FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (9/8/09)
Contact: Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D., Chairman
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF)
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC)
662-247-1471 662-247-3364
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com
web sites: www.Juneteenth.us.com
www.JuneteenthJazz.com
www.ChristianJazz.net
Bishop Dave Thomas, Chairman
National Juneteenth Armed Services Commission
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC)
907-575-8506
e-mail: bishopthomas9@yahoo.com
web site: www.JuneteenthAlaskaALCAN.com
Anchorage Juneteenth Jazz & Arts Festival
Jazz Festival Features Master Trombonist
and Artist Dick Griffin
Juneteenth Jazz Festival Honors African American
Army Engineers Who Built the ALCAN Highway
(Anchorage, AK) – Celebrating the achievement of the African American Army engineers who built the
Alcan Highway during
World War II, the historic first Anchorage Juneteenth Jazz and Arts Festival will take place on Friday, October 30,
2009, at the Z. J. Loussac Public Library, in Anchorage, Alaska. The opening ceremony for the
Juneteenth Art
Exhibit is scheduled for 1:00pm, followed by a Juneteenth Jazz Concert at 7:00pm.
The festival is sponsored by the National Association of Juneteenth Jazz
Presenters (NAJJP) and is a part of "June is Black
Music Month!" - CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH JAZZ - "Preserving Our African American Jazz Legacy!" concert
series. National Juneteenth Jazz Artist, Rev. Dr.
Ronald Myers, Sr., M.D., Founder & Chairman of the (NAJJP)
will be the featured artist at the festival, performing in Alaska for the first time.
"Jazz is African American classical music, created from the hearts, lives and souls of black folks in America,"
states Rev., Dr. Myers, also Founder and Chairman of the NAJJP,
the Fellowship of Creative Christian Jazz Musicians (FCCJM), the
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC) and the
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign. "The preservation of our unique
African-American jazz music legacy is what Black Music Month
and the celebration of Juneteenth is all about."
Dr. Myers will be performing original compositions from his critically acclaimed jazz CD,
"Doctor’s Orders." The CD
includes popular original Mississippi Delta jazz compositions like "Song For Tchula," "Message From the
Country" and "Blues For Tchula."
Performing with Dr. Myers will be special guest artist
Dick Griffin, one of today's leading trombone players. In a career spanning over 40 years, he has performed with some of the biggest names in Jazz
and Soul, as well as appearing with several symphony orchestras. A short list of the luminaries Mr. Griffin has worked with includes: Duke Ellington, Count
Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente, Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Isaac Hayes, Dionne Warwick, and
Lionel Hampton.
Griffin has developed a highly personalized playing style which he calls "circularphonics". His ability to combine playing chords on the trombone with
circular breathing is unrivaled among Jazz trombonists. The expanded range of simultaneous sounds Griffin creates through his multiphonic technique sometimes
evokes the spirit of such experimental Jazz musicians as John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Sun Ra. Never a follower, Griffin has moved beyond the
course set by these pioneering giants to develop a unique style on and for an instrument which has hardly been the most widely used in modern Jazz.
Griffin, a world renowned painter and visual artist, will have several of his original paintings featured at the
Juneteenth Art Exhibit. He will also be
performing and exhibiting art work in Alaska for the first time.
Joining Myers and Griffin will be Anchorage jazz musicians Rick Zelinsky, on saxes, Dirk Westfall, on bass and John Damberg on
drums.
Admission is free and donations are appreciated. For more information contact Bishop Dave Thomas at 907-575-8506, e-mail:
BishopThomas9@yahoo.com or web site:
www.JuneteenthAlaskaALCAN.com or Dr. Myers at 662-247-3364 or 662-247-1471,
e-mail: JuneteenthDOC@yahoo.com or web site:
www.Juneteenth.us,
www.19thofJune.com or
www.JuneteenthJazz.com.
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