Jazz Week History
2007
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.
