Ascona Jazz Award 2008 for Donald Harrison

Ascona, Lake Maggiore, Switzerland - Following singer Lillian Boutt (Special Prize 2006) and Father Jerme Ledoux (Special Prize/Award 2007), a third outstanding personage of New Orleans cultural life will be recognized by the Ascona Jazz festival. The Ascona Jazz Award 2008 will be bestowed on the great saxophonist Donald Harrison.

The intention of the festival directors is to reward the musical endeavors of this virtuoso of the saxophone, considered among the most influential figures on the contemporary jazz scene; and to recognize his passionate devotion to the culture of the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, today threatened by the devastating consequences of Katrina-- a culture which Donald Harrison lives and personifies in the role (inherited from his father) of “Big Chief", and which he promotes by producing CDs, involving a huge number of New Orleans musicians and bringing on tour the rhythms and costumes typical of this important tradition of the Afroamerican carnival of New Orleans, whose origins date back to the epoch of slavery of the Black population of Louisiana.

Award Cerimony and Concert
Saturday, July 5, 2008, at 10 pm
Tent Jazz Club Torre