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I have been a member of The International Association of Jazz Educators for the past decade and I am sorry to announce that after 40 successful years the organization has disbanded.

The mission of the International Association for Jazz Education was to assure the continued worldwide growth and development of Jazz and Jazz Education.

This great organization allowed the Jazz community to gather annually performing for each other at their conference. Thousands upon thousands of jazz musicians and fans were also attracted to IAJE through its Teacher Training Institutes, student scholarship programs such as the Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Stars and its website and magazine.

I have received a note from IAJE President Chuck Owen stating that IAJE has filed in Kansas bankruptcy court and has already closed its doors

I have had the pleasure to work with jazz legends such as Max Roach, Joe Lovano, Joe Chambers, John Hicks and many others at these events through the years and several members from the Indaba team were lucky enough to attend the very last conference held in Toronto last January. We are very sorry to see it go. Hopefully, there will be a new organization dedicated to the perseverance and education of this art form we call Jazz.