KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, has invited acclaimed tenor saxophonist David Murray to headline this year’s International Jazz Day Concert scheduled for Wednesday, April 30 at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre, starting at 7:00 pm.

“Jazz and Jamaican culture are inseparable since both are as a result of the same historic experience. Last year we staged a concert which featured the Curtis Lundy Quintet, and this year my ministry has invited David Murray and his quartet to again excite Jazz lovers and to celebrate International Jazz Day,” Grange saod.

David Murray is a prolific recording artiste and a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet. He has released over 100 albums under his name and appears on many others. The Quartet includes Murray on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Marta Sanchez on piano, Luke Stewart on bass, and Russell Carter on drums.

Murray is renowned for his improvisational skills, deep roots in African American music and his ability to blend diverse influences into his themes, as felt in his classic Flowers For Albert on the Skatalites’ impressive 30th anniversary recording, Hi-Bop Ska.  His musical prowess has earned him numerous awards and accolades, beginning with his New York Village Voice Musician of the Decade in 1980.

“My quartet and I are ecstatic about the invitation from Minister Grange, and I am pleased that my close friend, Herbie Miller, curator of the Jamaica Music Museum, is one of the lead organisers of the International Jazz Day Concert in Kingston, Jamaica. I look forward to playing in the land of reggae and Bob Marley,” Murray said ahead of his performance.

Noting the event’s significance, Miller said that contrary to popular belief, “Jazz reflects independent and communal determination models. It unites people of diverse cultures by its sheer interdependence on each other to communicate in both the conventional and the abstract. Jazz musicians mould each idea into a single expressive compositional form, creating a musical stew that nourishes the soul.”

The concert will also feature the Orville Hammond Quintet, the Pau Nottykees Quintet, the Alpha Jazz Ensemble, the JaMM Big Band and Jazzetry featuring MC and Poet Kacy Garvey and Cellist Emily Elliott.

Partnering with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to stage the concert is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Caribbean Office. The event is being coordinated by the Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM) and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), both of which are agencies of the ministry.

Patrons should be seated by 6:30 pm.