…(Jazz is) about dialogue. It’s about sharing. And teamwork.
It’s in the moment, and it’s nonjudgmental.
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Herbie Hancock
A Beautiful Day! A Wonderful Concert!
AMP Celebrates the Power of Jazz to Promote Peace:
AMP’s 2017 IJD Concert at the Lincoln National Memorial in Washington, DC
It was a beautiful sunny day for AMP’s 2017 IJD Concert. This year AMP celebrated International Jazz Day at the Lincoln Memorial with the dynamic twentyone piece George Washington Jazz Orchestra and special guests Jazz for Peace™ founder and jazz pianist, composer and vocalist Rick DellaRatta with Ethan Philion on bass and Sam Prather on drums and piano.
AMP extends a warm and hearty thanks to all those who helped to make it such a terrific event: to Rick DellaRatta and Debra Cerritelli of Jazz for Peace, to Ethan Philion on bass and Sam Prather on drums and piano, both playing with Rick as part of the Jazz for Peace Trio; to all members of the GWJazz Orchestra and to GWJO Co-Presidents Peter Reiss and Zach Sanders, to photographer Tony Hack, to program designer James Surdam, to AMP Board member Helen McLean Heller, to all AMP volunteers: Ryan Johnston, Erica Bleicher, Brandon Hughes, Natalie Catlin and Imran Riaz, to the National Park Service represented by Leonard Lee and to National Park Police Sgt. Erich Koehler, to friends and family who traveled miles and hassled with parking to attend and to all visitors who joined us.
Rick DellaRatta of Jazz for Peace™ performed in concert and lectured about his experience bridging differences through jazz. With percussionist and pianist, Sam Prather and bassist, Ethan Philion, the Jazz for Peace Trio played selections composed by Rick DellaRatta, including the heralded “Jazz for Peace,” and well-known numbers such as “Evidence” by Thelonious Monk, “What is This Called Love” by Cole Porter, “Lazy Bird” by John Coltrane and many others. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the first Jazz for Peace Concert at the United Nations which is now a part of history as detailed here: http://jazzforpeace.org/makinghistory Since this historic United Nations event, Jazz for Peace™ has awarded over 850 Grants earning its place as “one the most significant cultural events of our time.” Rick DellaRatta and Jazz for Peace musicians travel throughout the U.S.A. and around the world promoting peace through dialogue, respect and cooperation and demonstrating the unique way jazz brings people together. AMP was thrilled to have Jazz for Peace join George Washington Jazz Orchestra in celebrating International Jazz Day while raising awareness and support for The American Museum of Peace (AMP).
The GW Jazz Orchestra (GWJO), the premier, student-run jazz ensemble at the George Washington University, performed three sets with fun numbers like “Sesame Street,” and a wealth of classics such as “Skylark” by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, Benny Goodman’s “All the Cats Join In, “Caravan” by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Juan Tizol, and many others. With vocalists, Samuel Lee and Hannah Weiss, GWJO wowed the crowd with their music. Since its founding in March of 2015, the GWJO has laid at the cornerstone between the Department of Music and student life, offering an exciting brand of jazz to the GW community. GWJO has performed around GW’s Foggy Bottom campus in the Marvin Center Betts Theatre, Corcoran School of the Arts & Design, and Lisner Auditorium; venues across the DMV including Twins Jazz, the Jefferson Memorial, Pershing Park, Glen Echo Park; and at regional festivals like the Blues Alley Big Band Jam, the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, and the Villanova Jazz Festival. Like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/gwjazzorchestra, hear them on BandCamp at gwjazzorchestra.bandcamp.com, and contact them at gwjazzorch@gwu.edu.
AMP Celebrates 2016 International Jazz Day with a Concert Program at the Jefferson Memorial
What a wonderful concert program! Many thanks to those who helped to make it possible and to all our guests and audience members who took a chance on the weather to come out for AMP’s 2016 International Jazz Day Concert Program.
AMP gives a special thanks to all the members of the GW Jazz Orchestra, whose music moved and lifted all present and for their determination, perseverance and trust to play despite the clouds and light sprinkles. Thank you. You were tremendous!
AMP gives a special thanks to Ranger Deborah Deas and the National Park Service for making the Thomas Jefferson National Memorial available. It was wonderful to be able to host AMP’s 2016 IJD Concert Program in a space that honors one who inspired others to go above and beyond the borders of the established order with a vision that he hoped would create greater peace, at home and abroad.
To our Program participants, our presenters and readers Noah-Harmony Shoatz-Harley, daughter of jazz musician Rufus Harley, to Duke Ellington School of the Arts junior, Ailey Verdelle, and to American Univerisity’s Ryan Johnston. You embody the spirit of the day. We are grateful for your participation and your presence. Thank you.
Noah-Harmony, on behalf of AMP, we thank you for the gift of the Liberty Bell, a symbol of freedom and of your father’s dedication and love for America and the best it represents. His commitment to going above and beyond borders for liberty and peace will alway be remembered. The American Museum of Peace is honored to have this gift as part of it’s collection. Thank you.
To our volunteers: AMP Board member Helen McLean Heller, Michael Heller, Ailey Verdelle, multi-media producer Rouane Itani, and photographer Guadelupe Ortega, a hearty thanks. Your support and tireless efforts made the day!
James Surdam, you captured the spirit of the event with your fresh and bold design for AMP 2016 IJD Concert Program and announcements. Thank you.
Louis Armstrong, Bob Belden, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter – your music, your words and your humanity inspires our work. We are grateful for your dedication and for your contributions to intercultural dialogue and global peace.
UNESCO and Thelonius Monk Institute, we thank for your commitment and incredible efforts towards making IJD a day of phenomenal music on behalf of peace.
To all family, friends and consultants who helped to make this Program possible: your support and encouragement on behalf of loved ones, the AMP, the GWJO and International Jazz Day is invaluable. Our simple thanks is but a token appreciation for all you have given.
Wishing everyone a good summer. Until next year…be peace, give peace, intend peace.
AMP Celebrates 2015 International Jazz Day
AMP joined with UNESCO and the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz in celebrating International Jazz Day and the ways in which jazz and jazz musicians promote peace.
AMP closed out Jazz Appreciation Month with a concert @Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC. that featured George Washington University’s dynamic jazz ensemble, King James and the Serfs of Swing and honored the ensemble’s director and GWU’s jazz instructor, Jim Levy, for his decades of dedication and service to GWU, the students and jazz instruction. GWU students, alumni and former Serfs of Swing came to honor Jim Levy at the ensemble’s final performance.
AMP’s 2015 IJD Concert Program included George Washington University Jazz Ensemble: King James and the Serfs of Swing; selections of 2015 International Jazz Day events in Paris, including opening remarks by UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon; selections from Dave and Iola Brubeck’s “The Real Ambassadors” featuring Louis Armstrong; and selections from Herbie Hancock’s “The Imagine Project.”
Attendees registered at AMP’s EventBrite page and sent invitations to family and friends. Visit AMP 2015 International Jazz Day Facebook page for concert photos, jazz history and great music.
Make International Jazz Day an annual with AMP tradition. AMP IJD concerts are free and open to the public concert. Donations are welcome. 
Visit jazzday.com to see more about concerts, programs or workshops near you. Learn about the history of International Jazz Day and enjoy the international concerts streamed live and archived.
AMP celebrated 2014 International Jazz Day with a DC Concert at Busboys & Poets featuring George Washington University’s King James and the Serfs of Swing, a tribute to Rufus Harley by Noah Harmony Shoatz Harley and musical selections from Dave and Iola Brubeck’s “The Real Ambassadors” featuring Louis Armstrong.
…Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and by happy. Everybody longs for faith.
In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964, (1929 – 1968)