International Jazz Day Gala at International Jazz Day at Hagia Irene

Jazz artist and Music Director for The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (TMIJ), John Beasley, will head to Istanbul to direct a global all-star list of 35 musicians at a gala concert to mark International Jazz Day, which is sponsored by UNESCO.

“This year, the program will have ensembles to illustrate the global migration of jazz with blues, hip-hop, raga, Afro-Cuban and Middle-Eastern sounds,” says John Beasley, Music Director, inaugural concert, Paris 2012 and Istanbul, 2013. “It is exciting for me to bring together musicians from different countries, various genres, and all-ages to collaborate and play iconic songs; and show that there are no borders in jazz.” ...

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Jazz artist and Music Director for The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz (TMIJ), John Beasley, will head to Istanbul to direct a global all-star list of 35 musicians at a gala concert to mark International Jazz Day, which is sponsored by UNESCO.

“This year, the program will have ensembles to illustrate the global migration of jazz with blues, hip-hop, raga, Afro-Cuban and Middle-Eastern sounds,” says John Beasley, Music Director, inaugural concert, Paris 2012 and Istanbul, 2013. “It is exciting for me to bring together musicians from different countries, various genres, and all-ages to collaborate and play iconic songs; and show that there are no borders in jazz.”

Herbie Hancock, UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador, championed a world day for jazz because of his belief about “the international diplomatic aspect of jazz and how it has throughout a major part of its history been a major force in bringing people of various countries and cultures together."

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