If you believe in the tried-and-true, be aware that there are eight festivals and one jazz party coming up in the next two-and-a-half months that take the prize for longevity and quality jazz. The “beat” starts north of the border in Canada with the 22nd Pentastic Hot Jazz Festival in Penticton, British Columbia (Sept. 7-9).
Ten years before the Pentastic Fest came into being, a group of Northeast Ohio jazz fans formed a club called EARLYJAS (the Earlville Association of Ragtime Lovers for Jazz Advancement and Socialization) that put on a Dixieland festival for the next 25 years. The group reorganized in 2012 as the Grugelfest, named in honor of Ralph Grugel, a former EARLYJAS member and bandleader. This year’s party is appropriately at the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg, Ohio, Sept. 7-9.
