I am pleased and thankful for another blessed year made possible by the Prescott Jazz Society members, sponsors, supporters and the many jazz fans that show up at our weekly Jazz Showcase. All of us together are creating and nurturing an exciting and attractive 'vibrational buzz' for the arts and entertainment activities of Prescott, AZ. While the city is apparently becoming a popular entertainment destination for regular visitors and tourists alike, new goals and plans are continuing to be developed for the new year. The Prescott Jazz Society continues to push for establishment of a Jazz Zone in downtown Prescott. The city already offers a full blown jazz scene that is currently presenting live-jazz on a nightly basis. Jazz Society president Milt Cannon and advisory board member Mr. Roger Lakner will again meet on Tuesday, February 1st with Mayor Kuykendall and the Director of Tourism, Mr. Don Prince to discuss arrangements for the official JAM Proclamation and Jazz Zone dedication.
February 18, 2011: During the February 1 meeting with the City of Prescott officials, it became evident that they were not serious in following through with their original committment. So, in realizing the intrinsic value in pushing forward with the zone project the Jazz Society was able to retain the encouraging support of the Hassayampa Inn and Raven Cafe management. We now have the motivation to seek new sponsors that are also able to envision the benefit of this rare and unique demonstration. You may check out the Giants page for relative information regarding the Jazz Zone and more.
HISTORY OF AMERICAN
February 20, 2011: The OLLE Institute's jazz history class being facilitated by Prescott Jazz Society's Milt Cannon has just finished going over the jazz era involving New Orleans and Louis Armstrong. We were able to cover a few of the musicians that made important contributions toward the development of certain techniques as demonstrated by the ragtime of Scott Joplin, the boogie woogie of Meade Lux Lewis, and compositional developments of Jelly Roll Morton. We were also able to introduce pianist Teddy Wilson through some initial information regarding Benny Goodman and Fletcher Henderson. We also recognized the importance of Dixieland players and groups that were integral to the proliferation of the music. However the immense scope of jazz history and the many transitional musicians that bridged or refined the developments while moving from one era to the next does not allow for extended individual focus because of the time element.
Looking forward the next (2) sessions will take us into the era of Charlie 'Bird' Parker and will focus more on be-bop and the swing era and the introduction of vocalese with 'Slim' Guillard. The 1940's in and around Kansas City, MO and Chicago will provide us with significant insight into the music that most of us are more familiar with.
NOTE: The program titled 'Icons Among Us: present tense; is a program worth researching for current jazz history and personalities.
Access to this blog obviously creates an opportunity for the Jazz Society to become more up to the minute in spreading jazz news and nurturing good vibrations throughout the jazz community. We intend to keep you current.
Let us all be thankful and seek to enjoy each day as we support Live-Jazz a
NATIONAL TREASURE.
