Art Is Improvisational

Presented by: The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge

by

What true music fans believe is that a live show is a singular event that will never happen the same way twice. Sure, songs may be repeated from one venue to the next, but the manner by which they are performed is unique to that moment in time. Nowhere is this truer than at a jazz concert. 

The passionate activists behind the River City Jazz Coalition understood this when, in 2006, they formed for the purpose of bringing topflight jazz to the capital city. Baton Rouge, the coalition believed, had the makings of a natural destination for big-name artists. After all, it was the home of famed clarinetist Alvin Batiste and boasted the three hundred-seat Manship Theatre, an intimate venue with stellar acoustics and no bad seats. 

“We had the seeds of this movement underway,” said founding member Cornelius Lewis. “Then, when Derek Gordon came along with his national connections, it was the final ingredient.” Gordon, president and CEO of the Arts Council from 2006 to 2012, when he died, had previously served as president and CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center. 

Attorneys C.J. Blache and Leo Hamilton, radio host Zia Tammami, and the late Batiste were also part of the original coalition founders. Today, the board also includes attorney Cathy Giering; LSU E. & D. White Professor of Music William Grimes; and Harry Anderson, the director of the Alvin Batiste Jazz Institute at Southern University. 

“What we’ve been able to do is to build on the legacy of Alvin Batiste and bring heavy hitters in the national and international jazz scene to Baton Rouge,” said Anderson, a jazz bassist who studied under Batiste at Southern. 

The River City Jazz Masters series has attracted A-list performers, including nineteen Grammy-Award winners, eight National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, National Medal of the Arts winners, MacArthur Genius Fellows, and others. In addition to their live performances, the artists share their time by delivering workshops to K–12 children and youth and to jazz majors at Southern and LSU. 

The 2016—2017 lineup once again includes renowned artists and singers representing jazz’s long arm. The season kicks off with Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders, a band intent on preserving the sounds of early jazz. The season also features Dianne Reeves, the country’s preeminent jazz vocalist, who will perform with the Baton Rouge Symphony.

“This is a big deal,” said Lewis, “These artists are no joke.”