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
Skopje Jazz Festival Skopje Jazz Festival The Skopje Jazz Festival is a jazz festival held in Skopje, Macedonia, since 1982. Although the festival promotes a genre which seems distant from its own culture and traditions, it attracts large audiences and receives attention in the Balkans and the rest of Europe. Musicians who have performed at the festival include Marshall Allen, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Brazilian Girls, Ray Charles, Zoran Madzirov, Stanley Clarke, Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Gotan Project, Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Maria Joao, D. D. Jackson, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Vlatko Stefanovski, Theodosii Spassov, Simon Kiselicki, John