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The Beavercreek Weekend of Jazz, "Where the Future of Jazz Meets the Legends of Jazz!", is an annual jazz festival organized and presented by the Beavercreek Music Parents Association and held the first weekend in March. The primary objective of the Weekend of Jazz is to expose the youth of Beavercreek, Ohio and surrounding communities to new and exciting forms of jazz music and provide them opportunities to learn about careers in music directly from professional jazz musicians.

Thursday evening opens the festival with performances by the jazz bands of the Beavercreek schools – Ankeney and Ferguson Middle Schools and Beavercreek High School (Jazz Ensembles 1 and 2).  These performances are observed by an on-stage jazz professional, who offers constructive critiques of each performance and encouragement for the young musicians and is open to the public.  Admission is free. 

Each year two professional jazz ensembles are invited to perform during the festival. Every opportunity is seized to give children direct access to the professional musicians, to ask them questions about their careers and to seek and receive advice and tutoring on their own performance skills.

This year, Sylvan Street, a select and accomplished group of professional jazz musicians from around the country returns to WOJ for their second visit and performs in concert on Friday evening of the festival.  The music of Sylvan Street is dynamic, funky, and very aggressive - an emotional and eclectic blend influenced by everything from Weather Report to Horace Silver to Talking Heads. “It’s a fusion of my diverse background in jazz, popular music, standards, and rock and roll,” says Jay Rees, composer, bassist and band leader. The music of Sylvan Street is unique in that it brings the energy and excitement of a rock concert to the intimacy of a jazz venue. Sylvan Street includes soaring high-note trumpeter Chad Shoopman, improvisational saxophonist Kelland Thomas, virtuosic Los Angeles guitarist Frank Browne, Chicago’s multi-talented drummer/singer Andrew Hix, keyboard prodigy Evan Rees and ethno-percussionist Michael Faltin. Beavercreek High School’s very own Director of Bands, Doug McCullough sits in as guest percussionist.  Tickets are on sale now at http://www.weekendofjazz.org.

The second headline act is the world renowned Buddy Rich Big Band featuring Gregg Potter and Cathy Rich, who will perform Saturday evening.  For the first time in over 25 years, THE BUDDY RICH BIG BAND is available in concert. Emmy Award winning, top recording session & touring drummer, Gregg Potter leads the 15 piece band for an evening hosted by Buddy's daughter, Cathy Rich. The energy, drive and showmanship that Buddy brought throughout his career is alive & present featuring Buddy's original charts along with contemporary material in Buddy's classic style.  Without question, BUDDY RICH is considered the greatest drummer that ever lived. Throughout his illustrious career, he played with most of the legends of jazz. Art Tatum, Louis Armstrong, The Count Basie Orchestra, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Ella Fitzgerald and Stan Getz. Of course, Buddy was most widely recognized for his work with his own big band.

Worldwide sales of Buddy Rich original recordings are still going strong. The recent success of "Burning for Buddy," a CD collection co-produced by Cathy Rich and Neil Peart of Rush, featuring the world's top drummers including Peart, Steve Smith (formerly of Journey), and Bill Bruford to name a few, paid homage to Buddy's music. His fans are still seeking the excitement and the music of Buddy Rich.  Tickets are on sale now at www.weekendofjazz.org.

Finally, the Weekend of Jazz Saturday program, up until the evening performance by the headline act, provides performance opportunities for a number of middle, junior high, and high school jazz bands from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.  We enlist the help of professional jazz musicians, clinicians, and educators to observe, evaluate, and critique these performances. Immediately following each school’s concert, a professional panel member conducts a 20 – 30 minute private clinic for each band, provides them feedback, and actively works with the band members to improve their performances. Over the years, it has become apparent that this opportunity to perform for and work with professional jazz musicians is one of the highlights of the weekend for our school jazz band members. All performances and clinics are conducted in the facilities of Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio.

The lineup for this year’s Weekend of Jazz is

Thursday evening: Beavercreek Schools (Ankeney, Ferguson, BHS) - free

Friday evening: Sylvan Street Jazz - Adults $30, Students & Seniors $20

Saturday: School Jazz Band Day - free concerts from 8:00 AM until 5:30 PM

Saturday evening: The Buddy Rich Big Band - Adults $30, Students & Seniors $20