Jazz health, bright moments

Wein is one who knows what he's doing -- he invented the jazz festival, you may recall -- and that evidently attracted CareFusion, a subsidiary of Cardinal Health which is about to spin off as an independent entity, to his projects. A global firm which supplies hospitals with services and equipment it says increase the safety and quality of health care, CareFusion wouldn't seem to be the sort of business that usually courts broad name recognition from concert-goers ("Wait a minute -- I want the jazz-associated MRI machine!") but CEO David Schlotterbeck told the hungry scribes he and Wein had invited to upscale City Winery for their announcement "affecting the future of jazz in New York City" that "there is a clear connection between jazz and medicine that provides the perfect opportunity to launch our new brand. . . Both jazz and the practice of medicine embrace innovation, performance and change." 

Ah, change we can believe in! The new CareFusion Jazz Festival Series starts with George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55 (née the Newport Jazz Festival) Aug. 7 - 9, then expands beyond his bailiwick to support the Chicago Jazz Festival Sept. 4 - 6, to underwrite a stage called "Dizzy's Den" at the Monterey Jazz Festival Sept. 18 - 20, to put on the CareFusion Manly Jazz Festival in Sydney, Australia Oct. 3 - 5, and the CareFusion Jazz Festival Paris Oct. 16 - 24 (few details on these latter two are currently available). Finally, the CareFusion New York Jazz Festival is foreseen as taking the place in June 2010 of the JVC Jazz Festival-New York, which Wein's Festival Productions presented for 38 years (and before that as the Newport in New York Jazz Festival). 

Did I mention that the SFJazz fest, which is a series of separately-ticketed events at concert venues all over that fascinating city, is promising Ornette Coleman? And Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Pat Martino, Bela Fleck, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Esperanza Spalding, James Cotton, Keb Mo', and Brazilian stars Gal Costa and Milton Nascimento? Diversity -- yes! Strength and creativity, for sure! Now where did I put that schedule for Manhattan's River-to-River fest, for Lincoln Center's July Mid-Summer Night Swing and August Out-of-Doors, for Central Park SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn (don't miss King Sunny Adé headlining African Festival in Prospect Park) and the City Parks Foundation's Charlie Parker Festival? So much to dig now, do we dare worry about the future. . . .later?