The life in jazz of Yvonne Ervin, the Tucson-based arts administrator and festival producer who was a founding member of the JJA and served for a decade-and-a-half as the organization’s vice-president, will be celebrated Saturday June 1, 2019, at the Jazz Standard (116 E. 27th St) from 1:30 to 4 pm. Music is scheduled by the Mingus Dynasty Quintet, Sy Johnson, Lew Tabackin, Jane Ira Bloom, Mimi Jones, Claire Daly, her dear friend Lisi Axelrad, and many others. Yvonne’s husband Alan Hershowitz is co-hosting the event. JJA members are urged to attend.
As previously reported by Elzy Kolb, Yvonne was the editor of Hot House magazine, a musician, a festival producer, educator, broadcaster and key figure connected many actors in the jazz world. She was present at the first meetings in 1987 leading to establishment of the JJA and, as a hands-on activist, helped the organization apply for grants, run the Jazz Awards and participate in Jazz Hero events, especially after she moved from New York City to the southwest.
Yvonne was herself a Jazz Hero — literally named to the JJA’s “A Team” in 2010; the “A Team” was renamed “Jazz Heroes” in 2011. Indeed, she was recognized as a hero across jazz fields, as a consultant to the National Jazz Service Organization, the Kennedy Center for the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, executive director of the Tucson Jazz Society, force behind the Tucson Jazz Festival and the Mingus Project festival in the late bassist’s birthplace, Nogales, Arizona
Yvonne died on December 26, 2018, from complications following surgery. She was born September 14, 1959.
