May 1999

From the Inside Out
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By Chris M. Slawecki

Do your part to spread the word: May 29th – the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. – is the ninth annual celebration of International Jazz Day (IJD).

IJD is the love labor of D. Michael Denny, who founded the first international celebration of Jazz in 1991 as an outgrowth of the U.S. Centennial of Jazz commemoratives in 1990, which Denny helped oversee while he was a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Jazz Society (NJJS).

Plans for this year’s IJD celebration feature events in literally dozens of countries worldwide, including France, Spain, China, Japan, Australia, Russia, Zimbabwe, and many, many others. The primary focus of the U.S. celebration will be the Jazz Jubilee, sponsored by the Traditional Jazz Society of Sacramento (CA). In the U.K., IJD activities are overseen by Sandra Noble, wife of former Duke Ellington trumpet player Ray Burrowes. IJD also bears the endorsement of the United Nations Jazz Society and the American Federation of Jazz Societies.

(IJD also occasions much coolness for bassist Eugene Wright – sideman for Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, Cal Tjader, and Gene Ammons – who born on this date in 1923, as well as for pianist Hilton Ruiz (1952), and drummer Kenny Washington (1958)).

For additional information from D. Michael Denny, visit his IJD website.

Hey, AAJ’s never shied away from an excuse for celebration. Here’s a list of suggested activities to aid your celebration of International Jazz Day, compiled with the aid of coconspirators and friends. Some are serious; some are not. Sure hope you can tell which are which!

Call off sick from work, buy a good cigar and fine brandy, pull all the shades and unplug the phone. Borrow "Bird Lives" from your local library. Disappear.

Enter the nearest mall with a Mr. Microphone and a soapbox. Loudly proclaim, "Kenny G. is not a Jazz musician!" over and over, until mall security arrives (After that, you're pretty much on your own).

Make a donation – time, money, cassettes, records, CDs, ANYTHING – to the music department of the local elementary, middle or high school of your choice.

Get drunk and go to Graceland. Often and loudly, ask no one in particular, "How many of them songs did "The King" write, anyway?" Get arrested for public urination (bonus points if you're a lady).

Kick back with a mug of Bitches Brew.

Flip on MTV for the briefest of moments, on the off chance that Celebrity Death Match pits Ella and Sarah against Celine and Mariah.

Head out to the Woodchopper's Ball with a Sophisticated Lady.

Give "Sir Duke" a spin, and give thanks that Stevie knows where it all began.

Call your area "Smooth Jazz" station and inquire with increasing agitation why they don’t play more Ray Charles records.

Go to a rock concert and loudly keep time by shouting "1! 2! 3! 4!, 1! 2! 3! 4!" in time with each tune – or as close as you can get.

Buy Alice Coltrane a necklace of Black Pearls.

Thank the divinity of your choice for Louis Armstrong. Take steps to ensure that Dolly don't never go away again.