July 2, 2007
The JVC Jazz Festival in cities around the world
The JVC Jazz festival’s history dates back to 1984 where JVC first sponsored a jazz Festival held in Bad Segeberg in Northern Germany. Various American Jazz superstars performed in the festival. In the 20 years that JVC has been producing the jazz festival, they have presented over 47,000 stellar musicians and held over 160 jazz festivals across the globe.
New York where it's currently going on, Newport, Miami, Tokyo, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, London, Warsaw, Berlin, Toronto, Bad Segeberg, Torino Italy, Rome, Nice and Paris in France and Amsterdam and Hague in Holland; all of these magnificent cities have hosted JVC Jazz Festivals and some of them are still holding jazz festivals in 2007.
The JVC Jazz Festivals are held in world renowned sites and theaters which include the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Cimiez Roman Baths in France, the Hollywood Bowl, the Royal Albert Hall and various concert venues. Even quaint cafes and outdoor parks stood as venues for some of the jazz festival’s acts. The festival also helped many unknown stars make their way into the music business such as Diana Krall, Christian McBride and Roy Hargrove.
The JVC Jazz Festival is the genius of Junichi Shibata of JVC and George Wein. These people both love jazz and saw an opportunity for marketing the Japanese Company, JVC electronics through Festival Productions. The JVC Jazz Festival was born and the rest was jazz history. Among the amazing people who have worked to make the jazz festival going are of course, Junichi Shibata and George Wein, Karl Bearnarth who is currently in charge, Marc Adachi, Mr. Hattori and Mr. Ishikawa, Neil Kurihara and Harry Elias.
Legendary and larger than life musicians who played a part in building the rich history of JVC Jazz Festival include: Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, B.B. King, Ray Charles Wayne Shorter, Chuck Berry, McCoy Turner, Nancy Wilson, Diane Reeves, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, David Sanborn, Sting, Earth Wind and Fire, Chick Corea and Cassandra Wilson among many others.
I've never been to a JVC Jazz Festival in any city, although I have been to jazz fests in Ottawa and Montreal. So if anyone has been to one or more of these fetivals please share your experience here.
Posted by James Trotta at July 2, 2007 1:38 PM | TrackBack