What is JAM? Many people haven't even heard of it. A few people on Twitter actually thought that I was making it all up. 
JAM was created "to draw public attention to the glories of jazz as both an historical and a living treasure" - Smithsonian Institute.
The month of April was chosen for two reasons. One was to maximize JAM's educational potential in schools. The other reason was because April is the birth month of jazz icons such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton and Tito Puente, Sr.
Check this out ☞ The U.S. Congress passed legislation (Public Law 108-72) which was signed by President Bush in August 2003. It was declared that "(1) the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History should be commended for establishing a Jazz Appreciation Month. and (2) musicians, schools, colleges, libraries, concert halls, museums, radio and television stations, and other organizations should develop programs to explore, perpetuate, and honor jazz as a national and world treasure."
Who knew?
What can we do as fans to celebrate it? The Smithsonian Institute has suggestions and I'll list a few below for convenience:
- Listen to a jazz CD that is new to you. Try to stretch your ears. [May I suggest "Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
" - Christian Scott, "Flying Toward the Sound (Dig)
" - Geri Allen, "Pathways" - Dave Holland Octet, "Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee
"- Dee Dee Bridgewater, or maybe even "Blue Note Plays the Beatles
"?]
- Find a new jazz website. [A great way to discover new music would be to look in the Artists A-M and Artists N-Z sections of this website].
- Listen to a radio station that plays genuine jazz.
- Go to "This Date in Jazz History" (at www.SmithsonianJazz.org), pick an anniversary, and find some music by that musician to explore.
- Pay a pilgrimage to your favorite jazz city, to a jazz museum, or to a musician's birthplace or gravesite.
- Join a local jazz society (for a list of societies in the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, India, Guyana and New Zealand, visit www.SmithsonianJazz.org). If none exists in your community, organize one!
- Host a jazz listening session in your home or a jazz-themed party in honor of a favorite musician, or to celebrate jazz in general.
- Attend a concert by your local high school or college jazz band.
- Listen to Internet radio stations like AccuJazz, WBGO 88.3FM, KJazz 88.1FM, and WDUQ 90.5FM.
How are you going to celebrate JAM? Please feel free to share it with us either in the comments section or with me via the contact form. Thank you.
✺Happy Jazz Appreciation Month!✺