Barn Jazz - Bio Page


	News Items
		*Oct. 26, 2010.* Barnjazz and HCE won an Impact Award from the Public Relations Society of America, Southern Arizona chapter, for its podcast, Discover the Copper Corridor, which you may view here. Strings and Ivory Christmas concert will be held Dec. 12th at Oracle Union Church, 4-6 PM.. The group last performed publically July 11 at the same venue. The concert is free and will feature both Celtic instrumentals and some traditional sing-along carols. Hear a preview of the title track to my next CD, The Night of the Dancing Vegetables. Nick Busch and Diamond Jim have a new CD, Teach Me To Forget. Click here to hear clips. TapeCamp 2009 pics from Chris Mara's analog recording workshop. Analog Tape now decks our hall. Neil Miller speaks about his new book on Kartchner Caverns. NEW - Best of Music from Fiesta de las Calabazas 2003-2006 CD. Photos from Zephyr Strings Once in a Blue Moon concert. Standing Stones of Beara, CD now available for purchase at CD Baby! Audition clips or write a review. Review from KXCI radio for Barn Jazz Live!... The one I play most on the air is "Caravan", exotic and down home at the same time ---- How do they do that? Cactus Cathy, DJ on KXCI Click here for more info...

"Diamond Jim" Hewitt

Jim Hewitt joined the music scene in Tucson shortly after he moved to town in 1973 for graduate work in Anthropology at the University of Arizona, where he received an M.A. in 1975. He got involved with some ne'er do well pickers at Pima Community College, soon to be known as The Tortolita Gut Pluckers. He has been the lead instrumentalist for several well-known Tucson bands: Tucson-Area-Music-Award winning (TAMMIE) Terry Pollock and Thunderhead North, The Blue Prairie Dogs with whom he also won an individual TAMMIE in 1999 for best String player, and in a duo with popular singer/songwriter Sal Valdivia. He has played the Tucson Folk Festival numerous times with these groups as well as renowned singer/songwriter John Coinman. He acquired the nickname "Diamond Jim" while playing several seasons in the Gaslight Theatre orchestra. He currently resides in Oracle, Arizona, pursuing his day job in web database programming and his passion for electro-acoustic musical composition and improvisational performance.

Jim is a co-founder of the Fiesta de las Calabazas, and has been the music promoter and one of the performers at this event since its inception in 2000. As one of the first new festivals of the new millennium, the Fiesta de las Calabazas continued as a showcase for new and rising musical talent in southern Arizona up to its demise in 2010, due to lack of funding and the closure of Oracle State Park by the Arizona State Parks Department. RIP!

In 2004 Jim founded Barn Jazz Music Productions (a subsidiary of Hewitt Consulting Enterprises, LLC) as a vehicle for pursuing an alternative career in music recording and audiovisual music production. With the able assistance of his wife, Lynn Perez-Hewitt, manager and accountant (and keeper of the purse), Barn Jazz Music Productions continues to expand its client base and creative interests.

Photo by Liz Richards