Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1989
Under the direction of Harriet Sanford the 1989 Atlanta Jazz Series geared up and took place over the course of three weekends from June 2nd – August 6th in various locations around the city. On June 2nd performances were held at Center Stage Theatre, June 3rd had workshops at Rich Auditorium and performance at Grant Park, and June 4th performances were also at Grant Park. Performances were held on July 7th at Center Stage Theatre, July 8th at Piedmont Park and a July 9th lecture at Rich Auditorium and performance at Piedmont Park. August 4th hosted music at Center Stage theatre, August 5th with lecture at Rich Auditorium and performance at Piedmont Park and closing out the series on August 6th were performances in Piedmont Park.
Bring their talent to the stages were the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Germaine Bazzle, Walter Bishop Jr., Ed Blackwell, Jane Ira Bloom, Hamiet Bluiett, Benny Carter, Ron Carter, Olu Dara, Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Jim Hall, Billy Harper, Freddie Hubbard, Improvisational Arts Quintet, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, John McLaughlin, Jackie McLean, Charles McPherson, Frank Morgan, Amina Claudia Myers, Joe Pass, David Peaston, Courtney Pine, Sun Ra Arkestra, Arthur Taylor, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Williams, World Saxophone Quartet and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band.
Sponsorship was provided by AT&T, City Beverage Company, Coors Brewing Company, Creative Loafing, Jazziz, National Endowment for the Arts, Technics, WVEE/103 FM, WCLK/91.9 FM and Wyndham Midtown Atlanta.
#preserving genius
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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1988
The year is 1988 and the name of the festival was shortened to be billed as the Atlanta Jazz Series. The city was set for a summer of weekend performances beginning June 2nd and running through September 4th. On those weekends, the free concerts were held in Grant and Piedmont Parks, while the paid concerts were held at Chastain Park Amphitheatre. the concerts at Chastain served a dual purpose of raising funds so that the Bureau of Cultural Affairs could continue to operate at its high level of achievement and provide an elegant setting for some of the more venerable talent and their enthusiastic audiences.
In addition, the series of jazz concerts were made possible with sponsorship from the Wyndham Hotel/Midtown Atlanta, AT&T, WVEE/V103 FM, Southline, Bud Light, Phoenix Arts Society and WCLK 91.9 FM. The Atlanta Jazz Series and the Montreux Atlanta Jazz Festival were hosted by the city of Atlanta during the same time and cross-featured artists.
The performance lineup was a virtual who’s who featuring the Arthur Blythe Quintet, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Benny Golson Quartet, Michelle Hendricks, Monroe Hatcher Quartet, Music South Orchestra with Tommy Stewart and John Peek, Joe Sudler’s Swing Machine, the Phil Woods Quintet, Azanyah, Duo Exchange, David “fathead” Newman Quintet, Henry Threadgill Sextet, Ojeda Penn Experience, Ellis Marsalis Trio, Cassandra Wilson Quintet with Steve Coleman, Sonny Fortune All-Stars, Joe Jennings & Life Force, Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet, Sonny Rollins Quintet, Out of Hear, The Real Band, Michael Pedicin, Jr., McCoy Tyner Trio, Michel Petrucciani Trio, The Bazooka Ants, Nancy Kahler, Flora Purim & Group, John Cloy Quartet, 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, Clark College Jazz Orchestra and the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet with Sam Rivers. #preserving genius
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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1987
The record of the 1987 festival illustrates that it took place on August 1st in the Rich Auditorium on the Woodruff Campus. It was the final year it was called the Atlanta Jazz Festival and Concert Series.
The lineup of performers for the 1987 jazz festival has been lost to posterity and is currently unknown. However, the photographers who have documented the performances over the first 30 years of the festival, in alphabetical order by last name, were: Jim Alexander, Sheila Pree Bright, Michael Reese, Sue Ross, Eric Waters, Julie Yarbrough.
The sponsors were the Stroh Brewery Company, AT&T, Eastern Airlines, The Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Southline, WVEE/V-103 FM and the Phoenix Arts Society.
The poster commemorating the festival was designed by Doug Vachon Advertising, the illustration by Theo Rudnack, printing by National Graphic – Marty Richard and Color Separation by Graphics Atlanta.
The Office of Cultural Affairs is seeking any information or documentation on the musicians who performed at the 1987 festival. Please share by contacting atlantajazz@atlantaga.gov regarding the 1987 performance line-up.
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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1986
Shirley Cooks has stepped down as the head of the Cultural Affairs and Harriet Sanford takes on the leadership and responsibility of carrying on the legacy in 1986. The Atlanta Jazz Festival and Concert Series would once again present over a series of weekends throughout the summer opening at Chastain Park on May 31st, Grant Park and Zoo Atlanta Natural Amphitheatre on June 7th-8th and July 5th-6th and closing out the summer at Piedmont Park on August 2nd-3rd and August 29th through September 1st.
The lineup once again included a Who’s Who list of performers: Etta James, Bob James & The Jazz All-Stars, The Yellow Jackets, Paquito d’Rivera, T Laviz & His Bad Habitz, Ricky Keller, Yonrico Scott, Paul Winter Consort, Tom Grant Band, John Blake Quartet, Claude Bolling, Otis Rush, John Mayall, Ramsey Lewis Quintet with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Dave Grusin, Lee Ritenour, Hiroshima, Kilimanjaro, Dr. John, Rockin’ Dopsie and the Modern Jazz Quartet.
The Stroh Brewery Company, 94Q Jazz Flavours, National Endowment for the Arts, Eastern Airlines, The Downtown Marriott Hotel, The American Federation of Musicians and The Phoenix Arts Society believed it a worthy cause for the city’s cultural life and came on as sponsors.
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Atlanta Jazz Festival… 1985
1985 saw the return of the festival in its 8th annual edition that spanned the summer. The stages spread across the city north at Chastain Park Amphitheater on June 1st, east to Grant Park on June 8th & 9th and July 13th & 14th, and in midtown on August 3rd & 4th and August 30th and September 1st at Piedmont Park.
The lineup was spectacular for that luminous summer with the Gary Burton Quartet, Makato Ozone, Miles Davis, Nancee Kahler and the Section, Stephanie Pettus and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Bill Taylor, Michel Petrucciani, Sphere, Emily Remler & Larry Carlton, David Murray Octet, The Crusaders, Spyro Gyra, Rare Silk, Special EFX, The Yellow Jackets, Steps Ahead, Tania Maria, The Visitors, Shake and Avec, Elgin Wells, The Dan Wall Quartet featuring Carol Veto, the Tom Grose Band, Bob James, Thos Shipley, Betty Carter TRio, Clark College Orchestra, Joe Williams featuring the Norman Simmons Trio, the Ojeda Penn Experience, the McCoy Tyner Trio, Joe Jennings & Life Force, and the Stan Getz Quartet.
While enthusiastic audiences enjoy a great summer of jazz, celebration and tragedy make the news headlines and top stories. Coca-Cola announces and brings back Classic Coke, the pre-“New Coke” Coke, with a new name. In other parts of country, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes while attempting to land at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, and though the original impact was in an empty field, the plane remained intact, bounced onto a 6-lane highway, and crashed into a pair of water tanks killing 136 out of 167 passengers. Finally, with Cale Yarborough’s broken belt at the Southern 500 in Darlington, SC, Bill Elliott is ensured a million-dollar celebration. Elliott won the Daytona 500 in February and the Winston 500 in May. With the win at Darlington, he became the first person to win three of the top 4 races in the NASCAR circuit.
Amidst the celebrations and tragedies, the Bureau of Cultural Affairs was experimenting with its identity and the “free” was dropped from the name as people came to understand that there was no cover charge or price of admission. It became the Atlanta Jazz Festival & Concert Series and thus began a multiple of weekends that the festival presented music. It would also be the last year that Shirley Cooks would serve as director, and programmer Mark Johnson would continue the legacy under a new leader at the helm.
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