Salute to Jazz at the Grammy Museum

Held in the Grammy Museums cozy performance space, the evening felt like a more scaled-back affair compared with last years glitzy celebration of Blue Note Records at Club Nokia, but the fans making up the packed house (which included ever-dapper soul legend Solomon Burke) were no less devout as seats were tough to come by on a cold, damp night.

The Grammys tradition of such broad salutes can be a problematic thing at times, particularly in the case of jazz, which seems to have acquired an addiction to such tributes in recent years. But theres no arguing their choice of honorees in Burrell, a nearly 60-year recording veteran who helped define the sound of jazz guitar in the post-bop era.

After a brisk opening piece by high school prodigies selected from around the country that made up this years Grammy Jazz Ensembles, the evenings performances kicked off with local guitarist Anthony Wilson leading the young band through Kennys Sound, a selection from Burrells 1963 recording with organist Jimmy Smith, “Blue Bash!" Though there was no Hammond B-3 on hand, the large ensemble formed a bright, brassy bed for Wilson, who raced through a variety of liquid-smooth runs with a rounded tone that expertly showed how guitarists of today have built upon Burrells sound.

After hosts Tommy Hawkins and Bubba Jackson from local jazz station KKJZ-FM (88.1) worked the room with a genial sort of Hope and Crosby routine, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow presented the stately and elegant Burrell with his honors. The director of jazz studies at UCLA and longtime teacher of its “Ellingtonia" class, the 78-year-old Burrell offered his young backing band career advice through his idol Duke Ellington as he picked up his tobacco-colored guitar for a buoyant take on Be Yourself.

Flutist Hubert Laws joined the guitarist for a take on The Peacemaker, part of a larger suite Burrell wrote for Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche that showcased the guitarist's more orchestral leanings. Effortlessly cool in dark sunglasses, Laws kept Grammy Ensembles director Justin DiCioccio of the Manhattan School of Music on his toes as he wandered through a fluid, contemplative solo at the song's close.