Jazz Appreciation Month going strong
By Kathy Edwards McFarland
A clearinghouse for April Jazz Appreciation programming is Dallas JAM, offering a calendar overflowing with Dallas-centric Jazz events. Most of the the events are listed on http://uptownjazzdallas.com/DJAM-Calendar. Uptown Jazz Dallas.com is a “diverse community for all musicians, venues, fashion, film and arts enthusiasts.”
One of the many premiere shows has the Sammons Center for the Arts Sammons Jazz teaming up with the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band. This performance precedes the three-day Denton Arts & Jazz Fest by one day. The UNT Jazz ensembles and bands will perform throughout the festival on the UNT Stage at Quakertown Park in Denton.
Jazzin’ Dallas, DJAM
Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 8 p.m.
Presented by Sammons Center for the Arts
$10-$40 buy tickets
Call 214.520.7789 to order
official website
Sammons Jazz, http://www.sammonsartcenter.org/sammons_jazz, from the Sammons Center for the Arts and The One O’Clock Lab Band from the University of North Texas, join forces for a night of swinging jazz at the spectacular new City Performance Hall, 2520 Flora St., Dallas, in the Dallas Arts District.
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This special concert is part of the D’JAM Jazz Initiative. D’JAM stands for “Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month” and is part of the national effort founded by the Smithsonian to promote jazz as a singular and unique American art form in April of every year.
2013 One O’Clock Lab Band, under the direction of Steve Weist
Sammons Jazz presents “Sammons Jazz plays Motown”. The Sammons Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Arlington Jones, creatively transforms some popular Motown classics into modern day jazz standards. The ensemble features Arlington Jones on piano, vocalists Simone Rodgers and Garry Williams, saxophonists Tom Braxton and Keith Anderson, Stockton Helbing on drums and Braylon Lacy on bass. Arlington Jones is a Steinway Artist.
The One O’Clock Lab Band presents Grammy Jazz. Under the direction of Steve Wiest, the band has been nominated for 6 Grammys over the years and will play the pieces that were nominated and selections from the albums that were nominated. 
This event is part of Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month. For a list of other DJAM events click here.
About Jazz Appreciation Month
In August, 2003 at the behest of the Smithsonian the U.S. Congress passed legislation which was signed by the President: Public Law 108-72, declaring:
“(1) the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History should be commended for establishing a Jazz Appreciation Month; and (2) musicians, schools, colleges, libraries, concert halls, museums, radio and television stations, and other organizations should develop programs to explore, perpetuate, and honor jazz as a national and world treasure.”
The purpose of Jazz Appreciation Month is to draw greater public attention to the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz and its importance as an American cultural heritage. In addition, JAM is intended to stimulate the current jazz scene and encourage people of all ages to participate in jazz—to study the music, attend concerts, listen to jazz on radio and recordings, read books about jazz, and support institutional jazz programs. Organizations and communities all over the country are encouraged to participate in their own way.
In honor of this important national initiative, a number of jazz presenters, jazz educators and jazz supporters in Dallas came together to create a collective initiative which is now called D’JAM or Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month, and are presenting a series of events in April of 2012 highlighting and showcasing jazz in the greater Dallas community. This volunteer collective includes nonprofit arts groups, universities, festivals, Arts Magnet high schools, cultural centers, jazz clubs and churches.
DALLAS PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS:
Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts – Jazz Studies Dept
Dallas Museum of Art – Jazz in the Atrium
Sammons Center for the Arts – Sammons Jazz
SMU – Meadows School for the Arts
St. Paul United Methodist Church
Teco Theater – Bishop Arts Theater Center Jazz Series
University of North Texas – School of Music
University of Texas Dallas – School of Arts & Humanities
Cadillac Jazz Lounge | Lite 103.7 FM – Sun. 8a-11a
Special Advisors to D’JAM – Levenson and Brinker, Roger Boykin, James Gilyard
