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
Jazz à Juan Jazz à Juan Jazz à Juan is an annual jazz festival in Juan-les-Pins, France. New Orleans, Louisiana, widely recognized as the "Birthplace of Jazz," is a sister city, and as a result, carnival festivities in Juan-les-Pins, including both local and New Orleans jazz bands parading through the streets, have served for years to embody that connection. Along the Boulevard Edouard Baudoin, which runs behind the seaside stage that hosts the annual jazz festival, ceramic tiles containing handprints of more than 50 musicians who have played at the festival dot the sidewalk. Among those enshrined on the boulevard are Al Jarreau,