Bill Clinton to receive award for jazz advocacy

By: 11 years ago

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, center right, and his wife former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center left, walk away after they attended their daughter Chelsea’s Oxford University graduation ceremony held at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, England, Saturday, May 10, 2014. Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate degree in international relations on Saturday from the prestigious British university. Her father was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford from 1968 to 1970. The graduation ceremony comes as her mother is considering a potential 2016 presidential campaign. AP

Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton — Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, center right, and his wife former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center left, walk away after they attended their daughter Chelsea’s Oxford University graduation ceremony held at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, England, Saturday, May 10, 2014. Chelsea Clinton received her doctorate degree in international relations on Saturday from the prestigious British university. Her father was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford from 1968 to 1970. The graduation ceremony comes as her mother is considering a potential 2016 presidential campaign. AP

NEW YORK— Former President Bill Clinton will get a chance to play his saxophone when the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz honors him with its Founder’s Award.

The Monk Institute announced Monday that Clinton will receive the award at a Nov. 9 concert at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater featuring Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater and others. The proceeds will support the institute’s free jazz education programs worldwide.

Hancock, the institute’s chairman, says Clinton honed “his creativity on the tenor saxophone” in public school music programs and has been “a jazz advocate for decades.”

The concert will include the finals of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, which this year is devoted to trumpeters.