Get ready for Jazz Week 2019—Be part of the celebration
America’s music will be Boston’s music from April 26 to May 5 as Greater Boston’s jazz community joins forces for the 13th annual edition of Jazz Week. JazzBoston invites you to play an active role in the celebration of the made-in-America music called jazz. Play it, hear it, feel it, claim it, share it!
Plans are underway to make Jazz Week 2019 a positive, musical response to the troubled times we are living in. For decades jazz and jazz musicians have carried America’s core values around the world, where they have generated admiration and hope in oppressed populations and fear in totalitarian regimes. Now is the time to put jazz diplomacy to work at home.
Call to jazz musicians, presenters, and educators
Plan a special performance or other event for Jazz Week that celebrates America’s music in some way. Post your event on our Jazz Week calendar as early as possible for maximum visibility. Special events will also be highlighted in our Jazz Week promotions.
Watch the Jazz Week calendar
Our special Jazz Week calendar is now live and will be updated daily right up to and during the 10-day celebration. Watch for events and promotions created just for Jazz Week in and around Boston.
Also watch for free public events on International Jazz Day, the week’s centerpiece, Tuesday, April 30. UNESCO proclaimed International Jazz Day in 2011 to draw attention to the values communicated by the music and demonstrated by the jazz ensembles themselves. Nearly 200 countries will participate in IJD 2019. Sydney, Australia, is the Global Host City.
We’ll also hold JazzBoston’s Annual Members & Friends Party during Jazz Week again this year. Not a member?
Join before April 26 for an invitation.
Jazz cooks—do you?
It’s not surprising that many jazz musicians like to cook. Cooking is a creative art with lots of room to improvise.
One way to be part of the Jazz Week 2019 celebration is to invite a few friends to dinner and serve the favorite dish of one of your favorite jazz musicians. Do your own take on the recipe – improvise – and play the musician’s albums during dinner. Take pictures, share them with us, and tell us what you cooked and what you played. We’ll post your report and photos on the JazzBoston website and in our Jazz Week round-up newsletter. If you tell us about your event ahead of time, we’ll also register it on the IJD website with other Boston Jazz Week events.
Jazz Cooks is the title of a unique book of portraits and favorite recipes of 90+ jazz greats from “Cannonball” Adderley and Geri Allen to Randy Weston and Nancy Wilson. The book, published in 1992, was co-authored by Bob Young, JazzBoston’s co-founder and a former music critic for the Boston Herald. Bob has given us permission to share some of the recipes with you. Early next week, we’ll post a list of musicians and recipes on the Jazz Week page of JazzBoston’s website.
In the meantime, download Dizzy Gillespie’s Salmon and Hominy Grits
Throw an IJD listening party
Another way to be part of the Jazz Week 2019 celebration is to invite friends and neighbors over to watch the live stream of the IJD All-Star Global Concert, the day’s grand finale, from the Sydney Opera House. Again, tell us about your event and we’ll tell JazzBoston’s followers and the world.
Go out to a jazz venue in your neighborhood
The most important way you can participate in Jazz Week 2019 is to support the jazz musicians and venues who keep the beat going throughout Greater Boston year round. Set aside a few nights to get out and discover new groups, talk with the musicians, and thank the venue managers for presenting jazz. Urge them to do it more often. There’s nothing like hearing the music live!
