Fender to celebrate Jazzmaster Guitar with 50th Anniversary Concert

To celebrate the rich five-decade legacy of the ultra-cool Jazzmaster guitar, Fender is hosting a 50th Anniversary Jazzmaster Concert on Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, at New York's famous Knitting Factory nightclub. The event will feature performances by acclaimed Jazzmaster artists Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Nels Cline (Wilco), Tom Verlaine (Television) and other special guests.

The anniversary will also be celebrated with new and historic Fender guitar displays and graphics, videos and a Jazzmaster guitar giveaway. Fender will also be unveiling some important Jazzmaster-related news at the show. Fender's 50th Anniversary Jazzmaster Concert is open to the public on a club-capacity basis; tickets are on sale now through the club's website, http://ny.knittingfactory.com

"This is an important event because the Jazzmaster has always lived in the looming shadows of the Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars," said Justin Norvell, Fender marketing director for electric guitars. "But under the radar, it became an underground icon in its own right and more than worthy of its own time in the spotlight. The artists who played it then and play it now are some of the musical prime movers who've kept the guitar relevant and have pushed it forward sonically."

New York's Knitting Factory (located at 74 Leonard St.) is the perfect venue for this important musical occasion. The famous nightclub is a downtown music destination that pays tribute to the Jazzmaster guitar's initial late-'50s jazz intentions, while it also provided a welcoming home to the experimental scene of the '70 and '80s that spawned great Jazzmaster-wielding groups such as Television and Sonic Youth.

Fender introduced the Jazzmaster guitar in 1958 as a high-end alternative to its omnipresent 1950s elder siblings, the Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars. Curvaceous, sleek and boasting an abundance of controls and chrome, the Jazzmaster became an unexpected hit with youthful players who were blazing new trails in surf and garage pop music. Well more than a decade later, the Jazzmaster was rediscovered be new generations of edgy new guitarists who loved its great looks, versatile sound, affordable price and subversive cool. The guitar continued to attract those who dared to be different; the boundary pushers and the up-and-coming fringe talent.

A look at instrument's 50-year history shows that whenever rock music experienced major stylistic shifts, the underdog Jazzmaster was always right there—be it surf, punk, new wave, goth, grunge, indie or any other subgenre in which the guitar was prized. The guitar remains a star instrument in the Fender galaxy, with three new models—the J Mascis Jazzmaster, the Elvis Costello Jazzmaster and the Classic Player Jazzmaster Special—introduced in 2007-2008.

For more information, please visit www.fender.com

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