Jazz Week
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Jazz Week, Boston's newest rite of spring, returned in 2008 with another citywide celebration of the music that has made Boston a destination for artists and fans of every stripe. For nine days from April 26 to May 4, JazzBoston put the spotlight on hundreds of musicians of all generations as they performed jazz of every style in venues throughout the Greater Boston area — from clubs, museums and churches to libraries, universities, hotels, and community centers.
Officially proclaimed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino and scheduled 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. Two years ago 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, and a new, re-imagined Jazz Week debuted in 2007. Composer and trumpeter Mark Harvey, a founder of the Jazz Coalition and now a member of JazzBoston's Board of Directors, led the Jazz Week '07 team. The Jazz Week '08 team was co-led by Harvey and fellow JazzBoston director Don Carlson. Harvey is also the founder and director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, which performed during the week.
Planning is now underway for Jazz Week '09, which will kick off on Saturday, April 25, and run through Sunday, May 3. For information about participating in Jazz Week or becoming a Jazz Week sponsor, write to jazzweek@jazzboston.org.
Click here for scenes from Jazz Week '08. And watch this page for updates as Jazz Week '09 takes shape.
