June 9,2016: Jazz: Live at the Library! Concert Series Show #110 sponsored by Jamey Aebersold Jazz and hosted by The Jazz Arts Foundation. Inc. Phil DeGreg and Brasilia rocked an almost full house June 9, 2016 in the Farish Theater, at the downtown Lexington, KY Central Library. Before the group started Dave McWhorter, President of The Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc. and Board Member/JAO Liaison, Brenda Stratman presented recent Henry Clay High School graduate Jacob O’Donnell with the 2016 Annual Duke Madison Scholarship. Jacob O’Donnell will attend Jamey Aebersold’s summer Jazz Workshop in July. Jacob plays the tenor saxophone as well […]

I wanted to share some important jazz news taking place Thursday, May 26th at the Downtown Arts Center, 141 E Main St, Lexington, that should be of interest! I have attached a poster (click HERE) that has some of this info, but I wanted to get you some of the inside stuff about the show. The poster shows who is singing, but it does not mention the other players involved.  Joining Jessie, Thursday May 26, will be some great players:  Kendall Carter, Keyboards, Ron Davidson, Guitar, Bob Hackett, Bass and John Knight, on Drums, with special appearances by Upshaw Briggs, […]

That’s’ right 3 times free, excellent sounding JAZZ sponsored by Jamey Aebersold Jazz, hosted by The Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc. as part of their Jazz: Live at the Library! series and in honor of April – Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). JAZZ! 1 – I, unfortunately, was unable to attend the April 14th concert, which I heard was excellent. I have pasted below the JAF’s description of that concert so that the masses that read this blog may check out who was here and go to Dave Clark’s website and check out his music. On Thursday, April 14, 2016, The Jazz […]

JAF announces that the 2016 Annual Duke Madison Scholarship to Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshop in July has been awarded to Henry Clay High School senior Jacob O’Donnell. Jacob, who plays tenor saxophone with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra Jazz Arts Orchestra (CKYO JAO), as well as several other music groups, plans to attend the University of Kentucky as a music education major next fall. Jacob was officially recognized as the recipient at the June 9 Jazz: Live at the Library! concert before a nearly packed house. More information will follow soon and you can click HERE to learn more […]

Well it happened Thursday, March 10th, 2016, at the Farish Theater in Lexington’s Central Branch Library. Funded by Jamey Aebersold Jazz and hosted by The Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc.,  the Michael Cruse Quintet put on an excellent show, playing to a house full of friends and jazz lovers. Michael Cruse, trumpet and vocals, Darren Benton, drums, Andrew Lin, saxophone, Jackson Steiger, piano and Kevin McClellan, bass started the evening off with an interpretation of Horace Silver’s Conformation, titled Juicy Lucy. They rolled out the carpet and delivered clean, concise impact filled playing. I thought that Andrew Lin’s (saxophone) first solo […]

Monika Herzig & Friends will feature the music of Chick Corea and more on Thursday, April 28th and on International Jazz Day, Saturday April 30th vocalist Upshaw Briggs will perform with a 5 piece group of excellent local musicians – both will be held in the Lexington Downtown Central Library Farish Theater at no cost to all. Click HERE for more information. Plan now to attend and arrive early so you will be guaranteed a seat – these shows are expected to be SRO! Come celebrate JAM with JAF!!

One hundred five shows of free and open to the public, jazz at Lexington, KY Central Library’s Farish Theater, as of January 14, 2016.  Amazing, isn’t it that jazz has been going on right here in Lexington once a month since April, 2007. The Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc. and Jamey Aebersold Jazz have sponsored and put on this excellent musical event 105 times with over 180 different musicians. Last night’s event, a tribute to Lexington’s own Norman Higgins was sold out. Raleigh Dailey/piano, Larry Nelson and son Joel Nelson/saxophone, Ryan McGillicuddy/bass, Rick Cook/trumpet and “Drummer Dave” McWhorter, President of Jazz […]

The next official JAF board meeting will be held on March 2nd at 7PM at the Tates Creek Library in their large meeting room. Note that this is a slight change as we normally meet in the small meeting room. Our board meetings are open to the public, but we request that if you plan to attend as a guest, please send a note using the Contact form on the website.

After several months of testing the new website on different mobile devices, as well as various computer browsers and operating systems, the site launched today for all to enjoy. JAF would like to thank Dreamchaser Entertainment for all the hard work and effort that went into creating this new site and to train JAF members to maintain it. In addition, we would like to thank board member/photographer, Dave Birdwhistell, for all the time, work and dedication that he expended in creating and populating the many Photo Galleries and Albums to document the various events JAF held during the year. Thanks […]

The Jazz Arts Foundation’s monthly concerts culminates 2015 with Another Jazzy Christmas featuring Joshusa Espinoza/piano, Danny Cecil/ bass, Dave McWhorter/drums and the esteemed vocalist, Eugene Goss, bringing you their renditions of “jazzed-up” Holiday classics. Go to the Jazz at the Library page for more information.