Scullers is offering JazzBoston members five pairs of tickets to each of these shows: singer Jonatha Brooke, Aug. 20, 10 p.m.; guitarist Ken Navarro, Aug. 27, 10 p.m.; singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli (photo left), Sept. 10, 10 p.m.; reedman Dave Liebman, Sept. 16, 8 p.m.

The Regattabar is offering JazzBoston members one pair of tickets to each of these shows: Beausoleil, Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m.; Johnny A., Sept. 10, 10 p.m.; Either/Orchestra, Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Mahavishnu Project, Sept. 16, 7:30 p.m.

If you're a JazzBoston member, write to newsletter@jazzboston.org now to enter a drawing to win free tickets to any of the events listed above, and please note which shows and dates you're interested in. You must be a JazzBoston member to be eligible to win.

JazzBoston members also receive discounts at Scullers, the Regattabar, The Beehive, Ryles, The Regent Theatre, the Amazing Things Art Center, Chianti Tuscan Restaurant & Jazz Lounge, The Redline, the Jazz Club at the Multicultural Arts Center, the Vernissage Restaurant's "Jazz Thursdays at Vernissage," the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Thursday evening jazz series, "Jazz at the Gardner," and Boston Pops jazz concerts at Symphony Hall. 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.

The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston offers JazzBoston members a 25% discount on a wide range of seminars, workshops and webinars geared to artists and arts organizations. To get information about a particular program or register online, email Sheri Mason, Director of Legal Services, and give her your membership number.

Click here to become a JazzBoston member now. Annual memberships begin as low as $20.

Fans of John Coltrane and his music have another reason to look forward to September besides the 33rd annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert (JCMC), which this year stars Anthony Brown's Asian American Orchestra at Northeastern University's Blackman Theatre on Sept. 18. Concert co-founder and producer Leonard Brown, an associate professor of African American Studies and Music at Northeastern, will be featured at a symposium and book signing on Thursday, Sept. 16, from 6 to 8 p.m., to celebrate the release of his new book, "John Coltrane and Black America's Quest for Freedom: Spirituality and the Music."

Edited by Brown and published by Oxford University Press, the book's wide-ranging and eclectic collection of essays and interviews examines the full spectrum of Coltrane's legacy. Contributors include many of the most eminent figures in Black American music and jazz studies and performance - among them Yusef Lateef, Billy Taylor, George Russell, Elvin Jones, WGBH-FM radio host Eric Jackson, and Emmett G. Price III, Chair of African-American Studies and Associate Professor of Music and African American Studies at Northeastern University. Price is also a member of JazzBoston's Board of Directors, and Brown is a founding member of JazzBoston's Advisory Council.

The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place in the Amilcar Cabral Center in the John D. O'Bryant African American Institute, 40 Leon St., at Northeastern University. It is one of a series of September events celebrating the 25 years that the JCMC has made its home at the university.

JazzBoston will make its fourth appearance at the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival and its first as an official festival partner on Saturday, Sept. 25. The free outdoor event will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on Columbus Ave. between Mass. Ave. and Burke Street, with the JazzBoston tent in the middle of the action once again.

Front and center will be our "Meet Boston's Musicians" program, designed to give jazz fans and other music lovers the opportunity to make a personal connection with musicians representing every part of Greater Boston's diverse jazz scene. Every hour from noon to 6 p.m., three of the city's most creative jazz artists will take their turn at the table to talk with passers-by about their music and the local scene. See JazzBoston at BeanTown for updates on the musician roster and schedule.

Also at the tent will be an interactive video installation that is part of JazzBoston's long-term "What's Your Jazz?" campaign to help spread the word that jazz is for everyone.

Click here to see snapshots of the 2009 scene at JazzBoston's big tent.

It's not too soon to start planning for a winter getaway, especially one as much fun as six days and nights at the Panama Jazz Festival, founded by pianist and composer Danilo Perez. JazzBoston and Scullers are reprising a package they offered last year with a special - and specially-priced - trip to the 8th annual edition of the festival, which takes place Jan. 10 to 15 in Panama City. An array of VIP events are part of the package, including a reception with the U.S. Ambassador to Panama and a private tour of the awe-inspiring Panama Canal that will take you close enough to touch the ships as they pass through the locks. (Photo above of the group at the canal in 2010.)

The package also includes deep discounts on beautiful accommodations at the Hotel El Panama, the official hotel of the festival, round-trip airfare from Boston, VIP tickets to all events, and surprises arranged exclusively for our group. A roster of world-class musicians will perform at concerts around the city, and a day of free performances in the colorful Plaza Catedral of the Old City will cap a week of great music, delicious cuisine, walks through tropical rain forests, and for sun worshipers, plenty of time pool-side.

For details on joining the 2011 group, which is limited to 20 people, write to panama@jazzboston.org. We expect packages to be ready by Sept. 1.

The last weeks of summer offer a bonanza of free outdoor events in and around the Boston area. The Makanda Project, featuring previously unrecorded compositions by the late Makanda Ken McIntyre (photo left) with arrangements by John Kordalewski, performs on Aug. 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Roxbury Heritage Park, 183 Roxbury St., Boston. Also on the program will be youth performances by the Roland Hayes Jazz Experience; Artovotion: Young Poets and Steppers; and Citi Center Musical Theater Workshop.

The biggest free party takes place during the fourth annual Salem Jazz and Soul Festival , Aug. 21-22 at the Salem Willows on Fort Ave. Saturday highlights include performances by the Sam Kininger band, Miss Tess & the Bon Ton Parade, and Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching band, while Sunday brings in the North Shore Gospel Ambassadors, Grace Kelly, Dwight & Nicole, and the Sugalito Guitar Trio.

JazzBoston partnered with the Boston Public Library again this summer to present free jazz performances on Friday afternoons from 12:30 to 1:30 ias part of the Concerts in the Courtyard series at the Main Library in Copley Square. The series closes with a flourish on Aug. 27 when former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky performs his poetry accompanied by two master improvisors, drummer Rakalam Bob Moses and reedman Stan Strickland. For more details check the JazzBoston events calendar.

The Berklee summer concert series has a number of outdoor performances set for this month and next. Highlights include violinist Ben Powell and his quartet on Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. at Derby Square, Salem; vocalist Annette Philip's group on Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. in the courtyard of the Charles Hotel, Harvard Square; singer Julia Easterlin on Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. on Georges Island; and the Panamerican Quartet on Sept. 9 at noon in Kendall Square. Click here for Berklee events details.