Istanbul is set to be the global host city of the second International Jazz Day, organized in collaboration with UNESCO, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue Herbie Hancock and the Turkish Culture and Foreign Ministries, on April 30, and the participating artists have been announced.
Istanbul will be hosting Keiko Matsui, Hugh Masekela, Robert Glasper, Ramsey Lewis, Charlie Gans, J.B.Dyas and Thelonious Monk, Jr. They will be joined by Turkish musicians Okay Temiz, Yavuz Baydar, Ayşegül Yeşilnil and the Nezih Yeşilnil Quartet, Selen Gülün, Melis Sökmen, Hediye Güven, Seda Binbaşgil, Bora Çeliker and Aydın Esen.
The concert will take place at Hagia Eirene and will be streamed live on the Internet via the websites of UNESCO, the U.S. State Department, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. It will be recorded for future broadcast on public television stations around the world.
There will be a number of celebrations across Istanbul on the day, and celebrations will kick off with a special early morning performance for high school students. The evening concert at Istanbul’s Hagia Irene will feature performances by internationally renowned musicians including pianists John Beasley, George Duke, Robert Glasper, Abdullah İbrahim, Keiko Matsui and Eddie Palmieri; vocalists Al Jarreau, Milton Nascimento and Dianne Reeves; trumpeters Hugh Masekela, Imer Demirer and Christian Scott; bassists James Genus, Marcus Miller and Ben Williams; drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Vinnie Colaiuta; guitarists Bilal Karaman, John McLaughlin, Lee Ritenour and Joe Louis Walker; saxophonists Dale Barlow, Igor Butman, Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter and Liu Yuan; clarinetists Anat Cohen and Hüsnü Şenlendirici; violinist Jean-Luc Ponty; and other special guests to be announced in the weeks ahead. Beasley will be the event’s musical director. The day is designed to raise awareness in the international community regarding jazz’s virtues as an educational tool, as a unity, dialogue, and for enhanced cooperation between peoples.
