For nine days from April 25 to May 3, the third annual celebration of Jazz Week will offer a something-for-every-taste live musical menu featuring more than 200 samples to help you answer the question posed by this year's theme: What's Your Jazz? Officially proclaimed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, and coordinated and promoted by JazzBoston, Jazz Week '09 will shine the spotlight on musicians of all generations, both internationally known and Boston-based, as they perform jazz of every style. The events, many of them free or low-cost, will take place in scores of venues all over the Greater Boston area - from clubs, museums, and churches to libraries, universities, hotels, and community centers. Watch www.jazzboston.org for news about this year's lineup and the upcoming What's Your Jazz? multimedia campaign.

JazzBoston thanks our Jazz Week '09 Sponsors and Partners and welcomes the New England Conservatory of Music, this year's Primary Sponsor, which celebrates the 40^th anniversary of its Jazz Studies Program during the 2009 - 2010 academic year. Special thanks to Scullers Jazz Club, a Lead Sponsor of Jazz Week since its inception in 2007, and returning Sponsors the Boston Pops Orchestra, Live Nation, and John Hancock. We also welcome our newest sponsor, Joslin Diabetes Center. We are proud to announce that the Phoenix Media/Communnications Group will be the official print media sponsor of Jazz Week '09 and WGBH 89.7 FM, Boston's premiere jazz radio station, will be the official radio sponsor. For more information about the Sponsors and Partners of Jazz Week '09, click here.

JazzBoston celebrated its third birthday recently with a rousing party at The Beehive in Boston's South End that included a tribute to longtime WGBH jazz radio host Eric Jackson. The event also served as a member appreciation party for the nonprofit JazzBoston, which is dedicated to building and serving audiences for jazz music, fostering and expanding opportunities for jazz musicians, and raising Boston's profile as one of the world's great jazz cities. Performing were ensembles led by pianist Vardan Ovsepian and saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. Among those enjoying the music, food, and outstanding Beehive hospitality were (photo above, from left): Jason Palmer, trumpeter and JazzBoston board member; Mark Harvey, Director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and JazzBoston board member; Eric Jackson, host of "Eric in the Evening," weekdays on WGBH 89.7; Pauline Bilsky, JazzBoston Executive Director; and Darryl Settles, co-owner of The Beehive. (Photo by Stu Rosner)

JazzBoston members will receive a 10% discount off the price of a special dinner and live jazz show at Restaurant Laura in Dorchester on Saturday, Mar. 7, featuring classical and jazz violinist Diane Monroe (photo, left) in duet with pianist John Kordalewski. Call (617)825-9004 or visit the restaurant's website. JazzBoston members also receive a discount every week at Restaurant Laura's "Thursday Night Jazz To Dine By."

JazzBoston members also receive discounts at the Regattabar, Scullers, The Beehive, Ryles, The Redline Restaurant, the Jazz Club at the Multicultural Arts Center, the Vernissage Restaurant's "Jazz Thursdays at Vernissage," and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Thursday evening jazz series, "Jazz at the Gardner." For discounts at all these venues, just show your JazzBoston card at the door, or when calling for reservations, give your name and member number.

Current JazzBoston members please note: check the expiration date on your membership card and sign up to renew. Click here to renew now.

In addition to the dozens of no-cover events in venues all across the Boston area, March is shaping up as an especially strong month for free programs. Berklee College of Music's Keys Fest 2009 offers a number of shows that are free and open to the public. Among them: pianist Carmen Staaf with xylophonist Jonathan Singer, Mar. 2 at 4 p.m., Berk Recital Hall; pianist Joanne Brackeen, Mar. 2 at 7:30 p.m., David Friend Recital Hall; visiting artist and pianist Fred Hersch (photo left) in a clinic, Mar. 3, 1:15 p.m., Berk Recital Hall, and in concert, Mar. 3, 4 p.m., David Friend Recital Hall; and pianist Suzanne Davis's trio, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m., David Friend Recital Hall. Go to the Berklee calendar for details.

Other free concerts: Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Soundpainting, Mar. 7, 8 p.m., MIT's Kresge Auditorium; Charlie Kohlhase's Explorers Quartet, Mar. 8, 2 p.m., Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and Friends, March 12, 8 p.m., Clear Conscience Cafe at the Harvest Coop Market, Cambridge; the Makanda Project with special guest Oliver Lake, Mar. 13, 7 p.m., Dudley Branch Library auditorium, 65 Warren St., Roxbury. Go to the JazzBoston events calendar for details.

Tufts University presents a pair of events featuring pianist Lewis Porter: an evening of jazz on film from Porter's personal collection on Mar. 23, 7 p.m., Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center, Tufts; and Lewis in concert with Terri Lyne Carrington and John Lockwood, Mar. 25, 8 p.m., Distler Performance Hall. Go to the Tufts site for details.

If you're looking to pitch in to help grow Boston's jazz scene and have some fun doing it, JazzBoston has a number of volunteer opportunities that will put you right in the middle of the action. Among the roles we need help with are tabling at jazz events in various venues around town, and assisting with programs and development activities for Jazz Week '09 (Apr. 25-May 3) and Riffs & Raps, JazzBoston's community-based after-school jazz program for at-risk youth. We'd love to have you join us. Write to dcarlson@jazzboston.org if you're interested.

Please tell us what you think of this e-newsletter and what kinds of information you'd like to see included in future issues. Email us at newsletter@jazzboston.org. If you'd like to know more about JazzBoston and consider becoming a member, go to www.jazzboston.org. And pass this e-newsletter along to all the jazz fans and music lovers you know!