Herbie Hancock sets International Jazz Day on April 30

Herbie Hancock was named the Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, last July.  Herbie's first initiative in his new post will be to partner with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which he chairs, to launch International Jazz Day on April 30.  The event will include star-studded concerts in Paris, New Orleans and New York as well as jazz-related events in several dozen countries from Algeria to Uruguay.  Hancock will kick off the April 30 celebrations with a sunrise concert at New Orleans' Congo Square, the birthplace of jazz, and will coincide with the first weekend of the city's Jazz and Heritage Festival.  Terence Blanchard, Ellis Marsalis, Dr. Michael White, Kermit Ruffins and the Treme Brass Brand are set to perform along with Herbie.  He'll then fly to New York for a sunset all-star jazz concert for the international diplomatic corps at the U.N. General Assembly Hall to be hosted by Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas and Quincy Jones. The concert will feature Hancock, DeeDee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Christian McBride, Esperanza Spalding, Jack DeJohnette, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and Jimmy Heath, among many other international artists.