David Murray to headline Int’l Jazz Day Concert

Minister of Culture Olivia Grange has invited acclaimed tenor saxophonist David Murray to headline this year’s International Jazz Day Concert scheduled for Wednesday, April 30, at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre, in St Andrew.

The concert, which is free to the public, begins at 7 p.m.

“Jazz and Jamaican culture are inseparable since both are as a result of the same historic experience. Last year, we staged a concert which featured the Curtis Lundy Quintet, and this year my ministry has invited David Murray and his Quartet to again excite jazz lovers and to celebrate International Jazz Day,” Minister Grange said.

David Murray is a prolific recording artiste and a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet. He has released more than 100 albums under his name and appears on scores of others. Murray’s Quartet features himself on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Marta Sanchez on piano, Luke Stewart on bass, and Russell Carter on drums.

Murray is renowned for his improvisational skills, deep roots in African American music and his ability to blend diverse influences into his themes, as felt in his classic Flowers For Albert on the Skatalites impressive 30th-anniversary recording, Hi-Bop Ska. His musical prowess has earned him numerous awards and accolades, beginning with his New York Village Voice Musician of the Decade in 1980.

Contacted for comment regarding performing in Jamaica, Murray said, “My Quartet and I are ecstatic about the invitation from the Minister of Culture Olivia Grange ... and I am pleased that my close friend, Herbie Miller, curator of the Jamaica Music Museum, is one of the lead organisers of the International Jazz Day Concert in Kingston, Jamaica. I look forward to playing in the land of reggae and Bob Marley.”

Partnering with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sport to stage the concert is the UNESCO Caribbean Office, and the event is being coordinated by the Jamaica Music Museum and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, both of which are agencies of the ministry.

The concert will also feature the Orville Hammond Quintet, the Pau Nottykees Quintet, the Alpha Jazz Ensemble, the JaMM Big Band and Jazzetry, featuring MC and Poet Kacy Garvey, and Cellist Emily Elliott.

Noting the event’s significance, Herbie Miller, the programme’s artistic director, said that contrary to popular belief, “jazz reflects independent and communal determination models”.

“It unites people of diverse cultures by its sheer interdependence on each other to communicate in both the conventional and the abstract. Jazz musicians mould each idea into a single expressive compositional form, creating a musical stew that nourishes the soul,” Miller added.

Declared by UNESCO in 2011 with jazz luminary Herbie Hancock as its ambassador, International Jazz Day acts as a unifying force, bringing people from diverse cultures and backgrounds together to celebrate the music.

Yuri Peshkov, programme specialist for culture at the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, said that his organisation was “very excited to be associated with this year’s staging”.

“The cultural arm of the United Nations has long acknowledged the transformative power of jazz. Supporting this vibrant cultural initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and with Minister Grange, in particular, stands as yet another meaningful testament to the unifying spirit of music and harmony with us all,” Peshkov stated.

Minister Grange reminded that “Jamaica has celebrated International Jazz Day since UNESCO’s declaration in 2015 of Kingston as a Creative City of Music” and urged music lovers to “bring a friend and come listen to some fantastic jazz”.

Members of the public are invited to be seated by 6:30 p.m.