Magic City Jazz Orchestra Lawler, trombonist Charlie Ard, saxophonist Neil McLean, arranger Steve Sample, Sr and pianist Ray Reach. SuperJazz has spawned a number of spin-off groups, such as the Night Flight Big Band and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra. In 1998, Ray Reach, then director of the UAB Jazz Ensemble and founding director of the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, contacted New York saxophonist Lou Marini in order to hire him to be guest artist and clinician for the annual "Weekend of Jazz" festival at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Mr. Marini subsequently came to Birmingham, where he conducted jazz workshops and
Viersen Jazz Festival Viersen Jazz Festival The Viersen Jazz Festival is a music festival held every autumn in Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was established in 1969 as "1. Internationales Niederrheinisches Jazz Festival". After the first year it took almost 18 years till the festival continued in 1987 with double bassist Ali Haurand as artist director. The festival is held on the fourth weekend in September in the city hall of Viersen and enjoyed nationwide a good reputation. The festival offers a high quality set of well known jazz musicians from overseas, Europe and Germany. The most famous performances in the festival's history