The second annual International Jazz Day is being celebrated tomorrow in every country around the world. Organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, each year on April 30 International Jazz Day highlights jazz’s unique power for advancing intercultural dialogue and understanding across the world.
Confirmed artists include: pianists Herbie Hancock, John Beasley (also the Musical Director), George Duke, Robert Glasper, Ramsey Lewis, Keiko Matsui and Eddie Palmieri; vocalists Rubén Blades, Al Jarreau, Milton Nascimento, Dianne Reeves andJoss Stone; trumpeters Terence Blanchard, Imer Demirer and Hugh Masekela; trombonist Alevtina Polyakova; bassists James Genus, Marcus Miller, Esperanza Spalding and Ben Williams; drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Vinnie Colaiuta; guitarists Bilal Karaman, John McLaughlin, Lee Ritenour and Joe Louis Walker; saxophonists Dale Barlow, Igor Butman, Branford Marsalis, Wayne Shorter and Liu Yuan; clarinetists Anat Cohen and Husnu Senlendirici; violinist Jean-Luc Ponty; and percussionists Zakir Hussain and Pedro Martinez. Quincy Jones and Martin Luther King III will serve as the concert’s special guests.
