Cape Conservatory is celebrating International Jazz Day at its Falmouth campus on Tuesday, April 30, at 6 PM, with recitals by its CJazz and C-Rock ensembles and an exhibition of paintings of jazz musicians by fine artist Sean J. Cassidy.

International Jazz Day brings people around the world together to celebrate and learn more about jazz, its roots and impacts, and raise awareness of the need for intercultural dialog and mutual understanding, to reinforce international cooperation and communication.

“Our goal is to keep jazz alive long into the future through Cape Conservatory programs like Jazz in the Schools, CJazz and C-Rock," said Bart Weisman, director of CJazz and an active promoter of jazz on the Cape.

Artist Sean J. Cassidy is a big fan of jazz, so much so that he has created a series of portraits of jazz musicians, including such greats as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Sonny Rollins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie.

“I try to capture the improv nature of jazz and the essence and energy of the music and the musicians,” he said. “I listen only to that artist’s music when I am painting his or her portrait. I riff on their music and play with the notion of improv, expressing it through color and brushstrokes.”