In fact, ex-New Yorker Dee Dee Bridgewater used to go to hear Brackeen at The Knickerbocker in Greenwich Village just for the solos.

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Also honoured with the UN amabassadorial post are jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nobel medicine prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini, actress Gina Lollobrigida and South African singer Miriam Makeba.

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That evening UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock will headline a concert with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Marcus Miller, Hugh Masekela, Lionel Loueke, Tania Maria, Barbara Hendricks, Gerald Clayton, Terri Lyne Carrington, China Moses, Ben Williams, Antonio Hart and others.

UNESCO: OFFICE IN DHAKA

That same evening, another concert will be held at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, hosted by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and featuring Richard Bona, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Danilo Perez, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Zakir Hussain, Angelique Kidjo, Lang Lang, Romero Lubambo, Shankar Mahadevan, Wynton Marsalis, Hugh Masekela, Christian McBride, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Hiromi and others.

UNESCO: OFFICE IN DHAKA