The Festival Roundup September 2019

This is out of date! For this month’s Festival Roundup look in the current issue or find “Events” in the menu.

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23rd ANNUAL PENTASTIC HOT JAZZ FESTIVAL (Penticton, BC) – Sept. 6-8

Situated between two lakes in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Pentastic Hot Jazz is celebrating its 23rd year. This year, Pentastic presents its hottest three day lineup ever, with 10 bands and one Guest Artist. Bands include The Black Market Trust, Dave Bennett & The Memphis Speed Kings, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Bob Draga With Friends, Dave Bennett Quartet, Cocuzzi Coots Courtet, Cornet Chop Suey, Black Swan Classic Jazz Band, Gator Nation, Gino & The Lone Gunmen, and guest artist Lance Buller.

There are five venues to choose from and a free shuttle service is provided for travel between venues. Venues include: the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, the Days Inn Conference Centre, the historic stern wheeler S.S. Sicamous, and the Elks Hall. All but the Sicamous are dance venues and except for the Elks Club are Handicapped Accessible.

A free Gospel Service will take place on Sunday morning featuring the incomparable Marilyn Keller with the Black Swan Band. Parasol Parades are known to break out in the French Quarter and are encouraged.

Ticket prices (in Canadian Funds) are: three day All Event Badges $115, Friday only $65, Saturday only $80, Sunday only $60, and Youth passes $10/Day.

For further information, visit Pentastic online at www.pentasticjazz.com, or call toll-free (866) 599 3494. Purchase tickets online at www.valleyfirsttix.com.

RAGFEST (Brea, CA) Sept. 7

RagFest 2019 is Orange County’s 19th annual festival of ragtime music. RagFest returns to the Curtis Theatre at 1 Civic Center Circle in Brea, California, on Saturday, September 7, 2019. The festival starts at noon and runs through 6 pm and features a ragtime revue show at 8 pm.

Musicians and performers at RagFest include Andrew Barrett, Michael Chisholm, Evans & Rogers, Doug Haise, Johnny Hodges, Vincent Johnson, Brad Kay, Eric Marchese, Paul Orsi, The Out of Tuners, Bob Pinsker, John Reed-Torres, and Ryan Wishner.

Tickets are $15 per person for the afternoon segment, $20 per person for the evening show, and $30 per person for the entire festival (both segments if purchased simultaneously). Tickets are on sale now, and may be purchased online 24 hours a day by going to curtistheatre.com. You may also purchase tickets by phone during box office hours by calling 714-990-7722, or by mail by writing to the Curtis Theatre box office, 1 Civic Center Circle, Brea CA 92821. (Please make checks payable to City of Brea.) For assistance with seating, group sales and other matters, call Audience Services, 714-990-7727. For more information, visit RagFest online at www.ragfest.com.

GRUGELFEST (Toledo, OH) – Sept. 20-22

Grugelfest 2019 will be held Friday through Sunday, September 20-22, at its new home: the Radisson Hotel at The University of Toledo, 3100 Glendale Ave in Toledo.

There is a lineup of excellent bands set to appear: Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers, Roy Rubenstein’s Chicago Hot Six, Toronto’s Climax Jazz Band, The Yerba Buena Stompers with Duke Heitger, and Toledo’s Cakewalkin’ Jass Band.

The festival’s website (www.grugelfest.com) will be updated soon. For festival and ticket information, please write ragtimerick@hotmail.com.

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA RAGTIME AND AMERICAN MUSIC FESTIVAL (Orbisonia/Rockhill Furnace, PA) Sept. 20-22

The eleventh annual Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival will take place in the tiny “twin boroughs” of Orbisonia and Rockhill Furnace. Festival organizer David Brightbill, proprietor of the Iron Rail Bed & Breakfast, heads a delightfully intimate ragtime gathering each year, attracting longtime fans as well as newcomers for concerts, musicales, lectures, and open houses.

Performers scheduled to appear this year include Frederick Hodges, Brian Holland, Danny Coots, Adam Swanson, Bryan Wright, and others to be announced soon.

Tickets prices are for an all-festival pass, $150; Saturday pass, $100; Concerts on Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon, $30 each; Saturday evening dinner, concert, and trolley ride, $60; Ragtime After Hours, $10; Sunday picnic and concert, $40; No tickets are needed for the Sunday morning service at St. Luke’s. To order tickets, email David Brightbill at trolley@innernet.net, call him at (814) 447-3984, or write to him at PO Box 272, Orbisonia, Pa. 17243. For more information, visit www.rockhillragtime.org.

CAPE COD RAGTIME FESTIVAL (Orleans, MA) Sept. 28-29

Pianist Sue Keller hosts the sixth annual Cape Cod Ragtime Festival on Saturday and Sunday September 28 and 29 at the Orleans Historical Society, 3 River Road (corner of Main St.), Orleans, Massachusetts. “Blowing off the Dust” columnist Larry Melton wrote about Sue Keller for the December 2018 issue of TST: “Sue has been playing ragtime piano around the world since 1974. I knew of her talents when she was the Artistic Director of Sedalia’s Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival for seven years. She also was a director and judge of the World Old Time Piano Championship in Peoria, Illinois, for 14 years. With her vast experience in ragtime and interest in the early composers, she founded The Ragtime Press in 1990 to publish folios bringing public attention to compositions such as the work of ‘Ragtime’ Bob Darch and Joseph Lamb.”

Scheduled (so far) to perform at the fest are Sue Keller, Neil Blaze, Thom Dutton, Frank LiVolsi, Dick Moulding, and Ross Petot.

For tickets and more information, call: (508) 255-2979 or write: Sue Keller, Ragtime Press, PO Box 913, Orleans, MA 02653; email ragtime@rtpress.com.

COLORADO SPRINGS JAZZ PARTY (Colorado Springs, CO) – Oct.11-13

Situated at the foot of Pikes Peak, Friends of Colorado Springs hosts the 7th Colorado Springs Jazz Party on October 11, 12, and 13 at the Antlers Hotel, 4 S. Cascade Ave, Colorado Springs, CO. This year’s lineup includes: Adrian Cunningham, Saxophone; Dennis Litchman, Clarinet and Mandolin; Nicki Parrott, Bass and Vocal; Houston Person, Saxophone; Chuck Redd, Drums and Vibes; Dalton Ridenhour, Piano; Ben Polcer, Trumpet; Alfonso Horne, Trumpet; Richard Moten, Bass; Alex Raderman, Drums; Danny Coots, Drums; Rosanno Sportiello, Piano; Nate Najar, Guitar; Doin Tucker, Trombone. Call 719-471-3124 for reservations. Mail check to P.O. Box 2257, Colorado Springs, CO 80901.

SUN VALLEY JAZZ & MUSIC FESTIVAL (Sun Valley, ID) – Oct. 16-20

The 30th anniversary edition of Idaho’s Sun Valley Jazz and Music Festival covers five days and offers forty excellent bands (with over 200 shows to choose from), and will be headquartered at the Sun Valley Inn at the Sun Valley Resort. Performance venues include the Limelight Room, the Continental Room, the River Run Lodge, the Opera House, the Duchin Room, Dollar Mountain Lodge,

The Village Gate (new this year), and Satchmo’s, with free concerts daily at Giacobbi Square in Ketchum, Idaho. Music starts on Wednesday at 12:30 pm, and the last set ends on Sunday at 3:30 pm, with an Afterglow Dinner Sunday 7:15-10 pm (extra ticket required).

Performers at the festival include Banu Gibson, The Black Market Trust, Blue Street Jazz Band, Bob Draga with Friends, Carolyn Martin Swing Band, Carl Sonny Leyland Trio, Clint Baker’s Hot 5, Cocuzzi Quartet, Cornet Chop Suey, Gator Nation, High Street Party Band, Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet, Hot Jazz Collective (with Jeff Barnhart, Terry Myers, Bobby Durham, Eddie Metz, Katie Cavera, Russ Phillips, and Davy Jones), Midiri Brothers Septet, Pearl Django, Professor Cunningham & His Old School (introducing Shaymus Hanlin), Side Street Strutters with Meloney Collins, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, US Coast Guard Dixie Band, The Young Bucs, and Yve Evans.

Also performing are Gary Ryan, Bruce Innes Trio, Blue Renditions, Barnhart-Midiri, Boise Straight Ahead, Ivory & Gold®, Kings of Swing, Sherri Colby’s Racket Makers, We Three, and NNU Jazz Revival.

Special sets include: Banjomaniacs, three All Star Big Bands, Clarinet Clambake, Dance Competition, Dueling Pianos, Free Dance Lessons, Gospel Services, Ladies Sing, Marching Band Salute, Pianorama, and Silent Movies w/ Jeff Barnhart.

On Sunday, October 20th at 7:30 pm, the Afterglow Dinner will start with dinner and music with Yve Evans, and will be followed by dancing with the All Star Big Band.

Early Bird Special: 5-Day General Admission Pass is $165 through July 31, and $185 thereafter. Afterglow is $65, including dinner. Tickets available by telephone or at website; (877) 478-5277; sunvalleyjazz.com. Write for brochure (with full ticket pricing information) at Sun Valley Jazz, PO Box 2745, Sun Valley, ID.

ROSWELL JAZZ FESTIVAL (Roswell, NM) – Oct. 16-20

Founded in 2006, the Roswell Jazz Festival is set to celebrate its 14th year as New Mexico’s premier jazz event. The five selected venues in Roswell are the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaves County Courthouse, First United Methodist Church, Roswell Civic Center, and Stellar Coffee Co. The festival is funded in part by the City of Roswell lodgers tax.

Roswell’s 2019 Guest of Honor is bassist Richard Simon. Other invited musicians include Harry Allen, John Allred, Dan Barrett, Pepe Carmona, Rich Chorné, Dr. Roger Dickerson, Scott Edmunds, Christine Fawson, Michael Francis, Charles Gordon, David Jellema, Rebecca Kilgore, Glenn Kostur, Juan Lechuga, Kathy Lyon, Ricky Malichi, Ceci Noel, Ken Peplowski, Houston Person, Chuck Redd, Ted Rosenthal, Barron Ryan, Randy Sandke, Jim Shearer, Hillary Smith, Erik Unsworth, Allan Vaché, Johnny Varro, Tom Wakeling, and Curt Warren.

The Baymont Inn & Suites is the official hotel of the 2019 RJF. Call 575-208-0536 and ask for the jazz festival rate. Ticket prices will be announced soon; for more information visit roswelljazz.org, email jazzroswell@gmail.com, or telephone 505-359-4876.

JUBILEE BY THE SEA (Pismo Beach/Arroyo Grande) – Oct. 24-27

Jazz Jubilee (by the Sea) is celebrating its 43rd year—and the event has grown to include the neighboring city of Arroyo Grande. The Pismo Jubilee is always the last full weekend in October.

Invited bands and performers include: Tuba Skinny, Larry, Dawn, & Friends, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Cornet Chop Suey, Midiri Brothers Sextet, Gator Nation, Professor Cunningham and His Old School, Shake Em’ Up Jazz Band, Ivory&Gold®, Blue Street, Paul Ingle’s Australian Jazz Connection, Sue Palmer’s Motel Swing Band, Creole Syncopators, Jeff Barnhart, Bob Draga, Danny Coots, Carl Sonny Leyland, Steven Saavedra, Bob Schulz, Pat Yankee, Larry Scala, and the Night Blooming Jazzmen.

Thursday night’s special will feature We 3 + 1 at the Veterans’ Memorial Hall, with Bob Draga, Danny Coots, Jeff Barnhart, and Larry Scala jamming as only they can while making jokes and bantering. Tickets for this extra show to kick off the Jubilee cost $25.00.

Early Bird 3-Day badges (before Aug. 19) are $115; pre-festival $120; at the door $130. Single event tickets available. Badge sales: PO Box 356, Pismo Beach, CA 93448. For badges and more information, please visit pismojazz.com. Information: pismojazz@pismojazz.com.

ARIZONA CLASSIC JAZZ FESTIVAL (Chandler, AZ) – Oct. 31-Nov. 3

This 30th annual event will take place at its home for the last 16 years, the Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort in beautiful Downtown Chandler, AZ. The Crowne Plaza is a co-sponsor of the Festival and a focal point of the vintage Downtown allure with plentiful restaurants and boutique shops only a few steps away. Among the many highlights of this Festival are the special educational sets presented by the bands. In conjunction with the Festival, the Phoenix Lindy Exchange hosts hundreds of dancers who Lindy Hop into the wee hours on Friday and Saturday. They love the “hot” live jazz played by the Festival bands.

The 2019 Festival begins on Thursday, October 31, at 5:30 pm and ends at 5:00 pm on Sunday, November 3, after a Grand Finale program by Stephanie Trick, Paolo Alderighi, and Nicole Pesce. The Festival will be followed by an Afterglow starting at 6 pm in the San Tan Room at the hotel; tickets for dinner and music must be purchased in advance at a cost of $30 per person.

Howard Alden will play both guitar and banjo with a few of the groups. The bands will be: “Big” B.A.D. Rhythm, Black Market Trust, Cheryl’s Vintage Swing, Dan Reed’s Dixieland Hotshots, Dave Bennett Quartet, Cheryl Thurston’s Jammers, Queen City Jazz Band, St. Louis Rivermen, Sentimental Breeze, Slide & Strings, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi, Sun City Stomperz, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Wildcat Jazz Band, Wolverine Jazz Band, and We 3 + 1.

All Event badge price is only $110 if purchased before August 15th, $130 thereafter. Co-sponsorship is $500 minimum per person after cost of badge. The mailing address for ACJF is 10918 E. Michigan Ave., Sun Lakes, AZ 85248; phone (480) 620-3941; email her12@msn.com; website azclassicjazz.org. Day badges will be available at the door only: Thursday $25, Friday $50, Saturday $60, Sunday $45. Send checks or credit card orders to ACJF, 10918 E. Michigan Ave., Sun Lakes, AZ 85248.

MIKE DURHAM’S INTERNATIONAL CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (Whitley Bay, UK) – Nov. 1-3

The Party was first founded in 1990 by Mike Durham in Whitley Bay, near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, and has grown bigger and better with each successive year.

The jazz party will run from mid-day on Friday until late on Sunday evening at the four-star Village Hotel & Leisure Centre, Silverlink North, Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside, some 70 miles south of Scotland in northeast Great Britain. The festival takes place in a luxurious setting with assigned seating of eight to a table, and tables are rotated twice daily. The program explores jazz from its first 40 years, with special jam sessions in the Victory Pub in the wee small hours.

This year’s musicians include trumpeters/cornetists Enrico Tomasso, Andy Schumm, Malo Mazurie, Mike Davis, Torstein Kubban, Duke Heitger; reed players Claus Jacobi, David Horniblow, Stephane Gillot, Michael McQuaid, Matthias Seuffert, Richard Exall, Lars Frank; trombonists Alistair Allen, Graham Hughes, Dave Bock; pianists David Boeddinghaus, Morten Gunnar Larsen, Martin Litton, Andrew Oliver; banjoists/guitarists Thomas “Spats” Langham, Martin Wheatley, Jacob Ullberger, Henry Lemaire, Felix Hunot; percussionists Nick Ball, Nick Ward, Josh Duffee, Richard Pite; bassists/tubists Henri Lemaire, Malcolm Sked, Phil Rutherford, Richard Pite; violinist Emma Fisk; and vocalists Joan Viskant and Spats Langham.

Reservations for accommodations at the Village Hotel may be booked by calling (from the US) 011 44 191 338 5245 (Option 3) and quote Promotion Code JAZZ. (Book online through www.villageurbanresorts .com using same promo code.) Places for the 2018 Party will cost £160 per person for the weekend, and may be paid for through PayPal via the Jazz Party website. (Exchange rates as of August 17: $1.22 US = £1 UK.) All bookings are 100% refundable in case of cancellation due to serious illness, bereavement, or other unavoidable cause.

For tickets and other information, please visit whitleybayjazzfest.com; wbjazzfest@btinternet.com.

SUNCOAST JAZZ FESTIVAL (Clearwater Beach, FL) – Nov. 22-24

The 29th edition of the Suncoast Jazz Festival takes place in five indoor venues at two adjacent resort hotels, the Sheraton Sand Key and the Marriott Suites, in Clearwater Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. New to Suncoast this year are Jason Marsalis & His 21st Century Trad Jazz Band, Wycliffe Gordon, Harry Allen, Ehud Asherie, and Molly Ryan. Returning bands include Adrian Cunningham & His Old School, Dave Bennett Quartet, Cornet Chop Suey, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Queen City Jazz Band with Wende Harston, The Sierra Seven, Tom Hook and the Terrier Brothers, Wally’s Warehouse Waifs, La Lucha. Featured guest performers are Nate Najar, Tommy Cecil, James Suggs, John Lamb, Heather Thorn, Bob Price, Dan Howard, Herb Roselle, Betty Comora, Mike Evans, and Pepper.

Sponsor packages $375+; Benefactors $250; 3 Day Weekend $155; Daily $50-60; Friday Swing Dance after 6 pm, $30.

For tickets and information, visit us online at suncoastjazzfestival.com; or write: PO Box 395, Largo, FL 33779; (727) 248-9441.

WEST COAST RAGTIME FESTIVAL (Rancho Cordoba, CA) Nov. 22-24

The West Coast Ragtime Festival will be staged for the sixth year running at the Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova, 211 Point East Drive, about 15 miles east of Sacramento, just off Hwy 50 at the Sunrise Blvd exit. Six venues at the 33rd annual WCRF present live music nearly nonstop through the festival’s three days. (Note that the Marriott will be undergoing renovations during this year’s festival which means we had to move some venue locations. Some venues will be on the 10th floor, easily accessible by elevator. Another will be at the Doubletree across the street.)

Performers scheduled to date include Adam Swanson, Brian Holland, Carl Sonny Leyland, David Thomas Roberts, Donald Ryan, Frederick Hodges, Ivory & Gold®, Jeff Barnhart, Martin Jaeger, Martin Spitznagel, Marty Eggers, Matt Tolentino, Richard Dowling, Sean Sharp, Squeek Steele, and Virginia Tichenor, with many more to be added shortly.

All-events badges cost $105, and $115 after Nov. 1; Fri-Sat badges $95; Sat-Sun $85; Fri $50, Sat $60; Sun $40 through Oct. 31. As always, children 16 and under may attend FREE (no badge required) when accompanied by a paying adult. (916) 457-3324; westcoastragtime.com.

40th ANNUAL SAN DIEGO JAZZ FEST (San Diego, CA) – Nov. 27-Dec. 1

Headquarters: Town & Country Hotel and Convention Center. Invited Guest Artists: John Royen, Katie Cavera, Carl Sonny Leyland. Invited Bands & Groups: On the Levee Jazz Band, Holland – Coots Jazz Quintet, After Midnight Jazz Band, Chicago Cellar Boys, Dave Bennett Quartet, Grand Dominion Jazz Band, Gino and the Lone Gunmen, Yerba Buena Stompers, Big Butter Jazz Band, Night Blooming Jazzmen, Mad Hat Hucksters, Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Orchestra, Titanic Jazz Band, Heliotrope Ragtime Orchestra, High Society Jazz Band and more to be announced. For badge sales, sponsor details and lodging, please visit sdjazzfest.org or call (619) 297-5277. AFCDJS, P.O. Box 880387, San Diego, CA 92168-0387.

NORTH CAROLINA JAZZ FESTIVAL (Wilmington, NC) – Jan. 23-25

One of the oldest Traditional Jazz Festivals in the country, the North Carolina Jazz Festival, will celebrate its 40th anniversary Jan. 23, 24, & 25, 2020. This 3 day event, held in the ballroom of the Hotel Ballast (formerly Wilmington Hilton Riverside), features internationally known jazz musicians from across the United States, Australia, and Italy.

Thursday is Special Event Night featuring different styles of jazz. Opening the event will be Wilmington’s Jon Hill Ensemble. The second set will showcase song stylist Veronica Swift accompanied by the Emmet Cohen Trio. Veronica, acknowledged as one of today’s rising young stars, is often a headliner at New York’s Birdland and Lincoln Center. Her repertoire is built on the Great American Songbook, plus bebop and vocalese classics. The Thursday Evening All-stars, led by Adrian Cunningham, will close out the evening with a bit of Traditional Jazz.

On Friday and Saturday nights we will have thirteen jazz all-stars playing seven sets of traditional and classic jazz each night, with a different leader on each set. Invited musicians include Champian Fulton, Chris Gelb, Ben Polcer, Houston Person, Chuck Redd, Rossano Sportiello, and Nicki Parrott. All concerts begin at 7:30 pm, Thursday is a three hour concert, while Friday & Saturday concerts go until midnight.

Ticket are $40 for Thursday, and $60 for Friday & Saturday. Each night $25 military, $15 students. Patron tickets are $200, and include Fri. & Sat. evening concerts plus the special patron brunch at 10:30 Sat. morning, where the all-star musicians will play and socialize with patrons, then patron/musicians will be invited to “sit in” with the all-stars. Patrons receive preferred, reserved seating plus their names in the program. The $225 patron tickets include all of the above plus tickets to Thursday evening’s Special Event. Tickets may be purchased from the festival website, E-Tix, or at the AudioLab at 5732 Oleander Dr., Wilmington.

For more information visit www.ncjazzfestival.org, e-mail ncjazzfest@yahoo.com, or call 910-793-1111.