All of us at JazzBoston would like thank you for everything you do to keep jazz vital and our city's jazz scene growing - whether you are making the music or listening to it, recording it or writing about it, presenting it or promoting it, teaching it or studying it.

We live in one of the world's great jazz cities. As the year begins, we encourage you to take advantage of the fantastic jazz scene in and around Boston. Resolve to get out and hear more live music. Explore venues that are new to you.

Here's to a year filled with the music we all love.

Steve Schwartz, Eric Jackson, and Arni Cheatham with JazzBoston board members Emmett Price, Fred Taylor, ED Pauline Bilsky, Jose Masso, and Mark Harvey at the July 31 BPL meeting (Don West for the Banner)

• The Jazz Broadcast Radio Team is focused on getting jazz on the air 24/7 by drawing college and other smaller stations into the jazz community, and finding another strong station to serve as Greater Boston's home for jazz.
  
• The 21st Century Tools & Technologies Team is exploring new ways to use the Internet, apps for mobile devices, and other hi-tech approaches to bring jazz to audiences of all ages.
  
• The Arts, Culture, and Education team has assumed the broad charter of reinforcing the place of jazz in Boston's cultural life through actions that range from organizing free "pop-up" jazz events in unexpected locations to improving jazz curricula in the public schools.
• The United Nations/UNESCO team is concentrating on getting UN recognition and support for a Boston celebration of International Jazz Day as part of Jazz Week '13.

A few of the members of the 21st Century Tools and Technology Team (clockwise from right front): Thomesa Bennett, Noah Schaffer, Bonnie Johnson, Doug Ashford, and Dick Vacca

One goal of the Campaign for the Future of Local Jazz Radio, which JazzBoston is coordinating on behalf of the Greater Boston jazz community, is to get more jazz onto the local airwaves than ever before and make sure people know where to find it. To do this, we need to know more about how you listen to music.

Click here to respond to a very brief survey (only four multiple choice questions). All responses are anonymous, but if you provide your name and email address, you'll be entered in a raffle for one of two great prizes - a complimentary pair of tickets to a performance at Scullers Jazz Club or a gift certificate for brunch for two at Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen. The deadline to respond is January 15. Winners will be notified at the end of the month.

Scenes from our Jazz Week '12 Riffs & Raps program at the Boston Children's Museum and Jazz Week '11 All Star Jazz Jam tribute to Eric Jackson at Sculler's (Kristoph Díaz photo)

Jazz Week '13 will also see the return of our most popular free events:

• Noontime Kickoff Concerts in public spaces presented by New England Conservatory and JazzBoston on the opening Friday

• Jazz Swarms, large ensembles of the same instrument led by prominent Boston-based musicians at noon on weekdays

• Jazz Week @ the Boston Public Library, daytime and evening conversations and performances for audiences of all ages, presented by JazzBoston

Music lovers, note the dates. This is a good time to invite out-of-town friends for a visit.

Clubs, restaurants, and other venues, plan something special in your house for Jazz Week and be part our extensive promotion. If you've never presented jazz before, now's the time.

Musicians, once you've landed a gig, adding it to our special Jazz Week calendar is a great way to inform audiences!

Don Carlson is the Jazz Week team's operations co-chair again this year, and Ken Field and Charlie Kohlhase, both saxophonists and bandleaders, are stepping into Mark Harvey's shoes as artistic co-chairs. Mark, who is the Director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra as well as a member of JazzBoston's board and the creator of the original Jazz Week in the 1970's, has co-chaired Jazz Week since it was revived by JazzBoston in 2007. He is stepping down this year to focus on Aardvark's 40th anniversary.

For information on participating in Jazz Week '13, click here.

Sammy Figueroa and Bill Charlap

Scullers is offering JazzBoston members two pairs of tickets to each of the following shows. Please note that all shows are at 8 pm unless otherwise indicated.

January 10: Sammy Figueroa and the Latin Jazz Explosion
January 17: Shelby Lynne
January 24: Baritone Madness
January 30 Joan Watson Jones
February 1:Roberta Gambarini at 10 pm
February 6: Neha
February 7: John Jorgensen at 10 pm
February 13: Yuto Kanazawa
February 15: Catherine Russell at 10 pm
February 20: Diva Jazz Orchestra
February 21: Elan Trotman
February 22: Antonio Sanchez at 10 pm
February 27: Dominique Eade and Ran Blake


Regattabar is offering a pair of tickets to the shows listed below. Please note that all shows are at 7:30 unless otherwise indicated.

January 11: Bill Charlap
January 17: Billy Cobham at 10 pm
January 18: Darrell Nulisch
January 19: Atlas Soul
January 19: Timbila at 10 pm
January 24: Leni Stern African Trio
January 29: Hot Club of Detroit
January 30: Patricia Barber
February 2: Sheila Jordan & Steve Kuhn Duo
February 7: Pablo Ablanedo Octeto

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. Annual memberships begin at $20.

Ran Blake, founding chair of NEC's Contemporary Improvisation department, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this academic year.

Brave the cold and check out great music at New England Conservatory this winter! All performances begin at 8 pm. Here are just a few of the free events coming up soon:

• On January 12th and 19th the talented youth of the NEC Prep Jazz Ensemble will perform in the Saint Botolph Building.
• The Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation Faculty Spotlight Concert will feature combos of NEC faculty and their guests on January 28th at Jordan Hall.
• On January 29th, see Brando Noir - a multi-media performance curated by Ran Blake and Aaron Hartley - at Jordan Hall. The annual Film Noir fest will shift from focusing on a director to highlight the work of Marlon Brando, the actor who made "brooding" an everyday word.
  
• Tyler Gilmore, a master's student in NEC's jazz program, will present his multi-media work A Rambling Stretch, a portrait of life on the Wind River Indian Reservation, on January 30th in Brown Hall.
  

Berklee College of Music has free events at several venues:

• Olga Karaseva and her chamber ensemble Cloud Ludlum present original compositions and arrangements exploring the symbiosis of classical music and contemporary jazz at Berklee Performance Center, Jan. 29, 9:15 pm.
• At Berk Recital Hall on Feb. 19, 1:00 pm, a screening of The Girls in the Band will be followed by a performance and workshop by DIVA, an all-female band.
• At David Friend Recital Hall on Feb. 13, 7:30 pm, the Luis D'Elias Septet will present an evening of South American fusion jazz showcasing traditional rhythms and native instruments.