Although the weather may be less-than-stellar and the sun seems to be missing from most places, there's still hope for festival-goers hoping to catch some live music before the year is up.
Warren Hayes returns for the twentieth time for the anniversary of his annual Christmas Jam Festival. Read more »
Portland Jazz Festival will top off its celebration of Blue Note Records with a finale performance by former Blue Note artist and Portland native Kurt Elling performing his tribute to the 1963 collaboration between saxophone great John Coltrane and baritone Johnny Hartman. A similar performance by Elling was one of the highlights of last year's Monterey Jazz Festival.
The concert recreates many of the ballads on the 1963 recording, Dedicated to You, which was recorded just over a year before Coltrane produced his seminal recording A Love Supreme. Unlike that transcendent effort, the Hartman collaboration was a more intimate and accessible album, a mood captured by Elling and his instrumental partner Ernie Watts.
Elling is widely regarded as one of the top jazz vocalists today, having won multiple Downbeat critic's polls and Jazz Times reader polls as well as seven Grammy nominations. He has performed twice before at the Portland Jazz Festival. For more information. Read more »
When it comes to jazz festivals that last only one day — or, in this case, only 10 hours — it’s hard to beat the NYC Winter Jazzfest for ambition or star power.
The 2009 edition of this one-night bash, as in past years, is timed to coincide with the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference. The conference, which draws presenters, promoters, talent buyers, educators, and musicians from around the word, runs from Jan. 9-13 in Manhattan. The Jazzfest, designed as a showcase for underexposed (if not necessarily unknown) jazz and experimental musicians, runs from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. on the night of Jan. 10.
Since it began in 2005, the festival has been held at the Knitting Factory in TriBeCa. The Knitting Factory is moving to Brooklyn, but the festival is not following. Rather, it is moving from TriBeCa a few blocks north to Greenwich Village and expanding from one venue to three, all within easy walking distance: Le Poisson Rouge (the site of the old Village Gate, once one of the city’s top jazz rooms), Kenny’s Castaways and Sullivan Hall.
Wayne Shorter, Rubén Blades, and the Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés will be among the performers at the sixth annual Panama Jazz Festival, which begins Jan. 12 and continues through Jan. 17.
The presence of Shorter’s remarkable quartet on the Panama bill is hardly surprising, since the pianist in that group is Danilo Pérez, a native of Panama who founded the festival and whose foundation coordinates its educational activities. Nonetheless, it has to be considered a coup for a festival, and a country, that don’t always get a lot of attention.
The 8th installment of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is scheduled to take place June 11-14. Produced by Superfly Productions in association with A.C. Entertainment, the 4-day event will remain in the same venue in Manchester, TN. Tickets can be purchased for pre-sale from December 4- 31. General admission tickets will be available for 5 payments of $50 or you can buy VIP tickets for $1,349.50 (not including fees). Read more »
Even some of the biggest festivals are getting creative to meet their ticket sales goals, especially with the early-bird and holiday shopping season in full swing.
For the first time, Bonnaroo is offering a payment plan option for ticket purchases. The Bonnaroo box office opens for business December 4. Early bird pricing is in effect for general admission at $210 and VIP for $1350. With the payment plan, buyers may space out their payments over five months.
Seattle's big Labor Day weekend culturefest Bumbershoot offers a deep holiday discount for members of its Bumberfan Club community—just $60 for a three-day pass.
The self-proclaimed "Northeast's premier indoor festival" rolled out the main stage lineup for the 24th Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, set to run February 13-15, 2009, at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham MA. Headed by breakout bluegrass stars Dailey and Vincent, the lineup is packed with blue-chip bluegrass acts, mostly from the genre's mainstream.
Other headline names include Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Steep Canyou Rangers, Claire Lynch Band, Josh Williams, Dry Branch Fire Squad and a new Kruger Brothers Bluegrass Project with featured members Adam Steffey and Bobby Hicks.
That's a lineup that should be appreciated by the tradition-leaning audience of the Boston Bluegrass Union, which has produced the festival since 1984 as a tribute to a pioneering bluegrass performer from the Boston area. Joe Val won the International Bluegrass Music Association award for Event of the Year in 2006. Read more »
The directors of the Boston Early Music Festival invite their audience to the rehearsal of "Venus and Adonis" and "Acteon."
The cancellation of a regional festival franchise in Riviera Beach FL and cutbacks by the City of Chicago at its several festivals suggest that city-managed festivals may be the first festival sector to be impacted by the recession. Of course, every festival producer is operating in a new economic environment, but most long-running events will be staged as usual in 2009. Smart producers are tightening their belts, expecting that attendance will be down, and hoping it's a one-year phenomenon.
Some of the nation's top festivals are city run—in some cases wholy produced by the city's department of cultural affairs (or some such) or produced in partnership with a non-profit festival organization. Cities may produce festivals as an expression of civic pride, to promote tourism and economic activity, or for other reasons. Successful events reach a point of sustainability where the funding necessary is negligible or even cash-flow positive. Read more »
With its box office set to open a week later than usual on December 10, Planet Bluegrass dribbled out a few interesting names for its 2009 lineups over Thanksgiving. The headline is an anniversary for Jerry Douglas—his 25th Telluride Bluegrass Festival—and right in time for a strong season by his new band with Luke Bula and Guthrie Trapp. Also named for the 36th TBF: Emmylou Harris, Railroad Earth and The Steeldrivers.
RockyGrass will once more have Del McCoury on the Lyons stage. Two hot traditional bluegrass bands will appear: Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass and Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper. In August, the 19th Folks Festival will feature Brett Dennen and Dougie MacLean.
More lineup announcements for all three festivals will be released before December 10.
WHISTLER -- The Live Nation Pemberton Music Festival has been given the opening note to allow it to return next summer. The provincial Agricultural Land Commission has agreed to allow the site to be used for a festival for up to nine more years, providing the land is not damaged. "I am thrilled," Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy said yesterday. The question now is whether concert producer Live Nation can pull together the mega-event in just a few months.
