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In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
The Mussorgsky Jazz Orchestra is one of many bands that has played at the Jazz Across Borders conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. The third annual edition will be held Nov. 15–16.
(Photo: Jazz Across Borders)The third annual Jazz Across Borders conference will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Nov. 15–16. The event will include panel discussions, musician showcases, workshops, master classes and “speed meetings” to foster business relationships throughout the jazz industry.
Artists, concert promoters, record label representatives, club owners, jazz festival executives, managers, professors and members of the media will participate. Registration will be open until Nov. 11.
Musicians scheduled to attend include drummer and Rainy Days Records executive Sasha Mashin, saxophonist and Jazz Across Borders founder Igor Butman, and pianist, bandleader and author Monika Herzig, who is head of the research committee for the Jazz Education Network.
Also expected to attend are André Ménard, cofounder of the Montreal International Jazz Festival; Jan-Ole Otnæs, managing director of Nasjonal jazzscene and president of the European Jazz Network; Christoph Huber, artistic director of the Vienna jazz club Porgy & Bess; Sunna Gunlaugs, pianist and co-director of Reykjavik Jazz Festival; Edin Zubcevic, founder of Jazz Fest Sarajevo and co-curator of Ljubljana Jazz Festival; and Minnakaisa Kuivalainen, executive director of the organization Tampere Jazz Festivals, which presents three festivals.
The conference, which is part of the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, has become a key networking opportunity for international and Russian members of the jazz community.
For more information, visit the conference website. DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
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