Contact: Sunny Mindel/Brenda Pérez (212) 788-2958
Joining the Mayor were: Akira Ochida, President of JVC Americas Corporation; Katsuhiko Hattori, President of JVC Company of America, a division of JVC Americas Corporations; Harry Elias, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of JVC of America; and George Wein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Festival Productions.
"New York's incomparable creativity, energy, edge and the improvisational spirit of New York have always been a perfect match for Jazz," the Mayor said. "I can only begin the long list of Jazz greats who have since made their names here: Ella Fitzgerald, Chick Webb, Benny Goodman, Billie Holliday, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker. These artists all represent different strands of a complex and diverse musical art form. The 27thth annual JVC Jazz Festival is the perfect place to learn how those strands have evolved since the 1930s, '40s and '50s.
"I want to thank all of the organizers of this festival for their hard work. You have managed to take the tremendous creativity on display every night in New York City clubs and theaters and ratchet it up a notch. The result is that the best established and rising performers in the Jazz world are together in New York City for a single two-week festival."
This year's JVC Jazz Festival, will feature more than 300 artists performing in 50 events at locations in Harlem, other parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.