News

The 2025 Jazz Day Relay features Adelaide (Australia) composer/arranger, Mark Simeon Ferguson’s original composition “3:23am”, as center piece to this year’s relay. The song was written while on an educational tour in a remote area of Australia aligning closely to UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 – Quality Education.

London’s video sought to capture the importance of quality education while promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. The backdrop for London’s video is the brand new London Children’s Museum. A beautiful facility that curates powerful play experiences, London Children’s Museum champions the unique perspectives, contributions and ways of learning for children.

Composter/arranger Mark Simeon Ferguson describes the experience behind the song.

“We were experiencing the ‘transformative process of learning’ all day: many students were seeing their very first musical concert, let alone jazz concert. In workshops, myself and my (touring musical) students were engaging the local students in activities where they had to learn new skills, accept that they might fail a bit, and work and perform alongside us. I was really pleased to see our students being such excellent role models, nurturing and encouraging the students.”

The 2025 Jazz Day Relay features twenty-one (21) UNESCO Cities of Music including: Adelaide, Ambon, Auckland, Bolzano, Bydgoszcz, Conception, Daegu, Ghent, Glasgow, Hamamatsu, Hannover, Idanha-a-nova, Kansas City, Katowice, Leiria, Liverpool, Lliria, London, Mannheim, Metz and Morelia.

Production
Audio Engineer – Santiago Izaciga
Mix and Engineering – George Manury
Director/Videographer – Matt Sobhy
Video Editor – Rachel Kralka

Musicians
Nathan Nykor - Piano/Arrangement
Sonja Gustafson - Vocals
Bass - Stefan Sampy
Drums – Evan Chambers