The Beavercreek Weekend of Jazz, "Where the Future of Jazz Meets the Legends of Jazz!", is an annual jazz festival organized and presented by the Beavercreek Music Parents Association and held the first weekend in March. The primary objective of the Weekend of Jazz is to expose the youth of Beavercreek, Ohio and surrounding communities to new and exciting forms of jazz music and provide them opportunities to learn about careers in music directly from professional jazz musicians.
Thursday evening opens the festival with performances by the jazz bands of the Beavercreek schools – Ankeney and Ferguson Middle Schools and Beavercreek High School (Jazz Ensembles 1 and 2). These performances are observed by an on-stage jazz professional, who offers constructive critiques of each performance and encouragement for the young musicians.
Each year two professional jazz ensembles are invited to perform during the festival. Every opportunity is seized to give children direct access to professional musicians, to ask them questions about their careers and to seek and receive advice and tutoring on their own performance skills. This year, Jeff Coffin Mu'tet will perform in concert on Friday evening of the festival. The second headline act is O'2L, who will perform Saturday evening.
March 6th thru 8th, 2008, the Beavercreek Music Parents Association (BMPA) in conjunction with Beavercreek High School (BHS) will be hosting the 8th annual Weekend of Jazz (WOJ). This not-for-profit community cultural event brings Beavercreek schools’ jazz ensembles together with 12 -15 other area High School jazz bands and two professional headliner bands for a truly exciting jazz-filled weekend. Please visit our web site, www.WeekendOfJazz.org, for more information about this year’s Weekend of Jazz.
Maynard Ferguson Tribute,
In Memory of Maynard Ferguson 1928-2006
The Weekend of Jazz was honored to have Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Band perform on Saturday March 4th, 2006.
Jazz legend Maynard Ferguson far surpasses the title "trumpet player"; he is an internationally famous big-band leader, one of the world's great brass players, and instrument designer, record producer, composer, arranger, producer of film soundtracks, and dedicated teacher. He is also a three-time Grammy Award nominee and Down Beat magazine award winner. The prolific bandleader has recorded over 60 albums in his lifetime.