The sweet sounds of jazz will fill the spring air throughout the month of April. The Jazz Arts Group of Columbus (JAG) will help celebrate the 10th anniversary of Jazz Appreciation Month locally with a host of activities all month long. Each April, Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) shines the spotlight on the extraordinary history of jazz and its importance in American culture. Through concerts, lectures, films, and other programs, JAM encourages people of all ages to attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, study the music, and support institutional jazz programs.
The Jazz Academy will also present a series of “Cool School” workshops in conjunction with the “Birth of the Cool” concert event, including a month-long Guide-by-Cell tour inspired by the cool jazz movement and featuring the work of artists Man Ray, Romare Bearden, Stephen Longstreet and more. The Columbus Jazz Orchestra will salute the important musical figures that got their start at the Apollo including female jazz greats like Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Gladys Knight, and others in “A Night at the Apollo.” And closing out the month will be the multi-media tribute “Birth of the Cool” – Jazz Arts Group’s recreation of the iconic 1949-50 Miles Davis recording sessions and a retrospective of mid-century art, design, and music in partnership with Denny Griffith and the Columbus College of Art & Design.
Jazz Arts Group will also hold a month-long voting campaign to complete the
playlist of the “CJO by Request” show in May. The finale of the Columbus
Jazz Orchestra 2010-11 season will allow the audience to program the entire
playlist, including a last chance online campaign to choose one of three
additional songs with their dollars. With a minimum contribution of $10,
voters can help secure a spot in the playlist for their requests, and help
support the operations of the Jazz Arts Group. The request with the most
dollars at the end of the month will be declared the winner, and each person
that votes will be entered into a contest to win a signed score of the final
request!
Jazz Arts Group’s activities celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month:
* Jazz Academy Guide-by-Cell tour “Birth of the Cool” at the Columbus
Museum of Art from April 1 – 30, during museum hours.
* Jazz Academy workshop “Cool School: Jazz & Poetry” led by Williams
Evans at the Thurber House on April 2, 4:00 PM and at the Columbus Museum of
Art on April 16, 4:00 PM.
* Inside Track series concert featuring Trombone Shorty & Orleans
Avenue with Stretch Lefty at the Capitol Theatre – Riffe Center on Sunday,
April 3, 7:30 PM.
* PBJ & Jazz series concert featuring Joe Hunter at the Lincoln
Theatre ballroom on Saturday, April 9, 11:00 AM.
* Columbus Jazz Orchestra’s “A Night at the Apollo” featuring Marva
Hicks at the Southern Theatre from April 13 – 17.
* Jazz Academy workshop “Cool School: The Birth of the Cool” led by
Mark Flugge at the Jazz Academy on April 16, 2:00 PM.
* Inside Track series concert “Birth of the Cool” featuring Mark
Flugge at the Lincoln Theatre on Friday, April 29 & Saturday, April 30, 8:00
PM.
For ticket and registration information on Jazz Arts Group performances and
Jazz Academy workshops, please visit www.jazzartsgroup.org.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will mark the 10th
annual Jazz Appreciation Month in April with a month-long celebration of
jazz featuring performances, talks, tours and family-oriented events. The
museum launched JAM in 2001 as an annual event that pays tribute to jazz
both as a historic and living American art form. It has since grown to
include celebrations in all 50 states and 40 other countries. This year’s
10th anniversary programming will examine the legacies of women in jazz and
will kick off with a special donation ceremony related to the nation’s
first, integrated, female big band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm,
founded in 1937 at the Piney Woods School, in Mississippi. The month-long
jazz celebration will also highlight Mary Lou Williams, an innovative jazz
pianist, composer and arranger who performed with Duke Ellington, among
others.