MacFarquhar Receives Prize from Asian Council

On behalf of the China and Inner Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Roderick MacFarquhar, Leroy B. Williams Professor of History and Political Science, has been awarded the 1999 Joseph Levenson Prize on Twentieth Century China. The award is given in recognition of his book Origins of the Cultural Revolution, 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961-66.

The prize includes an award of $1,500 and a citation, both of which were presented at the Awards Ceremony of the 1999 AAS meeting held last week in Boston.

College Musicians Participate in Jazz Festival

Harvard undergraduate musical combos got together last month at the Harvard Club of Boston (downtown) for its Third Annual Jazz Festival. Organized by Director of Bands at Harvard Thomas Everett, the Festival included five student combos ranging from duos to quartets.

Participating were the Cousin Trio, the Crimson Jazz Group, the Danny Fox Trio, the DeWolfe Trio, and the Scott Roy/Tyler Wood Duo. Each ensemble performed the Duke Ellington standard "In A Mellow Tone" (in honor of Ellington's centennial celebration) and two additional compositions. Several students wrote original compositions. Other jazz pieces performed included the music of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, as well as the traditional ballads "I Will Wait For You," "Black Coffee," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most."

The outstanding ensemble, the Danny Fox Trio (Irwin Park '00, tenor saxophone; Danny Fox '02, piano; and Edward Perez '00, bass) received a cash award, as did all the ensembles. Ted Pease, a professor from Berklee College of Music, whose texts on theory, composition, and arranging have become standard in the field, served as an adjudicator offering each group constructive criticism.

A packed house of Harvard Club members and undergraduates enjoyed the evening of contrasting jazz.

Housing Center's Retsinas Named Director at Bank

Nicholas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, was appointed by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston to a four-year term as a public-interest director and will serve as chairman of the board for the remainder of 1999. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is a member-owned wholesale bank for housing finance in the six New England states.