HISTORY

     With its first concert presented in September 2003, WNC Jazz Society has since presented 55 performances in Asheville,  including vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway and Rene Marie, pianists Bill Charlap, Kenny Barron, and Monty Alexander, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and �Maestro� Ellis Marsalis and Mulgrew Miller, with repeat engagements by guitarist Larry Coryell and pianist Johnny O�Neal.  WNC Jazz Society has doubled its original membership from 125 up to an average of 220.

Esteemed journalist Nat Hentoff made our organization the focus of two columns in JazzTimes magazine, one entitled, �Growing Grassroots Jazz�, and the other entitled, �Building Local Jazz Communities�. Hentoff wrote, �Local and regional jazz societies have long been a valuable resource�. Not enough has been written about the importance of these jazz tributaries and how to increase their numbers across the land. A model of this kind of entrepreneurship is the Western North Carolina Jazz Society in Asheville.�

We were selected by Mayor Terry Bellamy� to receive a City of Asheville Proclamation declaring April, 2008, Jazz Appreciation Month. The Proclamation stated, ��jazz has produced some of America�s leading creative artists and ranks as one of America�s greatest exports to the world. �jazz has become an international language that bridges differences and brings people of all races, ages, and backgrounds together�.� We were honored by Mayor Bellamy�s statement as the Proclamation was presented: �The Jazz Society comes very highly recommended.�

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