International Jazz Day is an International Day declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2011 "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe." It is celebrated annually on April 30. The idea came from jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock. Jazz Day is chaired by Hancock and the UNESCO Director-General. The celebration is recognized on the calendars of both UNESCO and the United Nations.
The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz), an American NGO also chaired by Hancock, is the lead organizational partner for Jazz Day. The Institute coordinates activities in the UNESCO member states as well as the Global Host Celebration. Events in the Host City culminate in an All-Star Global Concert, which involves numerous jazz musicians from around the world performing in or around an historical landmark.
The 2022 celebration of International Jazz Day featured an All-Star Global Concert at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, with Herbie Hancock, Gregory Porter, Shemekia Copeland, Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield, Hiromi, Linda Oh, David Sanborn, Randy Brecker, Ravi Coltrane, Zakir Hussain, Brian Blade and others.
Worldwide participation Nearly 200 countries participate in International Jazz Day every year. In addition to concerts and jam sessions, events include workshops, conferences, and community outreach. The official registry of worldwide events is hosted on jazzday.com where they are displayed and indexed alphabetically by country. Jazzday.com lists notable examples of events organized over the past ten years:
A teacher in Tuscaloosa organized a workshop on how to use jazz to inspire leadership and innovation. A venue in Bogotá, Colombia, produced a day of public education programs including classes, concerts, and jam sessions. In Yangon, Myanmar, organizers invited a jazz guitarist to give performances and educational workshops with local musicians. A conservatory in Kathmandu, Nepal, hosted local and traveling musicians for joint concerts, followed by an open jam session. The event was broadcast live on the radio. A record producer in Tehran, Iran, organized a series of concerts with local musicians at an historic cultural center. A mobile jazz club in Alcoy, Spain, attempted to set the record for largest jazz jam session in Spanish history, bringing together more than 100 musicians in Alcoy's Plaza de Dins. A planetarium in Ukraine hosted a jazz concert accompanied by a 3D-video show.
The International Jazz Day website also collects jazz education materials. These include content from the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York Jazz Workshop, Jamey Aebersold Jazz, the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, Norwegian music technology firm oiid, the online STEAM curriculum Math, Science & Music, and the Universidad Veracruzana.
Jazz and cultural expression UNESCO's official description of International Jazz Day places the annual celebration in the context of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, maintaining that Jazz Day "integrates culture in sustainable development frameworks", "promotes human rights and fundamental freedoms", and "protects and promote the diversity of cultural expressions."
History
Inception and declaration After his designation as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue on July 22, 2011, Herbie Hancock announced his intention to create an International Day celebrating the diplomatic role of jazz. In November 2011, following a favorable recommendation by the 187th Executive Board, UNESCO's General Conference proclaimed April 30 as International Jazz Day, recognizing jazz as "a means to develop and increase intercultural exchanges and understanding between cultures for the purpose of mutual comprehension and tolerance." The date of April 30 was proposed to position International Jazz Day as the culmination of the Smithsonian Institution's April Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), though no formal connection exists between JAM and International Jazz Day.
The United Nations General Assembly formally recognized International Jazz Day on its official calendar in December 2012.
Paris, New Orleans, New York The inaugural International Jazz Day celebration took place in three parts. On April 27, Hancock hosted a daylong education program and evening concert at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. Educational activities included public panel discussions and lectures throughout the World Heritage Centre. The evening concert featured more than two dozen musicians and included remarks by Hancock, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, United States Permanent Representative to UNESCO David Killion, and TSF Jazz Program Director Sebastien Vidal.
The second part took place at sunrise on the following Monday, April 30, in Congo Square in New Orleans. Hosted by actor Harry Shearer with remarks by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, the event consisted of performances by Herbie Hancock, trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, the Treme Brass Band, vocalist Stephanie Jordan, pianist Ellis Marsalis, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, and trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
Notable among the performances was a rendition of Herbie Hancock's composition "Watermelon Man", which Hancock led with students from the Thelonious Monk Institute's Performing Arts High School program. Event producers organized simultaneous performances by student groups in Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Cape Town, which were streamed live and broadcast by CNN and CBS This Morning.
The sunrise event occurred on the opening weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which led some observers—including Mayor Landrieu and host Harry Shearer—to remark that numerous attendees had simply not gone to bed the night before.
The concluding event—a "sunset" concert to contrast with the New Orleans festivities earlier in the day—took place at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York City and included performances by Hancock, Tony Bennett, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Candido, and Stevie Wonder. Hosts included Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Quincy Jones. Pianist George Duke served as musical director. The program was noted for including musicians from every continent except Antarctica.
Istanbul Istanbul, Turkey, served as the Global Host City for International Jazz Day 2013. On Tuesday, April 30, UNESCO, the Monk Institute and IKSV coordinated more than a dozen free education events at the Beyoğlu Municipal Youth Center, the Borusan Music House, and the SALT contemporary art space, as well as a number of fringe events at Istanbul jazz clubs and music venues. Daytime activities allowed for contact between visiting musicians and local Turkish students and musicians. Other participants included Robert Glasper, T. S. Monk, Marcus Miller, Hugh Masekela, Anat Cohen, Keiko Matsui, and Erik Truffaz, with highlighted Turkish musicians including Okay Temiz, Aydin Esen, Ozan Musluoğlu, and Burak Bedikyan.
A number of the 2013 education activities were concentrated in the cosmopolitan district of Beyoğlu in venues including the Akbank Sanat arts center, the Alt jazz club, and Galatasaray High School, where saxophonist Wayne Shorter gave a master class for students and accepted UNESCO's Cultural Diversity Medal from Director-General Bokova.
The 4th-century Byzantine church Hagia Irene hosted the evening All-Star Global Concert. Participants included Joss Stone, Rubén Blades, Terence Blanchard, George Duke, Al Jarreau, Branford Marsalis, John McLaughlin, Dianne Reeves, Lee Ritenour and Hüsnü şenlendirici. Pianist John Beasley served as musical director. The concert was one of George Duke's last public appearances before his death three months later. The evening's hosts included UNESCO Director-General Bokova, Herbie Hancock, Turkish comedian Cem Yılmaz, and community activist Martin Luther King III, who delivered remarks commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The concert was streamed live on YouTube.
In parallel with the festivities in Istanbul, more than 100 countries registered events commemorating the second edition of International Jazz Day. Partners included regional and municipal governments, private citizens, jazz clubs, cultural centers and community organizations. Worldwide celebrations encompassed jam sessions, concerts, public performances, film screenings, showings of the All-Star Global Concert, and educational workshops and master classes.
Among the parallel events organized in 2013 was a 12-hour program of free performances, master classes, and discussions on the Rue des Lombards in Paris. The program was spread among the jazz clubs Duc des Lombards, Baiser Salé, Sunset and Sunside. Participants included Ray Lema, Manu Dibango, Gregory Porter, Kelly Lee Evans, Leila Martial, Tony Tixier, Etienne Mbappé, Rémi Panossian, and Lou Tavano. French broadcaster Radio TSF Jazz covered the program.
Osaka International Jazz Day 2014 was hosted by the city of Osaka, Japan. The principal local organizer was the Osaka Government Tourism Bureau.
The 2014 education program was staged inside the Osaka School of Music. The free program opened with a performance of King Oliver's West End Blues by Japanese duo Yoshio and Keiko Toyama. Modules included panel discussions, master classes, and film screenings, and included artists from the evening's All-Star Global Concert, including Herbie Hancock, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Chris Thomas King, Earl Klugh, Marcus Miller, Thelonious Monk Jr., and Esperanza Spalding. Notable programming included a dance workshop with students from the Osaka school by choreographer Hinton Battle, a brass clinic for students and local musicians by trumpeter Terumasa Hino, and a dialogue with saxophonist Wayne Shorter titled Philosophy of Life Through Jazz.
The Global Concert took place on the grounds of Osaka Castle in Nishinomaru Garden for around 10,000 people. The lineup featured 34 musicians from the United States, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Mali, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Performers included trombonist Steve Turre on conch shells with master taiko drummer Shuichi Hidano; Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter with a rendition of Michiel Borstlap's Memory of Enchantment and Chris Thomas King, John Scofield, and Joe Louis Walker on Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind". As part of the 2014 concert, astronauts Richard Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata delivered a video greeting from the International Space Station.
The 2014 Global Concert inaugurated the tradition of performing the arrangement of the John Lennon song "Imagine" from Hancock's 2010 album The Imagine Project as the show finale.
In 2014, International Jazz Day events took place in all 195 UNESCO member states, including Mongolia, where the U.S. Embassy hosted a jazz concert in its American Corner, Uruguay, where the Jazz a la Calle youth development program sponsored performances by local groups, and Ghana, where a local Alliance Française organized concerts and education programs as part of the Live in Accra Jazz Festival.
Also in 2014, the United Nations Postal Administration issued a series of postage stamps and a souvenir card to commemorate International Jazz Day. The stamps were designed by artist Sergio Baradat.
Paris Paris, France, served as the Global Host City for International Jazz Day 2015. The local celebration was co-coordinated by the City of Paris, with municipal and private partners including the governments of multiple arrondissements, SNCF, TSF Jazz and the Paris Jazz Club.