International Jazz Day preview

The United Nations is truly putting the stamp on jazz, several dozen of them in fact, when the third annual International Jazz Day rolls around on Wednesday, April 30. UNESCO and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz are sponsoring International Jazz Day, which will have Osaka, Japan as its host city for major, all-star events.

Coinciding with International Jazz Day, the United Nations Postal Administration will issue three mini-sheets of a dozen jazz-related postage stamps, a first-day-of-issue envelope and a souvenir card. The items were designed in a cohesive collage format by UNPA Art Director Sergio Baradat. Here’s a preview of those materials. The stamps will be issued in U.S. dollars, Swiss francs and Euros. For more information, visit UNStamps.org.




The U.S. denomination jazz sheet

The 2014 International Jazz Day celebration will begin in Osaka April 30 with a daylong series of jazz education programs, performances and community outreach. An outdoor evening concert at Osaka Castle Park will feature a wide array of jazz artists. They include pianists Toshiko Akiyoshi, John Beasley (concert musical director) and Kris Bowers; bassists James Genus, Marcus Miller and Esperanza Spalding; drummers Terri Lyne Carrington  and T.S. Monk; singers Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roberta Gambarini, Lalah Hathaway and  Gregory Porter; saxophonists Kenny Garrett, Wayne Shorter and Lew Tabackin; trombonist Steve Turre; trumpeters Theo Croker, Roy Hargrove, Terumasa Hino and Claudio Roditi; guitarists Earl Klugh and John Scofield; and percussionists Sheila E. and her dad, Pete Escovedo.

The Osaka concert will be streamed live worldwide via the UNESCO, U.S. Department of State and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz websites. For more information about International Jazz Day and to register local April 30 jazz events on the official website, visit Jazzday or UNESCO/Jazzday.