"Larry Rosen's JAZZ ROOTS is the most important new concert and educational jazz series in America." - Quincy Jones
It's hard to believe 30 years have passed since musicians/producers and entrepreneurs Larry Rosen and Dave Grusin made music history as co-founders of GRP Records. Not only did the innovative groundbreaking jazz label known as the "Digital Master Company" create a home and launch the careers for some of the finest jazz musicians of our time, the label was the first to adopt an all digital recording philosophy for all of its releases and was instrumental in the launch of the compact disc world-wide. GRP built a special relationship with music fans and was the first to market itself as a lifestyle brand which brought GRP to become Billboard's #1 Contemporary Jazz label for five consecutive years.
To mark this milestone, a 2-CD retrospective album titled GRP 30 will be released by Universal Music on September 25, along with 10 classic albums re-mastered and re-released digitally in the new Hi-Res audio format. Among the GRP artists featured are Dave Grusin, Chick Corea, Patti Austin, Diane Schuur, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Lee Ritenour, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Valentin, George Benson, Yellowjackets, Gary Burton, Tom Scott, the GRP All-Star Big Band, Larry Carlton, Eddie Daniels, Kevin Eubanks, BB King, David Benoit, the Rippingtons, and many more. In celebration of GRP 30, a series of anniversary shows is confirmed for Oct. 9 - 14 at NYC's Blue Note featuring a who's who of GRP alumni, including: Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, John Patitucci, Will Kennedy (Yellowjackets) and special guest Diane Schuur.
Rosen has spent his life bringing quality jazz to the masses and preserving the art form. His current passion, JAZZ ROOTS - A Larry Rosen Jazz Series, which is celebrating its 5th Anniversary, is a concert and educational program created for performing arts centers across America. The JAZZ ROOTS series was first launched in 2008 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Subsequently, the series debuted in 2009 in Dallas at the AT&T Performing Arts Center; 2011 at the Palladium Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana; and in 2012 at The Smith Center in Las Vegas, The Cobb Energy Center in Atlanta, and NJPAC in Newark, NJ.
JAZZ ROOTS artists presented include: Dave Brubeck, Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Esperanza Spalding, Paquito D'Rivera, John McLaughlin, Patti Austin, Count Basie Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Valentin, Nestor Torres, The Machito Orchestra, Eliane Elias, Ivan Lins, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Manhattan Transfer, Al Jarreau, Jon Hendricks, Dave Grusin, Jon Secada, Eddie Palmieri, Michel Camilo and many more.
To date JAZZ ROOTS has sold over 100,000 tickets to music fans, reached out to 10,000 students, and presented over 100 major jazz artists.
Keeping a finger on the pulse of technology and media, the JAZZ ROOTS GRAMMY® nominated all-star concert, An Evening with Dave Grusin, was recorded live and is now being broadcast nationally on PBS TV, and released on CD and Blu-ray on Concord Records, and is available as an iPad app. As part of JAZZ ROOTS at NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center), Rosen is producing the first annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, along with presenting partners NJPAC and WBGO-FM. The winning female jazz vocalist will be announced on October 21, 2012 at the live performance finals presented at NJPAC.
The JAZZ ROOTS series includes educational and outreach programs that organically connect to local community groups, art centers, and local boards of education. The goal of the educational component is to teach, inspire, and enrich young people through unique active learning opportunities to experience jazz, both in the concert hall and in the classroom. Students are offered the opportunity to go behind the scenes with the artists at rehearsals and sound checks, attend master classes, and experience first-hand the artistic process.
States Rosen: "I believe it is extremely important that young people get to understand the history of America's music and its roots, especially today when music education has been almost eliminated from our public school system."
JAZZ ROOTS has formed an alliance with Sony Masterworks, Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and the Jazz Educators Network (JEN) to help implement music curriculum in public schools. As part of this alliance Sony Masterworks recently released the first JAZZ ROOTS product titled; The Music of the Americas, a two-disc compilation tracing the story of African drums and their effect on the musical DNA of the Americas. The 36 track compilation features iconic performances by jazz masters from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, and from Herbie Hancock to Wynton Marsalis.
For a complete schedule of JAZZ ROOTS shows across America please go to www.jazzroots.net.
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