Savanna Jazz

Pascal Bokar’s AfroBlueGrazz Band on the road in August!

#WorldPoetryDay2021 Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. ...Poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition and, over centuries, can communicate the innermost values of diverse cultures. In celebrating World Poetry Day, March 21, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of Poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind. www.un.org/en/observances/world-poetry-day See more

#MLKday2021 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr On The Importance Of Jazz On the Importance of Jazz... Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opening Address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival: God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to createand from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music. Modern jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument. It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of racial identity as a problem for a multiracial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls. Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these.

How did you fall in love with jazz? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e9qRmq5gFg

Thank you for supporting our You Tube Campaign by clicking on Pascal's Afro Blue Grazz Band video. They are currently booking for outdoor events 2021!

An excerpt from an opinion piece Pascal wrote for TheGrio in 2011: "The clapping on beats two and four is an expression of an unadulterated West African rhythm...ic feel, expressed in a metric system of four beats per measure. This induces a palpable sense of pulse that America’s greatest composer, Edward Kennedy Ellington (a.k.a. Duke Ellington) called swing in his composition entitled It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). Today, this West African expression of pulse is the American norm and is at the root of the clapping norm for all forms of American music, from gospel to blues to jazz, R&B, funk, disco and rap..." Read the whole piece below: https://thegrio.com//08/18/how-africa-built-american-music/

How did you fall in love with jazz? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e9qRmq5gFg

Thank you for supporting our You Tube Campaign by clicking on Pascal's Afro Blue Grazz Band video. They are currently booking for outdoor events 2021!

An excerpt from an opinion piece Pascal wrote for TheGrio in 2011: "The clapping on beats two and four is an expression of an unadulterated West African rhythm...ic feel, expressed in a metric system of four beats per measure. This induces a palpable sense of pulse that America’s greatest composer, Edward Kennedy Ellington (a.k.a. Duke Ellington) called swing in his composition entitled It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). Today, this West African expression of pulse is the American norm and is at the root of the clapping norm for all forms of American music, from gospel to blues to jazz, R&B, funk, disco and rap..." Read the whole piece below: https://thegrio.com//08/18/how-africa-built-american-music/

#JazzicianToKnow Thank you, Guitarist/Club Owner Pascal Bokar, for your appearance tonight in the San Jose Jazz/SJZ Backstage - Episode 4 to discuss racism and ...activism in the Jazz world--along with Brendan Rawson (SJZ Executive Director), Colleen Bailey (Monterey Jazz Executive Director), and Moderator Sonny Buxton (KCSM Jazz 91 Radio)! See more

SJZ Backstage is a series of panel discussions and interviewsby musicians and for musiciansthat examine some of the most critical issues of our time in a mont...hly series on Zoom. The July sessions shine light on racism and activism in the jazz community, examining its causes and possible avenues for positive change. Session 4 gathered leaders of jazz-based arts organizations to explore longstanding reality of racial injustice within the jazz music industry. We see arts organizations as an ally in reimagining a vision for inclusion and diversity moving forward, with the Black Lives Matter movement. How are presenters and leaders responsible for upholding the tradition of black music, upon which their organizations are built? As culture makers and curators, how can we contribute to a culture of equality? Moderator: Sonny Buxton - KCSM Radio Host Panelists: Colleen Bailey - Monterey Jazz Pascal Bokar - Savanna Jazz Brendan Rawson - San Jose Jazz

Tonight! Join panelists Pascal Bokar (musician, club owner), Brendan Rawson (SJZ executive director), Colleen Bailey (Monterey Jazz executive director) and mode...rator Sonny Buxton (KCSM) in a discussion of possible ways forward as the jazz community seeks equity and inclusion. 7pm on Zoom: https://bit.ly/JoinUsBackstage. . . #sjz #sjzbackstage See more

Otis Spann playing in Muddy's basement.

Who are your heroes?

Tune in Tuesday, July 28th at 7:00 PM - Dr. Pascal Bokar Thiam will be on the panel!

#BlackMusicMonth2020

#BlackMusicMonth2020 "The Blues Don't Like Nobody" Pascal Bokar Thiam & Paula Harris