Irvin Mayfield talks to Joanne Kee on truth, love and beauty

JK: To date you have had the most amazing career. In 2002 you founded the Institute of Jazz Culture at Dillard University.  Would you like to tell us about why you set this up and how this links to  the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra?

IM: Dillard University gave me my first job as a professor at the age of 22, and it was there – as Director of the Institute of Jazz Culture – I realized the need for an organization such as the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra — that could focus solely on Jazz. Since 2002, NOJO has created Jazz to enhance life, transform place and elevate spirit through our tenets of truth, love and beauty.

JK: You have incredibly strong ties to your home town, what is the unique quality of New Orleans that inspires  you?

IM: I don’t think of cities as buildings; I think of cities as people. The strength of cities is built on ideas, and I think one of the most important aspects of living in New Orleans is ideas. People can experience New Orleans without ever having to set foot in the city. They experience it through recipes, recordings, and the overall approach to life that is evidenced in the creations of great artists like Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet.

JK: What sort of influence does this have on the music you create?

IM: Place has an important impact on all artists; the goal of artists is to be poets at the highest level. Every artist wants to create art that transcends place and their surroundings, so New Orleans – a place with artists of all kinds who have accomplished that goal – is something that everyone can appreciate.

JK: There are many areas where you have demonstrated community spirit, as Cultural Ambassador what are yourachievements to date and what do you hope to achieve in the future?

IM: All artists are ambassadors for their communities. Our aim at the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra is to reinforce the notion that you can be yourself and feel good about it. That’s the true spirit of Jazz.

JK: How did the project with Dee Dee originate?

IM: We consider Dee Dee to be the best Jazz singer alive today. We were honored a few years ago when she became the Honorary Chairman of NOJO’s Board of Directors and offered to create a collaborative project with the big band.

JK: What other projects are you working on?

IM: Right now all roads lead to the new record, “Dee Dee’s Feathers,” and that’s pretty much our concentration for the next year and a half: touring and the presentation of this music.

Irvin Mayfield, 31, is a Grammy-award nominated and Billboard-award winning trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger and recording artist. His dual passion for Jazz and New Orleans, the city of his birth, has quickly established Mayfield as one of the young giants in the world of Jazz. His music, which draws from all aspects of New Orleans life and culture, re-imagines unique New Orleans styles and blends them into an authentic 21st century jazz sound.

As the founder and artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), a performing arts institution dedicated to presenting engaging and transformative Jazz experiences, Mayfield recently led the 15-piece NOJO on a 20-city tour of “New Orleans Then and Now”, a multi-media musical tour de force.

On the forefront of promoting the culture and business of Jazz, Irvin was instrumental in the creation of the recently opened New Orleans Jazz Market

Irvin Mayfield, 31, is a Grammy-award nominated and Billboard-award winning trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger and recording artist. His dual passion for Jazz and New Orleans, the city of his birth, has quickly established Mayfield as one of the young giants in the world of Jazz. His music, which draws from all aspects of New Orleans life and culture, re-imagines unique New Orleans styles and blends them into an authentic 21st century jazz sound.

Release date Dee Dee’s Feathers, August 2015

As the founder and artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO), a performing arts institution dedicated to presenting engaging and transformative Jazz experiences, Mayfield recently led the 15-piece NOJO on a 20-city tour of “New Orleans Then and Now”, a multi-media musical tour de force.

On the forefront of promoting the culture and business of Jazz, Irvin was instrumental in the creation of the recently opened New Orleans Jazz Market.

Dee Dee Bridgewater is performing with Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra

Sydney, City Recital Hall 6 June 2015

Melbourne International Jazz Festival 7 June 2015

Release date Dee Dee’s Feathers, August 2015

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