The month of April has been designated as Jazz Appreciation Month. This initiative highlights the marvels and wonders of jazz as a unique genre of American music. It is both a historical and living entity of American culture and expression documented by artifacts, concerts, letters, oral traditions and recordings.
The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, which has the world's most comprehensive set of jazz programs, proposed this idea as a way to celebrate the extraordinary heritage of jazz and to encourage everyone to experience it by attending concerts, listening to recordings, reading about it or studying it. Many famous jazz artists were born in April including Johnny Dodds, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan, etc.
Tomorrow evening the Westport Arts Center's Jazz to the Max series is featuring Freddie Bryant at the Pequot Library.
The Westport Library is showcasing its collection of jazz books, compact discs and videos with a display on the main level. If you have a favorite artist that is not represented on our shelves, please feel free to contact me.