Kimmel Center to Celebrate Philadelphia Jazz Appreciation Month with#PhillyLovesJazz Events

As part of Philadelphia's Jazz Appreciation Month (Philly JAM), Kimmel Center presents #PhillyLovesJazz Celebration, a variety of FREE and ticketed jazz events on the Kimmel Center campus. Throughout the month of April, a bevy of fresh jazz talent takes the stage exploring new interpretations of jazz, and continuing to redefine the American songbook with genre defying world influences and collaborations.

Over its 12-year history, the Kimmel Center has housed generations of venerable jazz musicians and has built upon Philadelphia's rich jazz legacy. New this season, the Kimmel Center takes on the role of producer through the new Kimmel Center Jazz Residency program featuring Pablo Batista, Bobby Zankel, Raphael Xavier, and Josh Lawrence, selected by a panel of Jazz experts from across the country to create new work. Their world premieres explore the boundless spirit of jazz, visiting past legacies and contemporary global influences through collaboration, and are set to take place in SEI Innovation Studio on June 21, 2014, as part of the Solstice in the City biennial celebration.

In April, Philadelphians continue to get an inside glimpse on the making of a world premiere, with opportunities to connect with Kimmel Center Jazz Residency artists performing their works-in-progress*:

On April 9, alto saxophonist Bobby Zankel collaborates with hip-hop / breakdance choreographer Raphael Xavier and percussionist Francois Zayas on a new work that explores African American culture and its transcendental nature through the relationship between improvisational jazz and dance created in the moment. Then on April 29, Josh Lawrence and the Fresh Cut Orchestra with bassist Jason Fraticelli, drummer Anwar Marshall and guitarist Tim Conley perform work-in-progress, Yin & Yang of Life, a new composition fusing traditional acoustic and modern electronic music on stage with visual projections, likewise striking a new performance-based conversation about jazz for audiences.

Kimmel Center Presents also continues its seasonal offerings in April with Mallorca-born jazz chanteuse Buika (April 10) reinterpreting jazz classics and performing her newer world music and flamenco inspired compositions. Then, the Philadelphia premiere of No Place to Go with Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra takes the stage (April 11-12); this New York-based OBIE Award-winning theatrical song cycle and hilarious musical ode to unemployment will surely thrill audiences with its jazzy cabaret, folk, country musical textures. And, Jon Batiste, another artist to watch at the Kimmel Center this season, returns with his Stay Human band on April 25 for a ticketed performance in Perelman Theater, after launching the Sittin' In season last fall and inspiring a younger generation of students and adult jazz enthusiasts with a double installment of Jazz Is Now, an interactive educational presentation.

The Free at the Kimmel series also continues Kimmel's #PhillyLovesJazz April Celebration with FREE Sittin' In Jam session on April 16, hosted by jazz pianist Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band (CBBB). This 17 member ensemble features professors, students, and touring musicians performing a late night musical innovation of jazz standards in a dance party format with MC 107.9 FM Laila St. Clair and resident DJ Matthew Law a.k.a. DJ Phsh.

And the next generation of jazz takes the spotlight as the Kimmel Center's Creative Music Program for Jazz (KCCMP for Jazz) performs throughout April, opening for the Sittin' In Jam session in the Plaza with Orrin Evans and CBBB on April 16, and off site as Kimmel Center jazz ambassadors with CMP Magenta ensemble performing at the Barnes Foundation on April 6 at 3 p.m., and then at Chris' Jazz Café, as part of the Center City Jazz Festival, on April 19 at noon. Young, talented student musicians between the ages of 11 and 20 years-old also have the opportunity to kick start their young careers and hone their talent by auditioning for a space in KCCMP for Jazz on April 5*, more details follow below.

Tickets for performances are available at kimmelcenter.org, 215-893-1999, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located at Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. (open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., later on performance evenings).

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