Howard Stone is a life-long jazz fan, a retired real estate attorney and investor based in Santa Monica California, who has had a second home in Vail Colorado for over 30 years. Stone loves jazz as much as he loves the Colorado lifestyle – and the Vail Jazz Foundation blossomed when he brought together these two passions. Stone had attended numerous “Jazz Parties” in Colorado through the years.

In 1995, he was inspired to put together the first Labor Day Weekend Vail Jazz Party in Vail. His vision was to do his part to carry on a 20 year Colorado tradition of presenting great jazz in the unique ‘party’ format over the Labor Day Weekend. After the success of the first Vail Jazz Party, Stone dreamed further and decided to create the VJF as an organization dedicated to the perpetuation of jazz music with a specific emphasis on young musicians and young audiences. The Foundation grew to add a jazz workshop for promising high school musicians, a school program in Eagle County called Jazz Goes to School, free concert series, educational programs, and collaborations featuring all performances and educational programs with other non profits including Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Vail Symposium, and the Vail Valley Foundation.

Today, Vail and Colorado are the beneficiaries of Stone’s vision, which manifests itself in an annual summer festival spanning over 12 weeks and entertaining over 50,000 people, a workshop which has contributed to the jazz musicianship of nearly 200 outstanding jazz musicians, a school program that has educated over 14,000 students in Eagle County and new in 2012, a winter series of jazz concerts.

• 1995 The inaugural Vail Jazz Party is presented in Vail, Colorado.

• 1996 The inaugural Vail Jazz Workshop takes place in Vail, welcoming 12 talented high school jazz musicians to study at an intensive music residency program with professional musician educators in Vail.

• 1997 The VJF continues to innovate by adding a series of free outdoor concerts to its performance schedule, called Jammin’ Jazz Nights, creating a month-long celebration of jazz from early August through Labor Day weekend, now known as The Vail Jazz Festival.

• 1998 Jazz Goes to School, a new jazz studies program for elementary school students, is introduced in the Eagle County School District public elementary schools’ fourth and fifth grade classes. This free jazz education program takes professional musician/clinicians into local schools throughout the school year, and follows a progressive curriculum developed by the VJF that integrates jazz music education with social studies.

• 1999 The annual Vail Jazz Festival adds performance series (Jazz @ The Market) in order to expand the Festival into a summer long celebration of jazz.

• 2008 Jazz @ Vail Square concert series begins with weekly concerts in the plaza in Lionshead during August.

• 2012 Vail Jazz Festival grows to include 40 shows throughout a 12-week period including 9 Jazz @ The Market shows, 10 shows at Jazz @ Vail Square, 9 shows at Jazz @ Kelly Liken, 3 orchestra jazz jams and more.