Photo by Terence Love

Jimmy Smith, the Hammond B-3 icon who creatively revolutionized the instrument in Jazz, died on Tuesday, February 8, at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"Jimmy was one of the greatest and most innovative musicians of our time. I love the man and I love the music. He was my idol, my mentor and my friend," fellow Hammond B-3 artist and friend" - Joey Defrancesco

CHICAGO--The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), internationally recognized as the foremost experimental music collective of our time, is commemorating its 40th Anniversary with two days of celebration: Saturday, May 7, at 2 pm, at the Chicago Cultural Center; and Sunday, May 8, at 2 pm, at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

On May 8, 1965, a cadre of Chicago's most forward-thinking musician-composers, led by pianists Jodie Christian and Muhal Richard Abrams, drummer Steve McCall, and trumpeter Kelan Phil Cohran, gathered on Chicago's South Side to found the AACM as an artist-run organization dedicated to developing and promoting original music.

Right from the start, the AACM positioned itself at the forefront of musical innovation, and its members have long been recognized for their influence on 20th-Century music. Drawing on a wide range of musical styles, AACM members have created new notation systems, extended techniques and new technologies, invented instruments, kinetic sculptures, and much more, creating a composite approach that has come to be known around the world as "Great Black Music: Ancient to the Future."

Six-time Grammy Nominated Composer/Arranger, Gerald Wilson conducts two shows with the Chicago Jazz Ensemble (CJE). The shows, Saturday, May 7 at 8:00 P.M. and Sunday, May 8 at 2:00 P.M., at the Field Museum's James R. Simpson Theatre are the final performances of the CJE's Sixth American Heritage Jazz Series.

For more than fifty years, Gerald Wilson has been recognized as one of the premiere composers, arrangers and band leaders in modern jazz. During his six-decade career, Wilson's compositions have been behind the greatest names in jazz, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Carter, and Nancy Wilson.

Dr. Michael White has gained notoriety as an informed purveyor of New Orleans traditional jazz as a gifted musician, composer, educator and historian. Long respected in his hometown and in classic jazz enclaves around the world, he enjoyed further recognition through his association with renowned jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.