FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (7/31/09)
Contact: Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D., Artistic Director
Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
662-247-3364 662-335-1477
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com
web sites:
www.JazzMississippi.com www.ChristianJazz.net
www.JuneteenthJazz.com
14th Annual Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
Continues in Greenville & Greenwood, Mississippi
Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
Honors Al Fielder and Mulgrew Miller
Jazz Festival Features Mississippi
Master Jazz Trombonist Dick Griffin
(Greenville & Greenwood, MS) – The 14th Annual Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival, celebrating Mississippi's great
jazz legacy, will take place in the Mississippi Delta on Saturday, Septemer 5, 2009, in Greenville, Mississippi, at the Edwards
Center, 749 Main Street, beginning at 6:00pm and Monday, September, 7, 2009, in Greenwood, Mississippi,
at Bo's Bar-b-Que Bar & Grill, 507 Carrollton Avenue, begining at 6:00pm. Meridian, Mississippi native and master jazz drummer,
Al Fielder and Greenwood, Mississippi native and master jazz pianist,
Mulgrew Miller,
will be honored.
"We are returning to Greenville and bringing the festival to Greenwood for the first time over the Labor Day
weekend," states Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.,
Artistic Director of the Mississippi Jazz and Heritage Festival and accomplished Belzoni resident jazz pianist
and trumpeter. Myers was a featured guest jazz artist at the 2006 Miles Davis 80th Birthday Concert in East St. Louis
and performs concerts throughout the country as the National Juneteenth Jazz Artist. "Mississippi has a rich jazz legacy that
includes Shelby, MS native historic jazz composer Gerald Wilson, Jackson, MS native world reknowned jazz vocalist Cassandra
Wilson, and Vicksburg, MS native master jazz pianist Hank Jones," continues Dr. Myers.
The festival is sponsored by the National Association of Juneteenth Jazz
Presenters (NAJJP) and is a part of the "June is Black
Music Month!" - CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH JAZZ - "Preserving Our African American Jazz Legacy!" national
concert series. Dr. Myers is the founder of the (NAJJP).
"Jazz is African American Classical Music, created from the hearts, lives and souls of black folks in America,"
states Rev., Dr. Myers, also Founder and Chairman of the NAJJP,
the Fellowship of Creative Christian Jazz Musicians (FCCJM), the
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC) and the
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign. "The preservation of our unique
African-American jazz music legacy is what Black Music Month
and the celebration of Juneteenth is all about."
The festival is also dedicated to the late Woodville, Mississippi native and jazz legend Lester “Prez” Young. “Lester
Young is the father of the modern jazz saxophone and was born August 27, 1909 and died in 1959, after a historic career as
one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time,” states Dr. Myers. “Billy Holiday gave him the title “Prez”,
short for President of the tenor saxophone.”
Dr. Myers will be performing original compositions from his critically acclaimed jazz CD, "Doctor’s Orders." The CD
includes popular original Mississippi Delta jazz compositions like "Song For Tchula," "Message From the
Country" and "Blues For Tchula."
Jackson, Mississippi native master jazz trombonist Dick Griffin will be the featured guset
artist. Griffin is one of today's leading trombone players. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has performed with some of the biggest names in Jazz
and Soul, as well as appearing with several symphony orchestras. A short list of the luminaries Mr. Griffin has worked with includes: Duke Ellington, Count
Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente, Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, and
Lionel Hampton.
Griffin has developed a highly personalized playing style which he calls"circularphonics". His ability to combine playing chords on the trombone with
circular breathing is unrivaled among Jazz trombonists. The expanded range of simultaneous sounds Griffin creates through his multiphonic technique sometimes
evokes the spirit of such experimental Jazz musicians as John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Sun Ra. Never a follower, Griffin has moved beyond the
course set by these pioneering giants to develop a unique style on and for an instrument which has hardly been the most widely used in modern Jazz.
Jazz bassist "extraordinaire", Dr. London Branch, retired professor of music and former Director of the Jackson State
University Orchestra, will be performing along with Cuban percussionist Earlton Batles Manley and Jackson, Mississippi
native, percussionist Wilton Knott. Also performing will be Greenville, MS native jazz drummer Hal Holbrook and Jackson, MS
jazz drummer Noah Jelks.
Admission is free and donations are appreciated. For more information contact Dr. Myers at 662-247-3364, 662-247-1471
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com; web site: www.JazzMississippi.com.
The Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival is a cooperative effort sponsored by:
National Association of Juneteenth Jazz Presenters (NAJJP)
The Myers Foundation The Black Arts Music Society
The Smith Robertson Museum & Cultural Center
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