Jazz Week '08
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For nine days from April 26 to May 4, JazzBoston will shine the spotlight on hundreds of musicians of all generations who will be performing jazz of every style in venues throughout the Greater Boston area — from clubs, museums and churches to libraries, universities, hotels, and community centers. Jazz Week, Boston's newest rite of spring, returns this year with another citywide celebration of the music that has made Boston a destination for artists and fans of every stripe.
Officially proclaimed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and scheduled once again to tie into the Smithsonian Institution’s national observance of April as Jazz Month and Duke Ellington’s birthday on April 29, Jazz Week is directed and promoted by JazzBoston but produced independently by participating musicians, presenters, clubs, educational institutions, community centers, and other organizations. It is in every way the product of a collaborative effort by representatives of Boston’s entire jazz community, who have joined together to spread the word about the city’s vital jazz scene and keep it growing.
The original concept for this kind of citywide celebration dates to 1973 when the Jazz Coalition took the music into all sorts of neighborhood settings as well as large concert halls with the first-ever Boston Jazz Week. Last year JazzBoston decided the time was right for a 21st-century revival of the spirit and multifaceted sounds that Jazz Week can bring to our city. Composer and trumpeter Mark Harvey, a founder of the Jazz Coalition and now a member of JazzBoston's Board of Directors, co-leads the Jazz Week 2008 team with fellow JazzBoston director Don Carlson. Harvey is also the founder and director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, which will perform during the week.
For information about participating in Jazz Week 2008, write to jazzweek@jazzboston.org.
Click here for scenes from Jazz Week 2007.
