Higher Ground, New Orleans Benefit CD

New York (New York), USA –

Higher Ground (Blue Note Records ) documents Jazz at Lincoln
Center’s Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert, a landmark evening of
musical offering that was mounted by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Artistic Director and New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis on September 17, less
than three weeks after Hurricane Katrina imparted its devastation upon the Gulf
Coast.The concert and auction produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center have already
raised over $2 million to date, and all proceeds from sales of the CD will also
go directly to the Higher Ground Relief Fund established by Jazz at Lincoln
Center and administered through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, a non-profit
community foundation, to benefit the musicians, music industry related
enterprises and other individuals and entities from the areas in Greater New
Orleans who were affected by Hurricane Katrina and to provide other general
hurricane relief.

The concert, which took place at Rose Theater in Frederick P. Rose
Hall in New York City and was televised nationally in the United States on PBS and broadcast on XM
Satellite Radio and NPR member radio stations in the U.S. and worldwide, boasted
a remarkable array of talent including Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Wynton
Marsalis, Bette Midler, Art & Aaron Neville, Dianne Reeves, James Taylor,
Cassandra Wilson &
Buckwheat Zydeco.

Higher Ground collects the highlights of
the evening from Shirley Caesar’s rousing opener “This Joy” through Cassandra
Wilson’s prayerful reading of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” with the Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra. These 15 tracks pay tribute to the city of New Orleans,
one of the greatest musical and cultural centers in all the world, through a
multitude of musical moods & styles: Early to Modern Jazz, Gospel, New Orleans
Funk, Folk, & Pop.

Other standout moments include New Orleans-born trumpeter
Terence Blanchard’s emotive and sweeping performance of “Over There,” Art & Aaron Neville’s funky take on “Go To The Mardi Gras,” Diana Krall’s laidback
rendition of “Basin Street Blues” featuring Cyrus Chestnut on piano, James ^
Taylor’s heartfelt “Never Die Young,” Norah Jones’s sweet solo piano reading of
Randy Newman’s “I, Think It’s Going To Rain Today,” and Wynton Marsalis’s
celebratory tribute to New Orleans icon Louis Armstrong on “Dippermouth Blues.”

“New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. The city’s diverse population of
Spanish, French, British, West Africans and Americans created an original music
that embodies the fundamental principals of democracy. Jazz at Lincoln Center
was established to celebrate jazz and so we are particularly moved to action by
the destruction visited on the Crescent City by Katrina,” said Marsalis.

“The focus of the Fund will be to, help those individuals and families evacuated
from the greater New Orleans area as they address immediate concerns related to
housing, food, education, health care and basic survival necessities. It will
also provide resources to assist individuals over time to rebuild their homes
and livelihoods,” said Derek E. Gordon, President & CEO of Jazz at Lincoln
Center.

The Higher Ground Relief Fund will be
administered and distributed through The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, a
non-profit organization that forms partnerships with philanthropists, nonprofit
organizations and other community leaders to ensure that its community can
exceed any challenge, and that its residents have every opportunity to succeed.
It helps Fund Donors create a lasting legacy and fulfill their philanthropic
goals.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation helps nonprofit organizations succeed
with thwww.braf.org.

[Purchase

Higher Ground].