North Carolina Jazz Festival at Wilmington already has plans for the 2014 Jazz Ed Program in place!   The concert/workshop at Roland Grise Middle School will again be on Friday (Feb. 7, 2014), then later in the afternoon (4 – 6 pm) there will be 4 master classes in the rooms so generously provided by the Wilmington Hilton Riverside.  They will include instruction on horns (Bria Skonberg), reed instruments (Adrian Cunningham), guitar (Bucky Pizzarelli), and this year the 4^th class will be on trombones (Jim Fryer).

We are pleased to announce that this jazz education program was so well received by our patrons that they have already started our jazz education fund for 2014 with the following having made donations:

Victor & Elaine Chap, John & Mary Whitt, Farren Smith, Greg & Joan Shelton, Dalton West,
Elena Jones, plus musician David Sager

We thank them for their generosity in helping us promote jazz at this level!  Contributions to this fund are welcomed, and because the NCJF is a non-profit organization, any contributions to this fund or to the NCJF in general, are TAX DEDUCTABLE.   Contributors’ names will be added to our website list, as well as noted in our 2014 program. If you would like to join this generous group, please send your checks (made out to NCJF with a notation Jazz Ed. Fund) to NCJF, 233 Racine Dr. #95, Wilmington, NC28403.

NC Jazz Festival @ Wilmington president Sandy Evans presents Bucky Pizzaarelli with his plaque

World renowned musicians, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and cornetist Ed Polcer were honored at this year’s Patron’s Brunch with the presentation of individually crafted plaques created by local artist Justine Ferrari of Creations by Justine. 

Ed Polcer

This was Bucky’s 12^th appearance at the festival and Ed’s 21^st.  The NCJF board of directors made this presentation as a token of our appreciation of the gift of jazz excellence that these musicians have given and continue to give to audiences around the globe, but particularly here in Wilmington, NC.

Continuing in our efforts to bring different styles of jazz to the North Carolina Jazz Festival’s opening night each year, the NCJF will present a tribute to the great Brazilian Jazz musician Antonio Carlos Jobim on Thursday night, at our 34^th annual event.

Headlining this segment will be Brazilian born vocalist Maucha  Adnet, who sang with Jobim for 10 years.  A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she now resides in New York City, where she is a busy performer.

Joining  Maucha for this salute to Brazilian Jazz will be NYC’s Harry Allen on tenor sax; Israeli born Ehud Asherie – piano; Tampa native Nate Najar – guitar; Australia/NYC’s Nicki Parrott – bass; and internationally acclaimed, U.S. born, Chuck Redd on drums.  This great American Heritage, JAZZ, is loved and played world-wide, and we are proud to bring some of the best international jazz musicians together on our stage to perform a style of jazz nurtured in Brazil.

Just a few of the other all-star performers for our 2014 jazz weekend will be trumpeter/vocalist  Bria Skonberg, formerly from  British Columbia, now living in NYC; Aussie reedman Adrian Cunningham, cornetist Ed Polcer (NYC & NOLA) and America’s favorite guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

Friday and Saturday nights will feature our traditional 6 or 7 sets, each with a different leader.

Celebrating 33 years of America’s favorite music! The 33rd annual North Carolina Jazz Festival will be held February 7, 8 and 9, 2013 at the Wilmington Hilton Riverside Hotel in Wilmington, NC.

Jazz enthusiasts from around the country will return to experience performances by world-class musicians including Adrian Cunningham, Banu Gibson, Bria Skonberg, Bucky Pizzarelli, Chuck Redd, Dan Levinson, David Boeddinghaus, David Sager, Ed Polcer, Frank Bongiorno, Jonathan Russell, Kerry Lewis, Kevin Dorn, Nicki Parrott, Randy Reinhart and Rossano Sportiello.

Get tickets today!

General Admission Tickets: Thurs. Evening (3 hr. concert) $35.
Fri. & Sat. Evenings (4 hr. concert) $50.
Military $25 – Students $15 each night

The 2013 festival musicians  will offer 4 workshops for local music students.  Bucky Pizzarelli – guitar; Jonathan Russell – violin; Bria Skonberg – trumpet; and Adrian Cunningham – reeds & flute.  These will be held at the Hilton Riverside on Friday, Feb. 8, from 4 to 6 pm.  Those interested should contact Laura Crane – (910)297.7727 or Tina Jacobs – (910) 232.4719 for details.

Order your NCJF shirts, jackets, or other logoed items now and wear them to the festival in February!  Check out the banner above the awning on our storefront for the special code that will enable you to get the sale price for your order – be sure to type the code in where asked.

It is a marvelous happening when an artist in one medium volunteers his or her art to help support an art form in another medium!  This is exactly what happened when a gentleman from Vermont attended the North Carolina Jazz festival. 

Paul Stone, a visual artist who creates beautiful images in both watercolor and oil, lives in Grafton Vt. And Topsail Island, NC.   After attending a performance of the NCJF, he contacted one of our board members and volunteered to donate a painting for our annual festival raffle.  This would be an oil painting created especially for the 2013 North Carolina Jazz Festival!

Mr. Stone has titled his artwork “Collaboration…an improvisation on a photograph by the late, great William Claxton”, 1927-2008, one of jazz’s most dedicated photographers.

The 2013 North Carolina Jazz Festival at Wilmington has again been chosen as one of the top 20 events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.

The Southeast Tourism Society is dedicated to the promotion of travel to and within Southeastern states, recognizing the importance of festivals, events and attractions in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

The STS Top 20 Events publication receives extensive exposure in print media, web, and television and radio in the U.S. and Canada.  Over 1,600 newspapers, magazines, radio & television stations, AAA’s and others receive the listings.  The Top 20 Events are listed on the Southeast Tourism Society website www.southeasttourism.org and on their consumer website www.escapetothe southeast.com  The Top 20 Events pages are consistently among the most visited pages on the STS sites.

We really appreciate this recognition and are proud to have received it every year since 2007.

Over the years many of our jazz lovers have requested various shirts, sweatshirts, fleece vests, and other items sporting our NCJF logo.

We have found a company that will allow us to offer a large variety of quality items with our new North Carolina Jazz Festival logo with the ” @ Wilmington”  addition – leaving no doubt of where this annual jazz festival is held! 

These purchases can be made only  through our online store, here on our website!  Your choices will be custom made for you and will be sent directly to you, with a delivery time of approximately 2 weeks.

Be one of the first to show your support of jazz and the North Carolina Jazz Festival by wearing one of our attractive shirts or carrying your laptop, groceries or beach towels in one of our logoed bags!  Look smart and at the same time help us spread the word about our great jazz festival here in Wilmington, NC.

This 8″X12″ wall plaque entitled ” 3 Horn men and a Wood-y” was created as a commemoration of the 2012 NC Jazz Festival.  Local sculptress Justine Ferreri  and her husband Guy have long been supporters of jazz and the North Carolina Jazz Festival.  They have twice donated pieces of jazz art for our annual raffle, and now Justine  has created this original kiln-fired clay piece, which has also been fired with 14 carat gold instruments, as a fund raiser for us.  The plaque can be purchased for $75, of which $25 will be donated to the NCJF. 

To order please contact Creations by Justine, 225 South Water St. – Chandler’s Wharf, Wilmington, NC 28401 or call 910-763-4545.
www.creationsbyjustine.com

Justine’s larger piece of “jazz art”, donated for our 2012 annual raffle to benefit NCJF, earned over $1,100 for our non-profit organization.  We thank Creations by Justine for their generosity and continued support of live jazz and the North Carolina Jazz Festival.