Don Z. Miller, who with his late wife Sue created the Paradise Valley Jazz Party in 1978, announced that on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, 2012 the new and exciting Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) www.themim.org will be the venue for and the presenter of the 35th annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party.

What do MIM, the Arizona Biltmore resort, and Biosphere 2 have in common? They were all recently honored as some of "the biggest, best, and most recognizable buildings in Arizona" by AZRE | Arizona Commercial Real Estate magazine.

As part of the magazine's Arizona Centennial Series, the September–October 2011 issue named MIM Arizona's "Best Public Building." "This is outstanding recognition— and we are in some great company," says MIM president Bill DeWalt.

The All Music Guide says "Shelly Berg is one of the finest pianists around in the early 21st century playing modern mainstream jazz." Shelly's 2005 CD, Blackbird (Concord) reached #1 in US jazz radio (Jazzweek) and garnered Record of the Year and Artist of the Year nominations. Shelly Berg is known for his collaborations with jazz vocalists, and he has performed, recorded and arranged for Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling, Monica Mancini, Dionne Warwick, Tierney Sutton, Lorraine Feather and Carmen Bradford. Shelly maintains a busy, worldwide schedule of jazz festival and club performances, and has performed and/or recorded with a "Who's Who" of jazz legends including Ray Brown, Louie Bellson, Eddie Daniels, Peter Erskine, Jon Faddis, Woody Herman, James Moody, Arturo Sandoval, Tom Scott, Clark Terry and Bill Watrous, to name a few. Dave Brubeck raves, "Shelly Berg is a great jazz pianist who has a total command of his instrument." He is also a frequent guest artist on Jim Cullum's Riverwalk Jazz radio series (PBS), where he explores the music of great stride pianists such as James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. Shelly's composing and orchestrating for television includes ABC's Fudge, CBS's A League of Their Own, and HBO's Dennis Miller Live. He has orchestrated for Chicago, Kiss, Carole King, Richard Marx, Joe Cocker, Elliott Smith, Lou Rawls, Steve Miller, and most recently was a featured orchestrator on Ray Sings, Basie Swings (a Ray Charles/Count Basie Orchestra collaboration) and Arturo Sandoval's A Time for Love (Concord). Film orchestration work includes Warner Bros.'s Almost Heroes and For Your Consideration, Fox's Men of Honor, and the NBC mini-seriesThe '60s. He has written for the Royal Philharmonic, the American Symphony, and orchestras worldwide. Shelly composed the theme song to the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival, and orchestrated Anniversary Concerto for the 10th anniversary of the Emperor's coronation. His orchestrations are called "magnificent. . . incredible" by Johnny Mandel.

A Steinway piano artist, Shelly Berg is the Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He was previously the McCoy/Sample Professor of Jazz Studies at the USC Thornton School of Music where he was on faculty for 16 years. He is a past president of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), and was honored as the 2003 "Educator of the Year" by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. In 2002, Shelly was the recipient of the IAJE Lawrence Berk Leadership Award and in 2000 the Los Angeles Times named him one of three "Educators for the Millennium." Shelly was a finalist in the 1988 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and has appeared as a performer and lecturer throughout the United States as well as in Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Israel, Japan, Romania and Venezuela. Shelly Berg has numerous compositions for jazz ensemble in publication, and his texts include the Chop-Monster improvisation series, Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Directors, Essentials of Jazz Theory (Alfred Publishing), and Jazz Improvisation: The Goal-Note Method (Kendor Music). He has also recorded over 30 disks for the Yamaha Disklavier piano.

JJA 'Jazz Heroes' are activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz who have had significant impact in their local communities. This year's 'Jazz Hero' awards were presented on June 11, 2011, in conjunction with the presentation of the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Awards honoring significant achievements in jazz music and journalism.

Don Z. Miller is Arizona's jazz impresario, an active producer, advocate and supporter of live music for four decades.

Founder and president of Concerts and Music Productions Inc., Miller has booked top-name musicians for 34 years of the annual Paradise Valley Jazz Party -- world-renowned stars of the swing, bebop, hard bop and modern eras. He's also one of nine founders of Jazz in Arizona Inc., a 34-year-old nonprofit jazz-support organization. From 1989 through 1992 he produced the Phoenix and Scottsdale Jazz Festivals, featuring a stylistic range from the Lionel Hampton Big Band to Spyro Gyra, Rebirth Jazz Band, Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Clark Terry-James Moody Quintet, among others. For Jazz in AZ, he conceived and produced "Treasures of Jazz" concert series, with artists such as Ellis Marsalis, Danny Barker, Bud Freeman, Dave Frishberg and Art Van Damme.

He's also organized and led tours to jazz festivals in Europe and produced several Festivals de Jazz in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. Don was proclaimed "Arizona's First Citizen of Jazz" by Gov. Bruce Babbitt of Arizona, and named "Promotor Turistico" by the State of Sonora Tourism Department in Sonora, Mexico. He is author of two non-fiction books and publisher of music- instruction books.

The seeds of both the Paradise Valley Jazz Party and Jazz in AZ were sown during a 1976 series with live music by local professionals and Arizona State University students at the University Club of Phoenix; Don produced those in conjunction with weekly jazz-history lectures by ASU music professor Wally Rave. Since then, he has been responsible for bringing hundreds of major jazz stars to the state. Such jazz activism, without parallel in Arizona, makes Don Z. Miller a true Jazz Hero and he will be honored on June 11 at a private gathering in Phoenix. – Patricia Myers

Piano: Dick Hyman, Roland Hanna, Ralph Sutton, Roger Kellaway, Jay McShann, Kenny Barron, Ray Bryant, Paul Smith, Bobby Enriquez, Kirk Lightsey, Oliver Jones, Buddy Weed, Jeannie Cheatham, Keith Greko, Bill Charlap, Armand Boatman, Ross Tompkins, Dave Frishberg, Dave McKenna, Diana Krall, Larry Fuller, Freddie Cole, Geoff Keezer, Don Phillips, Jeff Haskell, Shelly Berg, Bill Cunliffe, Tamir Hendelman, Pamela York, Richard Wyands, Junior Mance, Larry Nash, Les Czimber, Brian Holland, Butch Thompson, Andy Margolis, Johnny O'Neal, Mike Kocour, Gerald Clayton, Bill Mays, Matt Lemmler, Jacob Koller, Donald Vega

Bass: Milt Hinton, Major Quincey Holley, Ray Brown, Brian Torff, Monty Budwig, Eddie Gomez, George Mraz, George Duvivier, Bob Maize, Richard Davis, Michael Moore, John Clayton, John Daley, DonThompson, Red Mitchell, Eugene Wright, Jay Leonhart, Andy Simpkins, Keter Betts, Chuck Berghofer, Mark Shelby, Jim DeJulio, John Heard, Brian Bromberg, Lynn Seaton, Eddie Jones, Sean Smith, John Leitham, Peter Washington, Kristen Korb, Dwight Kilian, Christoph Luty, Rufus Reid, Jim Hughart, Jeff Littleton, Phil Flanigan, Nicki Parrott, Blake Thomson, Jon Burr, Michael Bowie, John Sims

Drums: Bobby Rosengarden, Jake Hanna, Shelly Manne, Jeff Hamilton, Nick Ceroli, Alan Dawson, Barrett Deems, Butch Miles, Joe LeBarbera, Mel Lewis, Terry Clark, Ed Thigpen, Lewis Nash, Bobby Durham, Frank Capp, Louie Bellson, Tootie Heath, Akira Tana, Claudio Slon, Greg Hutchinson, Dom Moio, Rob Perkins, John O'Reilley, Jr., Kariem Riggins, Mel Zelnick, Miro Desa, Herlin Riley, Grady Tate, Sherrie Maricle, Gregg Field, Jim Petrocino, Duffy Jackson, Ralph Penland, Randy Drake, Andrew Haake, Shannon Powell, Walter Harris, Bobby Breaux, John Lewis

Guitar: Herb Ellis, Bucky Pizzarelli, Louie Stewart, Cal Collins, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Bruce Forman, Doug McDonald, Ted Goddard, Gene Bertoncini, Marty Grosz, Frank Vignola, Mundell Lowe, Mark Elf, Papa Don Vappie, Eddie Erickson, Joe Cohn, Carl Amundson

Trumpet/cornet: Joe Newman, Danny Stiles, PeeWee Erwin, Clark Terry, Red Rodney, Warren Vaché, Doc Cheatham, Wild Bill Davison, Jon Faddis, Jack Sheldon, Billy Butterfield, Glen Zottola, Wallace Davenport, Jim Cullum, Stacey Rowles, Wendell Brunious, Snooky Young, Jesse McGuire, Bill Berry, Byron Stripling, Nicholas Payton, Conti Candoli, Sal Cracchiolo, Leroy Jones, Lou Soloff, Jeremy Davenport, Bobby Shew, Ingrid Jensen, Irvin Mayfield, Charlie Sepulveda, Guy Barker, Dan Barrett, Bobby Rodriquez, Troy Andrews, Chuck Findley, Kevin Clark, Carl Saunders, Mark Braud, James Williams, Gilbert Castellanos, Dmitri Matheny

Trombone: Bill Watrous, Carl Fontana, Al Grey, Slide Hampton, Roy Williams, Urbie Green, Rob McConnell, Phil Wilson, Jimmie Cheatham, Steve Turre, Ray Anderson, Tom Ervin, Michael Grey, Wycliffe Gordon, Lucien Barbarin, Harry Watters

Saxophone/clarinet/flute: Flip Phillips, Kenny Davern, Bob Wilber, Peanuts Hucko, Zoot Sims, Buddy Tate, Richie Cole, Chris Woods, Scott Hamilton, Al Cohn, Bud Shank, Bill Usselton, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Spike Robinson, James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Pepper Adams, Lew Tabakin, Bud Freeman, Rickey Ford, Red Holloway, Eric Schneider, Houston Person, Frank Wess, Rickey Woodard, Holly Hofmann, Charles McPherson, Nick Brignola, Nino Tempo, Tommy Newson, Harold Land, Plas Johnson, Andrew Gross, Teddy Edwards, David “Fathead” Newman, Ken Peplowski, Jeff Clayton, Hank Crawford, John Denman, Harry Allen, Allan Vaché, Dave Valentin, Victor Goines, Virginia Mayhew, Buddy DeFranco, Evan Christopher, Brice Winston, Mark Colby

Other instrumentalists: Frank Marocco (accordion), Poncho Sanchez (congas), Joey DeFrancesco (organ), Bob Cooper (vibes), Tarik Winston (tap dancer), Art Van Damme (accordion), Sam Pilafian (tuba), The Jazz Devils (a band), Warren Wolf (vibes), Noah Freedman (violin), Kirk Joseph (tuba), Aaron Weinstein (violin), The Young Sounds Of Arizona

Vocalists: Joe Williams, Carrie Smith, Ernie Andrews, Etta Jones, JoAnne Horton, Margaret Whiting, Dennis Rowland, Linda Hopkins, Kevin Mahogany, Nancy Gee, Ruth Brown, Ian Shaw, Sandy Graham, Carmen Bradford, Barbara Morrison, Chris Murrell, Bill Henderson, Topsy Chapman, Dee Daniels