While some of the more cynical observers of the music world may claim that traditional jazz is a dying art form, there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary.
The most essential way of keeping classic jazz alive is to encourage new generations of young musicians to listen, learn, and play the music that has existed for over a century, and which has produced countless legends whose music—many decades later— continues to entertain, inspire, and even thrill us.
The 3rd CPS (Cincinnati Public Schools) International Jazz Festival on May 6 went a long way to put those music cynics in their place, as it presented Cincinnati’s aspiring, school-age musicians of the CPS Jazz Academy in a concert that allowed them to exhibit their blossoming jazz skills, and, even more importantly, their potential.
Guest artists at Aronoff Center included renown Midwest jazz bassist Jim Anderson, who toured with Art Blakey, Hank Crawford, Nat Adderley, Benny Golson, and others. Joan Chamorro, who played at the festival as a guest in 2022, this time brought with him the eight-piece Sant Andreu Dixie Band, whose members stayed with host families of the jazz academy kids (more about these guests shortly).
The founder and producer of the festival, Dr. Isidore Rudnick, is the Fine Arts Curriculum Manager for the Cincinnati public school system, and founder of the CPS Jazz Academy, in which he teaches his st
