Jazz Festival Artists in the News

I always get a kick out of seeing jazz festival artists turn up in the news. The Neville Brothers closed out the New Orleans Jazz Fest this past Sunday night. A nice article also turned up for the group on Billboard.

There was also another interesting Q & A article on the site where they discussed some of their favourite tunes.

(BTW – someone, somewhere started a rumour that Aaron Neville wasn’t going to be performing as a part of this show. That is hooey! Aaron will be there!)

Toronto’s Elizabeth Shepherd just released a new record. There’s a solid review up on the Globe and Mail website. Way to go Elizabeth! I'm looking forward to her shows at the festival.

Finally, just before he appears at the Groove-FM Jazz Winnipeg Festival, Ravi Coltrane will lead a tribute to his mother, the great Alice Coltrane, at the New York Jazz Festival featuring Geri Allen, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, and Brandee Younger.

3... 2... 1... Take off! - Jazz Fest Rolls Out!

Well… here we go! We announced the 2008 Groove-FM Jazz Winnipeg Festival yesterday. We’ve got tons of great music lined up for this year - not that I'm at all biased.

One of the things I’m most excited about is our newly configured Late Nite Series program at the Exchange Event Centre. There you will be able to hear up to four sensational jazz groups perform nightly. The idea is to build audiences for new and different jazz groups that you may not have heard of before. On June 21 for instance, maybe you’ll go in to check out the lovely and talented Jodie Borle but stick around and discover Melissa Stylianou or the legendary Andy Bey . Recent Juno Award-winner Chris Tarry, Elizabeth Shepherd and Winnipeg ex-pat Zen Zadravec are all playing alongside some of the best jazz talent Winnipeg has to offer.

The idea is to give artists and audiences alike the chance to hear and see different things. We’re also encouraging festival artists to wind up each evening with a jam session. Obviously, I'll be talking some more about the artists we've got coming up in the coming weeks.

And make sure you spend some time on our terrific new website put together by our good friends and neighbours at the Mars Hill Group. On it, you'll find streaming audio and video, the Uptown Download of the Week and lots more.

2008 Groove-FM Jazz Winnipeg Festival Announcement

Stay tuned for the launch of the 2008 Groove-FM Jazz Winnipeg Festival!

We announce on Friday, April 18. The saucey new website goes live at 2:30 pm.

More bloggage to come!

- Paul