FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (8/29/11)
Contact: Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D., Artistic Director
Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
662-247-3364 662-247-1471
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com
web sites:
www.JazzMississippi.com www.ChristianJazz.net
www.JuneteenthJazz.com
16th Annual Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
Continues in Belzoni, Indianola, Greenville, Shelby & Greenwood, Mississippi
Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival
Honors Hank Jones, Lester Young, Gerald Wilson, Dwayne Armstrong and Mulgrew Miller
(Belzoni, Indianola, Greenville, Shelby & Greenwood, MS) – The 16th Annual Mississippi Jazz & Heritage Festival, celebrating
Mississippi's great jazz legacy, will take place in the Mississippi Delta on Labor Day weekend, from Thursday,
September 1, through Monday, September 5, 2011, in Belzoni, Indianola, Greenville, Shelby and Greenwood, Mississippi.
Woodville, MS native, and father of the modern jazz saxophone, the late
Lester Young,
Vicksburg, MS, native, master jazz pianist, the late
Hank Jones,
Geenville, MS, native, master jazz saxophonist,
Dwayne Armstrong
and Greenwood, MS native, one the finest jazz pianist in the world,
Mulgrew Miller, will all be honored.
"We are returning to Belzoni, Indianola, Greenville and Greenwood, and bringing the festival to Shelby 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 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 also includes Shelby, MS native historic jazz
composer
Gerald Wilson, Jackson, MS native world renowned jazz vocalist
Cassandra Wilson, and Vicksburg, MS native and father of the modern jazz bass,
Milt Hinton," 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 also the Founder and Chairman of the National Juneteenth
Observance Foundation (NJOF).
"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 dedicated to the late Vicksburg, Mississippi native and master jazz pianist
Hank Jones, who died recently, on May 16, 2010, at the age of 91.
Jones was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 31, 1918. He was raised along with his brothers Thad
and Elvin in the Pontiac, Michigan area, where their father was Baptist deacon and lumber inspector. All three brothers went
on to prominence as jazz musicians. Hank, the eldest, was the last one to pass on.
Jones was known for his light touch and his embrace of bebop's fast pace and complex phrasing. He played "as though he were
plucking the piano's strings instead of striking its keys, and his gracefully restrained single-note style are a
reformulation of their aesthetic in modern jazz.," wrote David Rosenthal in "Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955- 1965."
He made his New York debut in 1944 with jazz trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in New York. He
went on to make hundreds of recordings with the likes of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald, playing venues from nightclubs
to Broadway. Along the way, he was nominated for five Grammy awards before winning a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2009. He also received
the National Medal of Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts' Jazz Masters Award.
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."
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 natives
Derrick Brown on bass, Aaron Smith on alto sax and
Rod Shannon on percussion and vocals, along with Mound Bayou MS percussionist, Joe Johnson and Jackson, MS
jazz drummer Noah Jelks.
All performances will start at 6:00pm. Locations include, Thursday, September 1st, Belzoni, MS at the Pine
Top Perkins Blues Museum, 17150 Hwy. 49 West; Friday, September 2nd in Indianola, MS at Betty's Place, 301 Main
Street; Saturday, September 3rd, Greenville, MS at the Tesc United Center, 754 Main Street;
Sunday, September 4th, Shelby, MS at the Shelby Library, Hwy. 61 North; and Monday,
September 5th, Labor Day in Greenwood, MS at Bo's Bar-b-Que & Grill, 507 Carrollton Avenue.
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 sites:
www.JazzMississippi.com and
www.JuneteenthJazz.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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