Every April, jazz clubs, schools, libraries, and cultural organizations across the country, and around the world, dedicate the month to celebrating jazz. Concerts are programmed. Posters go up. Students get introduced to the music for the first time. Here at JazzArts Charlotte, it’s one of our favorite times of the year.

But Jazz Appreciation Month didn’t just happen. One person made it happen. And the story of how, and why, is worth knowing.

A Curator with a Concern

Dr. John Edward Hasse spent 33 years as the Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. During that time he curated landmark exhibitions on Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles. He founded the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He wrote the acclaimed biography Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington with a foreword by Wynton Marsalis. He co-produced Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology. He earned two Grammy nominations. He is, by any measure, one of the foremost authorities on American music alive today.

But in the late 1990s, something was troubling him. Despite jazz being America’s original art form — born on this soil, shaped by the Black American experience, exported to every corner of the globe — it was chronically under-appreciated in the country of its birth. Classical music had its institutions. Rock and pop had the commercial machine. Jazz had history, genius, and a shrinking spotlight.

Hasse had an idea. Inspired by the success of Black History Month in focusing national attention on an important but often overlooked subject, he conceived of a dedicated month for jazz — a time when the entire country could be invited to listen, learn, and celebrate. Not because jazz needed saving, but because people needed the chance to discover it.

As Hasse himself has put it: “Hardly anybody says, ‘I hate jazz.’ But a lot of people will tell me, ‘I don’t know jazz’ — which is entirely different. If you expose people to jazz, most will find things to like. There’s something in jazz for just about everybody.”

Building a Movement

In 2001, with initial funding from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Hasse launched Jazz Appreciation Month — or JAM — through the Smithsonian. But he didn’t stop at an announcement. He assembled a coalition of over 30 national and international organizations to help spread the word: the musicians’ union, the American Library Association, the Grammy Foundation, BMI, NPR, Sirius/XM Satellite Radio, and the Voice of America, among others.

The Smithsonian began producing annual JAM posters — at their peak, as many as 200,000 printed each year and distributed free of charge. The U.S. State Department sent tens of thousands of those posters to every American embassy and consulate around the world. Libraries hosted special displays. Schools built jazz into their curricula for the month. Major presenting organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters program, anchored their annual celebrations to April.

What started as one curator’s vision quickly became a global tradition. Today, Jazz Appreciation Month is celebrated in all 50 states and over 40 countries. It culminates each year with International Jazz Day on April 30, a UNESCO-recognized celebration that further amplifies the reach of Hasse’s original idea.

Why It Matters — Especially Now

Jazz Appreciation Month isn’t just a calendar designation. It’s a doorway. For the seasoned listener, it’s a reminder to go hear something live, support a local venue, or revisit a classic album. For someone who has never really explored jazz, it’s an invitation with no pressure — just a month where the culture says, “Hey, give this a listen.”

That mission is deeply personal to us at JazzArts Charlotte. Every month, we bring world-class jazz artists to the JAZZ ROOM stage. Year-round, our education programs put instruments in the hands of young musicians and connect them with mentors who are shaping the future of this music. We exist because we believe what Dr. Hasse believed when he created JAM — that jazz is not a museum piece. It’s a living, breathing art form that has the power to move people, if they just get the chance to hear it.

This April, we’re celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month with a special edition Miles Davis Centennial show on April 17–18 featuring the Wallace Roney Jr. Quartet, birthday tributes to jazz legends throughout the month, and our continued commitment to keeping jazz alive in Charlotte — on stage and in the classroom.

Dr. Hasse gave jazz its month. Let’s make it count.

Happy Jazz Appreciation Month from JazzArts Charlotte.