Jazz Week History
2009
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Officially proclaimed by both Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons, the third annual celebration of Jazz Week featured nearly 200 events in 86 venues throughout the Greater Boston area. From April 25 to May 3 visiting international artists and Boston-based musicians performed jazz of every style for audiences of all ages. More free events than ever before made Jazz Week '09 the perfect time to answer the question posed by the year's theme, "What's your jazz?"
Some hIghlights of the week:
- Jazz Week @ the Boston Public Library, the third annual series of free weekday and evening programs at the Main Library in Copley Square, which included the well attended Boston premiere of "The Music Inn," the historic film of masters who shaped the course of jazz, and JazzBoston's new program, Riffs & Raps II, an interactive introduction to the sounds and experiences of jazz, presented to an enchanted audience of 200 very young children
- Chefs Jam for Jazz Week, a week of specially priced, jazz-inspired lunches and dinners at some of the city's most popular restaurants, presented by JazzBoston in partnership with the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Jazz Meets Salsa, a special Latin jazz concert and dance party, with a jazz cocktail hour and salsa and swing dance lessons at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
- Free jazz at the State House, a performance presented by JazzBoston at the Grand Staircase as part of the Governor's Lunchtime Cultural Series
- Jazz Week @ Fenway Park, with a jazz rendition of the National Anthem by trumpeter and Aardvark Jazz Orchestra Director Mark Harvey and pre-game entertainment inside the gates by a jazz ensemble from the Boston Arts Academy.
Allston joined the Boston neighborhoods hosting Jazz Week events while outside the city Quincy, Salem, Framingham, and Malden also participated for the first time. New Jazz Week venues included Amazing Things Arts Center, Icarus Restaurant, the Java Room, the Squealing Pig, Moonstruck Gourmet & Café, Restaurant Laura, Sky, Tryst Restaurant, the Bar at the End of the World, and Petit Robert Bistro.
For a photo gallery of scenes from Jazz Week '09, click here.
The extensive promotion of this annual area-wide celebration of the music was made possible by the generous support of our Jazz Week '09 Sponsors and Partners. New England Conservatory, celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Jazz Studies Program, was the Primary Sponsor of Jazz Week '09. Media sponsors were the Phoenix Media/Communications Group and WGBH 89.7.
2008
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For nine days from April 26 to May 4, thousands of music fans took in over 200 jazz performances in 86 venues throughout the Greater Boston area. Called an event that "has grown in size and stature" by the Boston Herald, Jazz Week '08 offered free concerts of all styles by visiting international artists and Boston-based musicians alike, family and multi-media events, and one-of-a-kind performances.
Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Dorchester, the South End, Hyde Park, and Back Bay were among the Boston neighborhoods that hosted events, in addition to Cambridge, Somerville, Belmont, Brookline, Acton, Wellesley, and Newton. Participating for the first time were the Plough and Stars, Vernissage Restaurant, Sally O'Brien's Bar & Grill, Starbucks, Roxbury Community College, Boston University, Boston College, ARTSomerville, 711 Bistro & Sushi Bar, Biff's Lounge, the Sherborn Inn, Outpost 186, the Middle East, Redline Restaurant, and the Mission Bar & Grill.
In a rare treat for music and poetry aficionados alike, JazzBoston's second annual benefit concert, "A Kaleidoscopic View of Jazz in Boston," featured former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky in only his second jazz performance ever, with internationally acclaimed percussionist Rakalam Bob Moses and saxophonist Andrew Urbina. The concert's proceeds were shared by the John Coltrane Memorial Concert Educational Outreach Program, New England Conservatory's Community Collaborations, Performances, and Partnerships Program, and the Berklee College of Music City Music Program.
Among the other highlights of the week were a performance at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center by 2008 MacArthur Fellow and Marsalis Music recording artist Miguel Zenón; a special intereactive family event, How Jazz Happens, at the Regattabar, featuring pianist Pierre Hurel; a painters' exhibit at the Piano Factory with jazz-themed work by Paul Goodnight, Ralph Beach, Taina Vargas, and others, accompanied by jazz music and dance performances; and a concert by the Semanya McCord Quartet with guest Stan Strickland presented by Highland Jazz at Newton South High School.
Jazz Week @ the Boston Public Library returned with a series of free weekday and evening seminars at the Main Library in Copley Square, including a special interactive presentation for high school students by Emmett G. Price III, From Jazz to Hip-Hop and Beyond: Why Jazz Matters in the 21st Century, which was video-recorded by WGBH for its Forum Network. Jazz Week @ Borders was also back with a series of free concerts at the bookstore's Copley Square location, presented by JazzBoston in partnership with the Berklee College of Music's Professional Performane Division.
Other artists appearing during Jazz Week '08 included Dave Bryant, Terri Lyne Carrington, Eguie Castrillo, Arni Cheatham, Dominique Eade, Garrison Fewell, Laszlo Gardony, Kenny Garrett, Jim Hobbs and the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, Greg Hopkins, Grace Kelly, James Merenda, Yoko Miwa, Myanna, Najee, Jason Palmer, Rachel Price, Kurtis Rivers, Ray Santisi, Al Vega, and Frank Wilkins.
Click here to see photos from the 2008 scene.
To see some of the media coverage of Jazz Week '08, click here.
2007
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Boston's first Jazz Week in 25 years kicked off on April 21, 2007, with an "All-Star Jazz Blowout" concert at Berklee Performance Center featuring drummer Max Weinberg, Band Leader of NBC TV's "Late Night With Conan O'Brian," along with Phil Wilson directing an all-star band of faculty and students from Berklee, NEC, Harvard, MIT, Wellesley, Longy, and Brandeis. Also on the program were New Orleans singer Henri Smith with reedman Nat Simpkins and Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet with Allan Chase, Cercie Miller, Tom Hlll, and Joel Springer. Part of the proceeds from the show went to the Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village in New Orleans.
Among the other highlights of the week were a free "Perspectives on Jazz" seminar series on weekdays at the Boston Public Library, covering topics such as "Jazz Cross-Currents," "Jazz in the South End: Then and Now," and "Jazz: Black America's Gift to the Nation and the World." Panelists and lecturers included Joe Lovano, Eric Jackson, Ron Gill, Al Vega, Arni Cheatham, Hy Lockhart, Mae Arnette, Dick Vacca, and Emmett G. Price III.
A pair of "JazzBoston Family Initiative: Jazz for All Ages" events bookended Jazz Week 2007, the first at the Center for Latino Arts in the South End, featuring percussionists Anita Quinto and Marcus Santos, and the second at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education with vocalist Dominique Eade.
The Borders bookstore in the Back Bay hosted five nights of free in-store jazz concerts from 7 to 8 PM. Performing in the bookstore's café during "Jazz Week at Borders" were Gypsy Schaeffer, Kevin Harris, Elan Trotman, the Mike DiBari Trio, and 14-year-old Brookline saxophonist Grace Kelly.
A number of unique collaborations punctuated the week. Turkish multi-instrumentalist Mehmet Sanlikol teamed with trumpeter Tiger Okoshi at Suffolk University's C. Walsh Theater for "An Eastern Ritual of Love." "Freex to Geex 2007," presented by the Boston Cyberfest and the Music Synthesis department of Berklee College of Music, explored the worlds of computer music sounds, live video, and improvised music at Fenway Recital Hall. And "A Moment in Chaos," presented in conjunction with the Cambridge Science Festival, featured animated films by Kate Matson with improvisation by Phil Scarff, John Funkhouser, and others at the Volpe Transportation Building in Cambridge.
The Gallery at the Piano Factory hosted a series of performances that featured Frank Wilkins, Valerie Stephens, Cheo Solder, and others.
Other artists based in Boston and beyond who performed during Jazz Week 2007 included Ellis Marsalis, Frank Morgan, Lyambiko, Salim Washington, Marianne Solivan, Jerry Bergonzi, Yoron Israel, Avishai Cohen, Deborah Henson-Conant, Charlie Kohlhase, George Garzone, James Merenda, Eric Hofbauer, Lisa Thorson, Tim Ray, Dave Clark, Jason Palmer, Ray Santisi, Marta Gomez, Carmen Staaf, Ken Field, Ben Monder, Rusty Scott, and Robert Stringer.
Click here to see photos from the 2007 scene.
To see some of the media coverage of Jazz Week 2007, click here.
