ABOUT JAZZ PENSACOLA

Our History:
Jazz Pensacola, also known as the Jazz Society of Pensacola (JSOP) was created by Dr. F. Norman Vickers in December of 1982 as a support group for the upcoming Pensacola JazzFest held in the spring of 1983 with the Arts Council as overall sponsor, WUWF-FM, and the newly formed Jazz Society in supporting roles.  A seasoned editor for the Medical Society, Dr. Vickers crafted the first newsletter for the newly formed JSOP organization, introducing the Pensacola community to the organization, jazz music, and the first JazzFest!
  Around that same time, the American Federation of Jazz Societies (AFJS) was getting started and he served on the first board in 1984.  Dr. Vickers left the AFJS board to make room for additional board members as east coast representation was heavy.  He later resumed his position on the AFJS board, serving as the President in 1994 and continued to write a quarterly newsletter while serving as president.
  Known in the community as the Jazz Doctor, friends say there was even a time or two when a patient was undergoing anesthesia and Vickers would pull out his always-handy chromatic harmonica and play a bit to soothe and serenade. He would have his harmonica in one pocket, stethoscope in the other.

  As the Jazz Doctor, the joke was when you called the gastroenterologist's Pensacola office, you'd have to specify whether the call was "medical or musical."  Dr. Vickers was Pensacola's Jazz ambassador and served as the organization's volunteer executive director from 1986 to 2004, then becoming director emeritus.

  Dr. Vickers was instrumental in creating the Jazz Room at Pensacola's downtown library which houses a vast collection of jazz books, CDs, DVD's, photographs, artwork and other material including Pensacola jazz musicians who made success in the larger jazz world.  Funding the collection was made possible by the Jazz Society and Friends of the Library.