In 1968, the U.S. State Department created the Jazz Ambassadors program, hiring leading American Jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington to represent the U.S. overseas, particularly to improve the public image of the U.S. in light of criticism from the Soviet Union around racial inequality and racial tension. The
Grace Kelly is taking the jazz world by storm with her "electric charisma on-stage that instantly ignites the room," says band leader Jon Batiste. As we get set to welcome Kelly to the JAS Cafe stage for her first ever Aspen appearance, we wanted to take a look back at the influence other women like Kelly have
(Excerpt from Rolling Stone Magazine, April 2015, By Andy Greene) Join us for Lean on Me: Jose James Celebrates Bill Withers at the JAS Cafe On a clear day you can see the Staples Center from Bill Withers' house, which sits high in the hills above West Hollywood. Today, in about two hours, the Los
JAS CAFE WINTER SERIES AT THE LITTLE NELL This winter's JAS Cafe Downstairs at the Nell series promises to be one of our best yet, with multiple new artists and a few of our favorites returning. We've got guitars, Hammond B-3, vocalists, Grammy winners and more! Not sure who you'd like to see? Listen to
Bossa nova is a genre of Brazilian music which developed and was popularized in the 1950s and 60s, initially among young musicians and college students who chose to compose more optimistic music to describe their generation as opposed to the suffering in the tunes and lyrics of songs from the previous decades. The sound was
1. She was born on January 22, 1980 in the small town of Hahira, Georgia. Her father was the minister of her church and Lizz grew up singing in the choir and eventually became the church's musical director. 2. She attended Houston County High School, where she was heavily involved in choral singing, receiving the
As a leading advocate of Russian art in the world, Igor Butman is the most recognized jazz artist in the country. US President Bill Clinton said Butman "may be the greatest living jazz saxophone player, who happens to be Russian." Leading into Butman's performance with jazz vocalist Fantine at the JAS Cafe on July 14 we take
Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles take the JAS Cafe Stage at the Cooking School of Aspen on Friday and Saturday, December 28th and 29th with shows at 7pm and 9:15pm. Purchase your tickets here! Here is a little more about the band: “The human voice is so powerful,” says Cory Henry. “When I’m singing, it’s
As we prepare to welcome hot jazz band The Hot Sardines to the JAS Cafe, we take a look at the history of the music and how Prohibition advanced jazz. “The parties were bigger..the pace was faster…and the morals were looser,” – F. Scott Fitzgerald on Prohibition. While jazz music predated Prohibition, the new federal law restricting
What Is Big Band Music? A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big Bands evolved with the times and continue to this day. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25
