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
TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival kinds of performers. The traditional concert halls host big-name acts, while the smaller jazz clubs tend to host local and niche artists. The TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival began in 2005, when local musicians and business owners teamed up with the Jazz Society of the Yardbird Suite to produce the 60-event “Yardbird Jazz Festival,” which sought to promote Edmonton’s vibrant jazz scene, as well as to offer young people the chance to learn from experienced musicians in a workshop setting. This festival was planned in a hurry, after it was revealed that the long-running "Jazz City" festival would be shutting