In tribute to Michael Brecker, the most renowned tenor saxophonist of his generation and among the most important contemporary jazz figures in the world today, the International Association for Jazz Education is sponsoring at their annual conference in New York City a bone marrow drive. The drive will take place on Friday, January 13 and Saturday, January 14 from 10AM to 5PM in the Hilton New York Hotel, 1335 Avenue of the Americas at 53rd Street, New York City on the 3rd floor promenade in front of the Grand Ballroom. Brecker, winner of 11-GRAMMY Awards, more than any saxophonist ever, was recently the recipient of an experimental half-matching blood stem cell (bone marrow) transplant to combat his affliction with myelodysplastic syndrome, a cancer-like disease.The jazz community has stood behind Brecker throughout his ordeal. The Newport Jazz Festival, The Monterey Jazz Festival and The Red Sea Jazz Festival have previously sponsored onsite testing. Testing at the IAJE conference is being primarily underwritten by IAJE itself and Caroline & James Taylor. The tribute by IAJE is particularly apt as Brecker is perhaps most studied contemporary instrumentalist in music schools throughout the world today.
"Every year more than 9,000 people die in just the U.S. as a result of not being able to find a matching donor, " said Brecker's wife of twenty years, Susan. " As was the case with my husband, nearly 70% of us don't have a matching donor in our families. That's why it's so important that we all get tested and join the National Marrow Donor Program." It is Brecker's hope that more people will get tested so that fewer people will have to confront what he has had to go through.
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