1979 in jazz

1979 in jazz
Lionel Hampton, Wild Bill Davis, Chubby Jackson at the 1979 North Sea Jazz Festival.
Decade	1970s in jazz
Music	1979 in music
Standards	List of post-1950 jazz standards
See also	1978 in jazz – 1980 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1979.

Events

March

• 3
  • At Havana Jam, in Havana, Cuba, the Saturday evening show on 3 March was launched by the CBS Jazz All-Stars, composed of Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Jimmy Heath, Arthur Blythe, Woody Shaw, Hubert Laws, Bobby Hutcherson, Willie Bobo, Cedar Walton, Percy Heath and Tony Williams.

April

• 6 – The 6th Vossajazz started in Voss, Norway (April 6 – 8).^[1]

May

Scott Hamilton and Ray Brown at the 1979 Concord Jazz Festival

Don Menza with the Louie Bellson Orchestra at the 1979 Concord Jazz Festival

• 23 – The 7th Nattjazz started in Bergen, Norway (May 23 – June 6).^[2]
• 25 – The 13th Berkeley Jazz Festival started in Berkeley, California (May 25 – 27).^[3]
  • 1st day featured Al Jarreau, John Klemmer, Betty Carter, and Tony Williams Band
  • 2nd day featured Weather Report, Sonny Rollins, and Pat Metheny
  • 3rd day featured Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Jefferson with Richie Cole, and A Special Tribute to Charles Mingus: Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams.^[4]

June

• 1 – The 8th Moers Festival started in Moers, Germany (June 1 – 4).^[5]
• 3 – David Murray and the Sunny Murray Trio recorded Live at Moers during this festival.^[6]
• 15 – The 2nd Playboy Jazz Festival was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, with Bill Cosby as emcee.^[7]
• 22 – The 26th Newport Jazz Festival started in Newport, Rhode Island (June 22 – July 1).^[8]

July

• 6
  • The very first Copenhagen Jazz Festival started in Copenhagen, Denmark (July 6 – 15).^[9]
  • The 13th Montreux Jazz Festival started in Montreux, Switzerland (July 6 – 24).^[10]
• 12 – Ella Fitzgerald performed at Montreux, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, and her performance was released as A Perfect Match.^[11]
• 13
  • The 4th North Sea Jazz Festival started in The Hague, Netherlands (July 13 – 15).^[12]
  • Beryl Bryden headlined the North Sea Jazz Festival with Rod Mason and His Hot Five, released on the album After Hours in 1980.^[13]
• 16 – Oscar Peterson performed at Montreux, accompanied by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, released as the album Digital at Montreux.^[14]
• 21 – The 10th Concord Jazz Festival started at Concord, California (July 21 – 23, 28 – 30).^[15]
  • The festival featured artists like Ray Brown,^[16] Scott Hamilton,^[17] Don Menza with The Louie Bellson Orchestra^[18] and Dave Brubeck. Brubeck records his 1979 album release Back Home at this festival.^[19]

September

• 14 – The 22st Monterey Jazz Festival started in Monterey, California (September 14 – 16).^[20]

Unknown date

• The headline act on Friday night of the Bracknell Jazz Festival was Rocket 88, a boogie-woogie big band including Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts and Ian Stewart the "6th Stone" on piano along with bassist Jack Bruce, the Norwegian Jan Garbarek Group, London r'n'b legend Alexis Korner and an array of British horn-players.
• Nambassa 1979 was the largest music event in New Zealand.
• All That Jazz is released, an American musical film directed by Bob Fosse.

Album releases

Deaths

January

• 5 – Charles Mingus (56), American upright-bassist, composer and bandleader.
• 31 – Grant Green (43), American guitarist and composer.

May

• 21 – Blue Mitchell (49), American trumpeter

August

• 25 – Stan Kenton (67), American pianist and composer.

September

• 9 – Wilbur Ware (56), American upright-bassist.

Births

April

• 20 – Kenneth Kapstad, Norwegian drummer

June

• 26 – Mathias Eick, Norwegian trumpeter

August

• 20 – Jamie Cullum, British singer/songwriter, pianist, radio personality

December

• 10 – Tora Augestad, Norwegian singer and actor

See also

• 1970s in jazz
• List of years in jazz
• 1979 in music

References

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.