Michigan Congressman Conyers Reintroduces Jazz Preservation Bill

Bill promotes jazz education, maintenance of archives and more

Congressman John Conyers presents the keynote address as Ed Lewis from BET on Jazz looks on at the 2000 Billboard BET on Jazz Award Show

By Jeff Tamarkin
A United States Congressman, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), has reintroduced his jazz appreciation bill, H.R. 4280, titled the “National Jazz Preservation, Education, and Promulgation Act of 2014.” Conyers recently attended the Smithsonian Institution’s Jazz Appreciation Month kickoff concert. Prior to the event, Congressman Conyers issued the following statement:

“This legislation builds upon H. Con. Res. 57, the landmark jazz legislation passed in 1987, which recognized ‘jazz as a rare and valuable national treasure.’ Passed on September 23, 1987, John Coltrane’s birthday, it was an incredibly important moment in the history of this most American of art forms. However, like so many important efforts, its potential has not yet been fully realized,” said Conyers.

“H.R. 4280 seizes upon the three goals stated in H. Con. Res. 57—preservation, education, and promulgation—and actually creates programs to achieve those ends.

“The first element, preservation, creates in the Smithsonian Institution a Jazz Preservation Program that will secure artifacts from jazz history and work with groups across the country to maintain collections that tell the story of jazz from its inception to its present, and which will provide learning opportunities for jazz enthusiasts nationwide.
Read more: http://jazztimes.com/articles/125251-michigan-congressman-conyers-reintroduces-jazz-preservation-bill