JAZZMOBILE?S HARLEM INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVALSWINGS INTO NEW YORK

Longest-Running Major New York City Jazz Festival Begins on July 7

NEW YORK (July 7, 2009)?Jazzmobile, which presents the city?s oldest continuous
summer Jazz festival reaching approximately 100,000 annually, kicked off its Harlem
International Jazz Festival with a free concert on Tuesday. Performing for the first
time in Manhattan?s Carl Schurz Park, the group presented a concert by
internationally-renowned jazz drummer Winard Harper and the Dion Parson 21st Century
Band. Jazzmobile co-founder and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Dr.
Billy Taylor made a special appearance. Carl Schurz Park is also home to Gracie
Mansion, where earlier in the evening Jazzmobile?s 45th anniversary was celebrated.

An outgrowth and expansion of the Jazzmobile Summerfest, the Harlem International
Jazz Festival (July 7-14) celebrates the contribution of various cultures to Jazz by
bringing to Harlem international artists, New York-based musicians with origins
abroad and performers of international renown. Additional artists include tenor
saxophonist Houston Person, Latin jazz drummer and band leader Bobby San?bria &
Ascensi?n, trombonist Craig Harris & the Nation of Imagination, Haitian jazz
saxophonist Buyu Ambroise and the Blues in Red Band and the cross-cultural band the
Afro-Semitic Experience. Additionally Jazzmobile, in partnership with the Central
Park Conservancy, will again turn Central Park?s Great Hill into a huge jazz
festival and dance floor; ?Great Jazz on the Great Hill,? a free concert, will be
held on Saturday, July 11 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. and include performances by the
George Gee Big Band, Arturo O?Farrill Big Band and jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga.

Following the main concerts, Jazzmobile will present ?after concerts? at Harlem
venues like Shrine, the Dwyer Cultural Center, Faison Firehouse Theater and Nectar
Wine Bar. On Tuesday, July 14 Sathima Bea Benjamin, T.K. Blue and Kendra Shank will
lead a jam session and panel discussion, Music & Migration: Paris Reflections at
Temple M in Harlem. An RSVP for these events is required to 212-866-3616.

?With its rich roots and place in jazz history, Harlem is the perfect setting for an
international music festival celebrating our beloved art form,? said Jazzmobile
President and CEO Robin Bell-Stevens. ?The Harlem International Jazz Festival and
our upcoming Summerfest kick off the 18-month celebration of our 45th Anniversary.?

This year Jazzmobile will also offer its popular Summerfest, beginning on July 11
and running through August 28, and the Jazzmobile Jazz Vocal Competition on July 27.
During the annual Harlem Week celebration in July and August, the group will present
several concerts.

Jazzmobile thanks Governor David A. Paterson and the New York State Council on the
Arts, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs, and its lead sponsors the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development
Corp. (UMEZ) and Chase Bank.

About Jazzmobile, Inc:
Jazzmobile, Inc., the oldest not for profit arts organization created just for jazz
in the country, was founded in 1964 by jazz master Dr. Billy Taylor and Daphne
Arnstein. Its mission is to present, preserve, promote, and propagate Jazz ?
?America?s classical music.? This mission is implemented through quality jazz
education and performance programs: workshops, master classes, lecture
demonstrations, arts enrichment programs, as well as out-of-doors mobile Jazz
performances and those in clubs and major concert halls here and abroad. Jazzmobile,
www.jazzmobile.org, serves approximately 100,000 people in New York City and its
outlying areas each year.

Cheryl Duncan
Public Relations Counselor
cheryl_duncan@earthlink.net