Films, TV, and Theatre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/2/05 (Updated as of 9/16/05)

Ms. Midler performed "Is That All There Is?"

*Statement by Wynton Marsalis on New Orleans below.

For more information, please contact:
MARY FIANCE FUSS, Director, Public Relations (212) 258-9829 or via email mfuss@jalc.org
ZOOEY TIDAL, Assistant Director, Public Relations (212) 258.9821 or via email ztidal@jalc.org

LISTING INFORMATION:
Producer: Jazz at Lincoln Center
Event: Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert and Auction Hosted by Laurence Fishburne and featuring Wynton Marsalis, Harry Belafonte, Terence Blanchard, Ken Burns, Shirley Caesar, Cyrus Chestnut, Peter Cincotti, Bill Cosby, Elvis Costello, Paquito D’Rivera, Robert De Niro, Renee Fleming, Danny Glover, Herbie Hancock, Jon Hendricks, Norah Jones, Marlon and Kent Jordan, Diana Krall, Abbey Lincoln, Joe Lovano, Irvin Mayfield, Bette Midler, Toni Morrison, Aaron Neville, Arturo O’Farrill, Eric Reed, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Paul Simon, Meryl Streep, James Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Robin Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Buckwheat Zydeco and many more tba!

Date/Time: Saturday, September 17, 2005 Concert at Rose Theater at 7:00pm
Live From Lincoln Center PBS national broadcast at 8pm-1am ET, check local PBS listings NPR; WBGO Jazz88.3FM; WNYC, New York Public Radio 93.9FM broadcast at 8pm-12am ET XM Satellite Radio’s Real Jazz Channel 70 broadcast at 7pm ET BET Jazz national broadcast at 8pm ET, check local listings VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul on Friday, September 23 at 8PM ET, check local listings
Location: Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Broadway at 60th Street., 5th Floor
Tickets: $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000 AVAILABLE AS OF SEPTEMBER 8TH at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall box office on Broadway at 60th Street (open Monday - Saturday, 10am-8:30pm and Sunday 11am-8:30pm), CenterCharge at 212-721-6500 or via www.jalc.org

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ANNOUNCES HIGHER GROUND HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT CONCERT and AUCTION SEPTEMBER 17

CONCERT WILL BE NATIONALLY TELEVISED ON LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER ON PBS AND BET Jazz and BROADCAST ON NPR; XM SATELLITE RADIO; WBGO JAZZ88.3FM; WNYC, NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO 93.9 FM, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul , and WNYC, NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO 93.9 FM, BET Jazz

HOSTED BY LAURENCE FISHBURNE, FEATURING WYNTON MARSALIS, HARRY BELAFONTE, TERENCE BLANCHARD, KEN BURNS, SHIRLEY CAESAR, CYRUS CHESTNUT, PETER CINCOTTI, BILL COSBY, ELVIS COSTELLO, PAQUITO D’RIVERA, ROBERT DE NIRO, DANNY GLOVER, RENEE FLEMING, HERBIE HANCOCK, JON HENDRICKS, NORAH JONES, MARLON AND KENT JORDAN, DIANA KRALL, ABBEY LINCOLN, JOE LOVANO, IRVIN MAYFIELD, BETTE MIDLER, TONI MORRISON, AARON NEVILLE, ARTURO O’FARRILL, ERIC REED, DIANNE REEVES, MARCUS ROBERTS, PAUL SIMON, MERYL STREEP, JAMES TAYLOR, MCCOY TYNER, ROBIN WILLIAMS, CASSANDRA WILSON, JEFFREY WRIGHT, BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO AND MORE TBA!

Jazz at Lincoln Center will record live CD to be released by Blue Note Records with all profits going to hurricane relief fund efforts Auction items include Martin guitar autographed by Eric Clapton and John Mayer; items from LeRoy Neiman, Candlewick Press and more.

New York, NY (September 14, 2005) Jazz at Lincoln Center today announced plans to produce the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert and Auction on Saturday, September 17 at 7pm at Rose Theater in Frederick P. Rose Hall on Broadway at 60th Street in New York City.

The Benefit Concert and Auction produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center will raise funds for the Higher Ground Relief Fund established by Jazz at Lincoln Center and administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to benefit the musicians, music industry related enterprises and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New Orleans who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina and to provide other general hurricane relief.

“New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. The city's diverse population of Spanish, French, British, West Africans and Americans created an original music that embodies the fundamental principals of democracy. Jazz at Lincoln Center was established to celebrate jazz and so we are particularly moved to action by the destruction visited on the Crescent City by Katrina.” said Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis.

“The focus of the Fund will be to help those individuals and families evacuated from the greater New Orleans area as they address immediate concerns related to housing, food, education, health care and basic survival necessities. The Fund will also provide resources to assist individuals over time to rebuild their homes and livelihoods,” said Derek E. Gordon, President and CEO of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, a non-profit community foundation, is working with organizations in the Greater New Orleans region to assure that services and resources directly reach those most affected.

The concert, hosted by Laurence Fishburne, will feature Wynton Marsalis, Harry Belafonte, Terence Blanchard, Ken Burns, Shirley Caesar, Cyrus Chestnut, Peter Cincotti, Bill Cosby, Elvis Costello, Paquito D’Rivera, Robert De Niro, Danny Glover, Renee Fleming (appears courtesy of The Metropolitan Opera), Herbie Hancock, Jon Hendricks, Norah Jones, Marlon and Kent Jordan, Diana Krall, Abbey Lincoln, Joe Lovano, Irvin Mayfield, Bette Midler, Toni Morrison, Aaron Neville, Arturo O’Farrill, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Paul Simon, Meryl Streep, James Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Robin Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Buckwheat Zydeco with many more special guests to be announced.

The Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert will be televised live nationally on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS, hosted by Beverly Sills at 8-1am ET. Thirteen/WNET will broadcast the concert in the New York area from 8pm until 1am ET. More information about Thirteen can be found at: www.thirteen.org. During the television broadcasts, viewers can call 1-800-833-2660, which will be shown on screen, so that viewers can make donations to the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund, The Red Cross, and Salvation Army. XM Satellite Radio will carry this concert live on their network from coast to coast on channel 70, the Real Jazz channel at 7pm ET. The Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert will also be broadcast live via radio partners WBGO Jazz88.3FM in the New York City area at 8pm-12am ET:, WNYC, New York Public Radio 93.9FM in the New York City area at 8pm-12am ET; offered nationally and internationally via NPR and its 780 member stations in the U.S.; NPR Worldwide at 8pm and streamed live on www.npr.org, www.wbgo.org, www.wnyc.org, and www.xmradio.com. BET Jazz will also broadcast at 8pm ET on September 17 and VH1 Classic and VH1 Soul will air the special on Friday, September 23 at 8PM.

Concert tickets are available at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office at Broadway at 60th St., by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500 or via www.jalc.org. CenterCharge service fees will be donated to hurricane relief efforts. Ticket prices are $50, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, $10,000. Those wishing to make donations to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund may also do so by mailing checks payable to: Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Fund to Jazz at Lincoln Center, 33 West 60th Street, New York, New York 10023.

The Higher Ground benefit event will include an auction, which will begin on Saturday, September 17 at 7pm ET and will run through Monday, September 26 until 7pm ET. Items to be auctioned include a 000-28 Martin Eric Clapton model guitar, autographed by Eric Clapton and John Mayer; artwork by LeRoy Neiman; artwork by Peter Max and items from Miramax Films. Paul Rogers and Candlewick Press are pleased to donate ten pre-publication, first edition copies of Jazz ABZ: An A To Z Collection of Jazz Portraits by Wynton Marsalis that will be signed by the author and the illustrator. Each book will be accompanied by a special edition print (15" x 15" framed) that features one of the following ten artists portrayed in the book: Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie. Beginning Friday, September 16, auction items can be viewed at www.ebay.com/higherground.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to jazz. With the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education, and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, weekly national radio and television programs, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, a jazz appreciation curriculum for children, advanced training through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, music publishing, children’s concerts, lectures, adult education courses and student and educator workshops. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman of the Board Lisa Schiff, President & CEO Derek E. Gordon, Executive Director Katherine E. Brown and Jazz at Lincoln Center board and staff, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce hundreds of events during its 2005-06 season. In October 2004, Jazz at Lincoln Center opened Frederick P. Rose Hall - the first-ever performance, education, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz. For more information, visit www.jalc.org.

About the Baton Rouge Area Foundation
The Fund will be administered and distributed through The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, a non-profit organization that forms partnerships with philanthropists, nonprofit organizations and other community leaders to ensure that its community can exceed any challenge, and that its residents have every opportunity to succeed. It helps Fund Donors create a lasting legacy and fulfill their philanthropic goals.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation helps nonprofit organizations succeed with their plans to implement programs that will have positive, lasting impacts in our community. It recognizes opportunities for improvement in the area, raise awareness, and promote long-term solutions.

Steady leadership and a flexible strategic plan have helped the Baton Rouge Area Foundation implement and sustain the visions of passionate philanthropists for more than 40 years. For more information about the foundation and its relief funds, go to www.braf.org.

A copy of The Baton Rouge Area Foundation's latest annual report can be obtained from the organization or from the Office of the Attorney General by writing the Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

A copy of Jazz at Lincoln Center's latest Form 990 can be obtained from the organization or from the Office of the Attorney General by writing the Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. ____________________

*Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center makes a statement about the devastation in his hometown of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina:

New Orleans is the most unique of American cities because it is the only city in the world that created its own full culture - architecture, music and festive ceremonies. It's of singular importance to the United States of America because it was the original melting pot with a mixture of Spanish, French, British, West African and American people living in the same city. The collision of these cultures created jazz and jazz is important because it's the only art form that objectifies the fundamental principals of American democracy. That's why it swept the country and the world representing the best of the United States.

New Orleanians are blues people. We are resilient, so we are sure that our city will come back. This tragedy, however, provides an opportunity for the American people to demonstrate to ourselves and to the world that we are one nation determined to overcome our legacies of injustices based on race and class. At this time all New Orleanians need the nation to unite in a deafening crescendo of affirmation to silence that desperate cry that is this disaster.

We need people with their prayers, their pocketbooks, and above all their sense of purpose to show the world just who the modern American is and then we'll put our city back together in even greater fashion. This is gut check time for all of us as Americans.

In a country with the most incredible resources in the world we need the ingenuity of our best engineers to put the cultural heart of our nation back together. To put it together with 2005 technical expertise and with 2005 social consciousness, which means without accommodating the ignorance of racism and the deplorable conditions of poverty, and lack of education that have been allowed to fester in many great American cities since slavery.