Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1983

Atlanta is no stranger to the heat index and in 1983 on August 20th the thermometer hit 100 degrees just nine days before the opening of the jazz festival. Also that year Georgia was required to pay $3 million dollars to Black workers who were denied promotions at the Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, and The Big Chill which was filmed in Atlanta and starred Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly and JoBeth Williams opened in theaters.
Festival programmer Mark Johnson continues the legacy of jazz under Bureau of Cultural Affairs leader Shirley Cooks by bringing another amazing lineup to Atlanta for the sixth annual festival that included Crescent, Allan Harris, Dexter Wise, Windstorm, Chandra Currelly, Family Jazz Ensemble, Billy Gee, Clark College Jazz Orchestra, James Newton Quartet, Space Shuttle, Dan Wall Quartet, Sil Austin, Joi Tobin, Life Force, Jimmy Smith & Kenny Burrell feturing Mike Baker, Steven Dwiggins, Carol Veto, Glenn Wisenbaker, Ojeda Penn Experience, Jeanne Lee, Pharoah Sanders, Furture Experience, Rod Smith, Paul Perez, Khaleefa Haamid and Miles Davis.

From August 29th – September 1st performances were in Central City Park. The final days of the festival performances from September 2nd to September 5th were held in Piedmont Park.

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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1982

The year is 1982 and much is going on in Atlanta with the appointment of former President Jimmy Carter to a professorship at Emory University, Henry “Hank” Aaron is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Coca-Cola purchases Columbia Pictures from CBS and also introduces Diet Coke, Wayne Williams Atlanta Child Murders trial is underway, MARTA’s Peachtree Center station is opened, Herschel Walker, a junior attending the University of Georgia wins the Heisman Trophy and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site is created.

While all of this is making news Shirley Cooks, Director of Cultural Affairs continues the tradition by bringing a few luminaries in jazz at the time to the city. On the bill were drummer Chico Hamilton, vocalist Carmen McRae, pianist Mal Waldron, vocalist Leon Thomas, and drummer Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers with soprano and tenor saxophonist Jean Toussaint, bassist Charles Fambrough, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist Johnny O’Neal. For many Atlantan enthusiasts during the Nineties they would get to hear Johnny O’Neal on many occasions as he took up residencies at several local jazz nightspots.

The weekend of August 30th thru September 6th with performances in Central City Park and on Labor Day weekend performance took place in Piedmont Park and OIC Sullivan Hall.

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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1981

We continue our journey down the jazz highway and the year is 1981. The city is poised once again to bring a great lineup to the Atlanta Jazz Festival from August 31st to September 4th in Central City Park and September 5th – 7th in Piedmont Park. The mainstays are back – Clark College Jazz Orchestra, Ojeda Penn Experience Carol Veto, Joe Jennings’ Life Force holding down the local talent with new arrivals Rod Smith, Dub Hudson.

Shirley Cooks continued to be at the helm of the Department of Cultural Affairs with Mark Johnson programming to bring a star-studded lineup with Betty Carter, Max Roach, The Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Quartet, World Saxophone Quartet, Billy McPherson, Chubby Stevens, Villi Lakatos, Pat Foster, and the Bob Shaw Quartet.

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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1980

As we continue out look back at the Atlanta Jazz Festival, it is 1980 and Andrew Young has entered the first year of his administration at the helm of the city of Atlanta, and the budget and corporate sponsorship had increased dramatically. Shirley Cooks is appointed as the Director of Cultural Affairs and under her leadership Mark Johnson programs a powerhouse lineup, bringing back local favorites, Ojeda Penn Experience, Joe Jennings Life Force, Joi Tobin as well as Clark College Jazz Orchestra.
He also put on the bill heavyweights in the industry with Mary Lou Williams, Arthur Blythe, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bob Shaw, Ernie Carson, The Capitol City Jazz Band, 12N, Jerry Byrd, Carol Veto, Oliver Wells, Steve Dancz, Mary Sue Taylor, Neighborhood Arts Ensemble, George Adams Quartet and Marion Brown.

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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1979

The year is 1979. It is the second annual free jazz festival in Atlanta and the Bureau of Cultural Affairs put forth one of the objectives of the festival was to encourage the growth and development of the market for jazz music in Atlanta. The intent would be that the market would create jobs and serve as a n added attraction for conventions and tourists.
Mayor Jackson re**cognized that a jazz culture needs more than an annual festival in order to thrive in Atlanta. It needs a vibrant, substantive, ongoing community of artists and programs. We must also have a commitment to the study and achievement of jazz music as an art form.
In 1979 coming off a successful first year, Commissioner Shirley Franklin had to defend the budget allocated to the Department of Cultural Affairs against an Atlanta Journal Constitution readers poll that suggested the budget be cut. Successful in her defense 19 acts were brought to the festival, it was aired live on 85 radio stations via the NPR Jazz Alive Series and was recorded by Georgia Educational Television for airing at a later date.
The musicians brought to the Atlanta stage were Joe Jennings Life Force, Jazz Bones Orchestra, Bunky Green, New Directions, Eddie Gomez, John Abercrombie, Lester Bowie, Dan Wall Quintet, Clark College Jazz Band, Eddie Henderson, Woody Shaw, Blessed Relief, Charlie Williams Trio, Morehouse College Jazz Band, Joi Tobin, Jimmy Owens Plus Band and Bobby Hutcherson.
Next: The Eighties and Andrew Young…

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