Jazz in Los Angeles.

Every since 1984 The Sweet Hot Jazz Festival has been in High-Town magnificence.

From the Director, Wally Homes, he says this......

Hi Jazz Fans!

" Our Festival is a celebration of classic jazz music, a four day salute to the 'Great American Song Book.'

We feature fifteen to twenty jazz bands and combos. Fifty individual artists, some two hundred musicians in all. Many of our performers are world class musicians who are dedicated to keeping classic jazz alive, fresh and vibrant.

The festival is presented in its entirety at one hotel. There is continuous music on eight stages. Featured are big band, improvised jazz, dancing, entertainment and a variety of very special events. "

And from their website we are given the addtional information.

Waht about this group ? Lets look further......

The Sweet and Hot Music Foundation is dedicated to the preservation and performance of America’s unique musical art form- Jazz - and to the continuation of the music of The Golden Age of Popular music- the music that has formed a background for our lives. In celebration of the artists that have been a part of the music, we have dedicated a Walk of Fame in the lush atrium garden of the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. In 2004 we installed the 50th brass plaque in this beautiful and unique homage to the music. We believe that the Walk of Fame is the only one dedicated solely to the composers and performers of the music from the 1900s thru the 1950s. The plaques were designed and implemented by our staff, with an assist from one of the original collaborators involved in Hollywood ‘s Walk of Fame.

Each year the members of the Sweet and Hot Music Foundation vote on the five new inductees whose plaques will be installed in the garden walkway and add their input to this beautiful oasis of memory.

Visitors stroll through the garden and recall favorite memories, they have their pictures taken with the plaques of favorite artists and come away with a renewed appreciation of the music that they know and love.

This was easy for this community to accomblish this in as much as it had The Los Angeles Jazz Institue.

This festival had a good partner in The Los Angeles Jazz Institute.

Who ?

THE LOS ANGELES JAZZ INSTITUTE

The Los Angeles Jazz Institute houses and maintains one of the largest jazz archives in the world. All styles and eras are represented with a special emphasis on the preservation and documentation of jazz in Southern California. The overall mission of the Jazz Institute is to preserve, promote and perpetuate the heritage of this important American art form.

Their Goal are stated.....

Collect and preserve jazz materials and make them accessible to scholars, students, researchers and the jazz community.

Actively acquire new materials and continue to seek out important private collections.

Provide a setting where musicians and their estates can donate or loan their materials with the assurance that they will be preserved for future generations.

Place a special emphasis on maintaining and adding to the music archive to establish a setting where the music can be performed on a regular basis insuring that their legacies will live forever.

Actively use the materials in the Archive by maintaining a busy schedule of outreach activities including concerts, festivals, broadcasts, publications and the release of important recordings on compact disc.

Develop grant proposals and pursue fund-raising activities.

Initiate research projects and publish the results in journal form and on a web site.

Maintain a comprehensive program of cataloging and data-base entry to continue to improve access to the collections.

As you can sense Jazz is very big in L.A.

Yours,

Roger M. Christian



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