UNESCO Designates April 30 International Jazz Day

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. It marks the culmination of Jazz Appreciation Month, which draws public attention to jazz and its extraordinary heritage throughout April.

International Jazz Day brings together communities, schools, artists, historians, academics, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots, future, and impact; raise awareness of the need for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding; and reinforce international cooperation and communication.

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Each year on April 30, this international art form is recognized for promoting peace, dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for human rights and human dignity; eradicating discrimination; promoting freedom of expression; fostering gender equality; and reinforcing the role of youth in enacting social change.

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Lew Shaw started writing about music as the publicist for the famous Berkshire Music Barn in the 1960s. He joined the West Coast Rag in 1989 and has been a guiding light to this paper through the two name changes since then as we grew to become The Syncopated Times.  47 of his profiles of today's top musicians are collected in Jazz Beat: Notes on Classic Jazz.Volume two, Jazz Beat Encore: More Notes on Classic Jazz contains 43 more! Lew taps his extensive network of connections and friends throughout the traditional jazz world to bring us his Jazz Jottings column every month.

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