[Dixielandjazz] Centennial celebration of Jazz

[Rick Knittel]

Don Robertson, the drummer in Mike Denny's band added the information
below regarding Mike's promotion of the Centennial of Jazz.

 I believe the year was 1990 and Mike--as you might expect--thought it
was a good time to declare that jazz was 100 years old. Nobody could
prove him wrong, but the jazz establishment waited a while before
declaring a Centennial. Mike even changed his band's name from the Good
Time Jazz Babies to the Centennial Jazz Band, a name we keep to this day.
He also got the UN to declare June something as International Jazz Day.
The Jazz Society has recently re-discovered IJD which they never
recognized before--I suspect Red Squires may have had a hand there--and
may do something this year

Rick Knittel
Maine Street Paraders