Video Streams of all 3 Concerts Live on Jazz Day and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz

On Friday, April 27, UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova and UNESCO goodwill ambassador Herbie Hancock will kick-off the first annual International Jazz Day with a full day of events including live performances, master classes, and discussions featuring Marcus Miller, Barbara Hendricks, Hugh Masekela, Dee Dee Bridgewater, plus much more. Please visit unesco.org for complete details.

The day will conclude in a concert of jazz luminaries including: Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Swan Berger, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Igor Butman, Terri Lyne Carrington, Gerald Clayton, Klaus Doldinger, Dominique Fillon, Antonio Hart, Barbara Hendricks, Nicole Slack Jones, Manu Katché, Eric Lagnini, Bireli Lagrene, Jean Felix Lalanne, Nguyen Le, Lionel Loueke, Michel El Malem, Tania Maria, Hugh Masekela, Marcus Miller, China Moses, Michael Rodriguez, Isphar Sarabski, Ben Williams, and many others. John Beasley will serve as musical director.

The concert will be streamed live at jazzday.com and monkinstitute.org.
The inaugural International Jazz Day will be celebrated by millions worldwide on Monday, April 30, and will begin with an all-star sunrise concert in New Orleans’ Congo Square, the birthplace of jazz and culminate with a sunset concert at the United Nations. Presented by UNESCO in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, International Jazz Day will encourage and highlight intercultural dialogue and understanding through jazz, America’s greatest contribution to the world of music. Advertisement

Herbie Hancock will be joined in New Orleans by jazz luminaries Terence Blanchard, Ellis Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Kermit Ruffins, Treme Brass Band, and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts and many more.

The sunrise concert from Congo Square is open to the public and begins at 7am (8am EDT), and will be video streamed live at Jazz Day and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.
We invite students and schools from around the world to join in the celebration of International Jazz Day and play “Watermelon Man” along with Herbie Hancock live from Congo Square, New Orleans at 8:15am EDT on April 30, 2012. Sheet music and an MP3 is available to download on JazzDay.com. Please video record your performances of “Watermelon Man” and upload them to youtube.com and title them: International Jazz Day – Watermelon Man. Please include tags: JazzDay, April30, IntlJazzDay, HerbieHancock. Let us know the link and the musicians and where you performed and for how many people on this form. We’ll post your videos and your photos on JazzDay.com.

International Jazz Day culminates at the United Nations with an all-star sunset concert. Joining Herbie Hancock are: Tony Bennett, Terence Blanchard, Richard Bona (Cameroon), Dee Dee Bridgewater, Candido, Robert Cray, Eli Degibri (Israel), Jack DeJohnette, Sheila E., Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Zakir Hussain (India), Chaka Khan, Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Lang Lang (China), Romero Lubambo (Brazil), Shankar Mahadevan (India), Wynton Marsalis, Hugh Masekela (South Africa), Christian McBride, Danilo Pérez, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Hiromi (Japan), and others. George Duke will serve as Musical Director. Confirmed Co-Hosts include Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Quincy Jones.

The concert at the United Nations General Assembly Hall begins at 7:30pm EDT and will be video streamed live at Jazz Day and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.

In addition to viewing the concerts from Paris, New Orleans and New York at JazzDay.com, JazzCorner.com created JazzDay.com as an informational portal for jazz education resources and the site where you too can inform and show the world your jazz events and educational activities on April 30th. There are instructions and forms located on the site. After April 30th, hundreds of videos will be on display on JazzDay.com. Advertisement

To stay up to date: follow us on twitter @intljazzday with hash tag #jazzday and on Facebook: facebook.com/intljazzday.