Jazz musician Jane Bunnett may have missed the fourth annual Haitian jazz festival this week, but that doesn't mean she won't be playing for Haitians. The award-winning saxophonist was supposed to have arrived in the earthquake-ravaged country Thursday with her band, The Spirits of Havana, to take part in a week-long jazz fest.

Now Bunnett is pulling together a musical benefit to help a country that was already the Western hemisphere's poorest and now faces overwhelming odds as it struggles to recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake. "Besides playing the festival, we were planning on going into some of the high schools to perform and we were going to be taking some (donated) instruments down," Bunnett said. Read complete story from thestar.com.

NOTABLE:

Happy Birthday, J.J. Johnson

View classic videos of trombonist and composer

J.J. Johnson - "Blue Trombone"

Johnson: Jan. 24, 1924-Feb. 4, 2001

            

Comments: 

"Nice selection, some great trombone.  Happy birthday to a great artist." -- Tyrone Anthony

"Thanks for keepin' Jazz Alive! I will keep tuned!" -- Deborah 

"Wow man! Im really diggin the jazzstage! Thats going in my bookmarks! Nice work''! -- Austin Casey 

"Looks like a great website! Keep it up.." -- Albert Rivera

"Thanx Pete. Jazzstage is a great site! Peace. --Vinnie Zummo 

"Oh! I knew it was JJ Johnson's birthday in this period although I didn't remember exactly when. Thank you for writing about it in your blog. I met JJ personally many times in Europe (as well as his wife). He was a very kind and friendly man." --Cristina Lopez Dupuy

Tags:

For news on the Houston scene go to http://jazzhouston.com/