The Vicksburg Blues Society and Vicksburg Heritage League are hostingthe Fourth Annual Hank Jones Memorial Concert and Festival from 5 p.m.to 8 p.m. Aug. 4 at Vicksburg City Auditorium, said event organizerShirley Waring.
Hank Jones (Facebook photo)
Jones was a jazz pianist and composer whose 70-year career included astint as Ella Fitzgerald’s pianist and Marilyn Monroe’s accompanistwhen she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy.
Jones was born in Vicksburg on July 31, 1918. He died in 2010 in NewYork. He recorded more than 60 albums under his own name and played as asideman on hundreds of other albums, Warning said.
“He was absolutely very prominent in American jazz,” she said.
The event begins with an art exhibit at 5 p.m. featuring paintings ofJones and other Mississippi music icons by Vicksburg artist Eric BoJones and art students at Vicksburg Senior Center, Waring said.
Following the art exhibit will be a panel discussion and music featuring the Andy Hardwick Trio.