p.m., Friday, May 17, Mr. Heath will be recognized by his hometown with a Walk of Fame star at Walk of Fame Plaza at the Cotton Exchange in historic downtown Wilmington near the banks of the Cape Fear River. A public reception, hosted by the Williston Alumni Association, will be held at 5 p.m. in the Williston Auditorium at Cape Fear Museum.
During afternoon commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 18, at UNC Wilmington's Trask Coliseum, he will receive the honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree.
Interestingly, Percy Heath's brother, saxophonist and educator Jimmy Heath, will receive an honorary Doctor of Music Degree on May 24, 2002, from the Juilliard School in New York City.
In its 63rd commencement ceremony, UNCW will award 1,176 baccalaureate degrees and 135 graduate degrees in two ceremonies. The first ceremony at 9:30 a.m. will be for 474 undergraduates and 77 master's degree candidates of the Cameron School of Business and the Watson School of Education. The 1:30 p.m. ceremony will be for 702 undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences and 58 master's degree candidates.
Responding to student wishes to walk across the stage and shake hands with a top university official, there will be no keynote graduation speaker this year.
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Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1923 and a graduate of Williston High School, Percy Heath developed a taste for jazz because of his mother's interest in the music. Philadelphia, where Heath and his family later moved, offered exposure to jazz on a multitude of radio stations and in countless performance venues. Heath initially played violin, but switched to bass, studying the instrument formally at the Granoff School of Music. He also trained informally with jazz bass master Charlie Mingus. Acquiring a reputation as a precise and passionate bassist, Heath flourished in the 1940s and early 50s accompanying such jazz giants as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis.
Taking time out from music during World War II, he had the honor of being selected as one of the distinguished group of African-American fighter pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen.
Musical talent did not grace only Percy and his mother: Percy's younger brothers Jimmy and Albert ("Tootie") Heath also became jazz musicians, on saxophone and drums respectively. In 1951, Percy Heath helped found the Modern Jazz Quartet. For the next 23 years, the Quartet toured and recorded, playing standards as well as original compositions, Heath's sinuous and enchanting bass lines anchoring the group's sound. The Quartet disbanded temporarily in the 1970s. At that time, Percy, Jimmy, Tootie, and an associate (Stanley Cowell) formed the Heath Brothers band. In 1982, Percy returned to the Modern Jazz Quartet. When pianist John Lewis, musical director of the Quartet, died not too long ago, Heath became the sole surviving member of what had always been a premier jazz ensemble.
Heath was nominated for the honorary doctorate by Dr. Denis Carter, associate vice chancellor for planning and academic outreach, and Dr. Maurice Martinez, professor of specialty studies in the UNCW Watson School of Education and host of North Carolina Blue Notes, a WHQR public radio-produced series about jazz musicians with Tar Heel roots. (Photo of Dr. Martinez and Mr. Heath suitable for downloading is available on the UNCW "What's New" Web site, www.uncwil.edu/news.)
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, the Celebrate Wilmington organization, and all of Wilmington itself, are proud and delighted to welcome back to Wilmington this titan of indigenous American music.
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The University of North Carolina at Wilmington is a comprehensive university with 10,600 students and is known for providing an outstanding undergraduate experience. It also offers master's programs that impact the region's needs and issues. UNCW is distinguished from other comprehensive universities through its promise to create people who are educated for the 21st century who have a sense of civic responsibility and leadership. That promise is grounded in a unique academic focus that connects student learning in and out of the classroom across four broad themes: regional engagement, natural environment, information technology, and internationalization. For more information, visit our Web site www.uncwil.edu.
Celebrate Wilmington, created in 1994, is a collaboration among the Arts Council of the Lower Cape Fear River, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and the Wilmington community generally, to promote and expand multicultural arts in the region. Previous artists awarded stars on the Walk of Fame include Roman Gabriel, Minnie Evans, Hugh Morton, Henry Bacon, Frank Capra, Jr., Catarina Jarboro, Robert C. Ruark, Jr., Althea Gibson, David Brinkley, and Charlie Daniels.
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