19th Annual Litchfield Jazz Festival

The Litchfield Jazz Festival continues a time honored tradition of showcasing jazz legends and fostering up-and-coming talent that has been in place since our first festival in 1996. The Litchfield Jazz Festival is taking place once again this year on Friday August 8 - Sunday August 10 at the Goshen Fair Grounds, Rte. 63 Goshen Connecticut. Celebrate the kick off of the 19th Anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival at the Goshen Fairgrounds on Friday, August 8th. The party is the event of the season where you'll enjoy fine foods, private reserve French wines courtesy of Vandoren Vineyards, microbrews by the Olde Burnside Brewing Company and music all night long. The Gala begins at 5:45 p.m. and the music starts at 7:45 p.m. with Cécile McLorin Salvant who was the youngest finalist ever in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2010. At 9:15 p.m.  the virtuosic and playful, pianist Cyrus Chestnut's hard swinging, soulful sounds have become a staple in the jazz community. Blending contemporary and traditional jazz with gospel and occasional seasonings of Latin and samba, Chestnut gives himself plenty of freedom to explore different emotions, while keeping his music in recognizable form. On Saturday, August 9 the day begins at 12 noon with Carmen Staaf the winner of the 2009 Mary Lou Williams, t Women in Jazz Pianist Competition. Most recently she was chosen as the pianist in the prestigious Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music for the fall of 2014. She was featured on NPR's JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, with clips of her Kennedy Center performance at the 2010 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival and She was the guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on a Jazz for Young People program about Duke Ellington. At 1:45 Grammy-nominee Claudio Roditi takes the stage and plays both the trumpet and the flugelhorn with power and lyricism. Rodti integrates post-bop elements and Brazilian rhythmic concepts into his palette with ease. At 3:30 Curtis Fuller performs.  Fuller has close to 100 recordings on major labels with Kenny Dorham, Gil Evans, Jimmy Heath, Clifford Jordan, Quincy Jones, Art Blakey (he appears on the iconic Ugetsu), Lee Morgan and others too numerous to list. Fuller will be accompanies by Drummer Joe Farnsworth, Kris Jensen on sax and Rick Germanson on piano. Anthony Strong performs at 6 p.m. and makes his US debt at the festival. He is a product of London's renowned Guildhall School of Music where he paid his way with gigs and sessions with artists like Michael Bolton, Marti Pellow and Beverley Knight. He also spent nine months in the West End as Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet, performing to thousands of theatre-goers, one of them Rod Stewart, who came back the following day and called Strong's performance "(expletive) Amazing!!" BB King called it, "Real great music." Saturday ends with a performance at 7:45 p.m. with Kirk Whalum, well known for his smooth jazz saxophone. With a career that spans decades, he is an 11-time Grammy nominee and the winner of the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song (Its What I Do, featuring Lalah Hathaway) alongside his lifelong friend songwriter, Jerry Peters. On Sunday, August 10 at 12 noon Doug Munro takes to the stage. The LJO features-a who's who of the biggest names in the music industry including: Trumpets -Dave Ballou, Russ Johnson and Nick Roseboro; Trombones - Peter McEachern, Nicole Connelly, Daniel Simms; Saxes - (alto) Kris Allen, (alto) Caroline Davis, (tenor) Don Braden, (tenor) Tom Finn, (bari) Andrew Hadro; Bass - Avery Sharpe; Drums - Robin Baytas; Guitars - Doug Munro, Ken Ross; Violin - Andrei Matorin. At 1:45 p.m. Bassist/composer Mario Pavone takes to the stage. He has 17 recordings as a leader/co-leader, including his acclaimed 2006 release, Deez to Blues, on Playscape Recordings. Among his awards are a NewWorks grant from Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation and a Distinguished Artists Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. In addition to his ongoing activities as a bandleader, Pavone's artwork and photography have graced the covers of dozens of recordings. The Jimmy Greene Quartet performs at 3:45 p.m. The Jimmy Greene Quartet performs regularly in jazz venues, festivals and clubs worldwide. Jimmy appears on over 70 albums as a sideman, and has toured and/or recorded with Horace Silver, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Harry Connick, Jr., Avishai Cohen, Kenny Barron, Lewis Nash, Steve Turre, the New Jazz Composers Octet and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, among many others. As a member of Harrell's quintet, Greene was featured on CBS's news magazine, 60 Minutes. As a member of Harry Connick Jr.'s Big Band, he is a featured soloist on two DVD releases, Harry for the Holidays, and Only You, and NBC He was holiday special and the Today Show. At 5:30 p.m.  Mike Stern band featuring Janek Gwizdala on bass, Bob Franceschini on sax, and Lionel Cordew on drums takes to the stage.  Stern has been in the jazz business three decades and he has played with everybody anybody in jazz would have loved to have played with. He is a multi-Grammy nominated guitarist and was named one of the 75 best guitarists of all time by DownBeat Magazine in its 75th anniversary issue. The festival ends with a performance by Jane Bunnett and Maqueque at 7:15 p.m. Soprano saxophonist/flutist/bandleader Jane Bunnett has built her career at the crossroads of Cuban music and jazz. A two-time Grammy nominee and multiple Juno Award winner, and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Queen's University, Bunnett has turned her bands into showcases for the finest talent from Canada, the U.S., and, particularly, Cuba. She is responsible for introducing, over two decades, Cuban musicians who are now almost household words for American Jazz audiences-- Dafnis Prieto, Pedrito Martínez, David Virelles, Hilario Duran, among others. To reserve your tickets visit http://litchfieldjazzfest.com/festival. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com Photo: Steven Sussman

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Litchfield Jazz Festival in Litchfield Hills Aug. 9-11 2013

Litchfield Jazz Festival marks its 18^h season August 9 – 11, 2013 at the Goshen Fairgrounds and is strategically timed so die –hard jazz lovers can attend both the Litchfield and Newport Festivals.  The Festival has tent and lawn seating and adjacent, free parking.

The Litchfield Jazz Festival opens Friday evening, August 9, with a Gala for “Friends” ($150) and “Best Friends” ($350 for the Gala and VIP all weekend).  Music at this gala event is provided by some of the most outstanding students of Litchfield Jazz Camp. Tickets to this gala help support the Jazz Camp’s scholarship program. The Gala will be followed by two sets on the Mainstage.  The first at 7:45 is the Emmet Cohen Trio and includes a pianist, who recently took 3^rd place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Piano competition. The second set includes the multi-Tony Award Winner Christine Ebersole, who teams up with virtuoso jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein and his Trio.  The Festival grounds open 5:00 PM and all festivities and music wrap up at 10:15.  

Ebersole and Weinstein

On Saturday, August 10 at Noon (grounds open at 11 a.m.) the remarkable Flamenco guitarist Val Ramos and his ensemble brings his Rhumba Flamenco - the Spanish jazz-equivalent-- to the Fest for the first time. Next up at 1:45 p.m., the Fest presents its first foray into Gospel with the iconic bassist Avery Sharpe presenting Gospel Explosion & Sacred Songs, a program featuring Sharpe’s Trio with Yoron Israel on drums and Onaje Allen Gumbs, piano, and members of his Extended Family Choir and the Williams College Gospel Choir which Sharpe directs.

The Gospel set will be followed by Gary Smulyan’s Baritone Summit, a six-time Grammy winner and Festival Artist-in-Residence joins forces with Claire Daly, Lauren Sevian and Andrew Hadro for a smashing Bari Quartet backed by a rhythm section with Helen Sung on piano, Matt Wilson on drums, and Jon Michel on bass. The next set stars college linebacker-turned Grammy-nominated vocalist, Gregory Porter who took the festival world by storm last season with his acclaimed performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival. The day ends on an upbeat with the 9-time Grammy Winner and newest NEA Jazz Master, the great Latin bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri and his Latin Jazz Band. Palmieri has been a giant on the jazz scene for more than 50 years, and his vigor is undiminished.

On Sunday, August 11, the Fest opens at Noon, with the exciting Orrin Evans Trio. Next up is, vocalist June Bisantz discovered early last year by the Festival’s Founder and Artistic Director, Vita Muir at Hartford’s hippest series, Music @ Japanalia.  June makes her Litchfield debut with Music Director Alex Nachimofsky on piano, Norman Johnson on guitar, Gabor Viragh on trumpet and Matt Dwonszyk on bass in a tribute to the late, great trumpeter/vocalist, Chet Baker.

It has been five years since Litchfield Jazz Camp Music Director, saxophonist Don Braden, has graced the Festival Mainstage as a leader.  So this year, he’s back again with an all-star band. His quartet features special guest Geri Allen on piano, Avery Sharpe on bass, and Alvin Atkinson. 

Eddie Palmieri

At 5:30 just back from a European tour, the Vincent Herring-Eric Alexander Quintet will delight the audience with a set titled “In the Spirit of Coltrane and Cannonball.” The band features Harold Mabern on piano, Joris Dudli on drums and Joris Teepe on bass.

In what seems to be becoming a tradition, Litchfield Jazz Festival 2013 closes with a rousing Latin Dance Party with the great Puerto Rican trombonist and Grammy nominated recording artist Papo Vázquez and the Mighty Pirate Troubadours.

In between Mainstage acts all weekend long, ticketholders can listen to talented Litchfield Jazz Camp students, enjoy and purchase art, craft and photography at an excellent show curated by Heron Gallery’s Ellen Corsell of Kent, CT.  Picnics are welcome and fine wines and excellent lagers from East Hartford’s Olde Burnside Brewing Company may be purchased.  A dozen food vendors provide excellent meals at reasonable prices. Activities designed for families with young children are scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday in the festival’s new Kids Zone. Artist-in- Residence Gary Smulyan will host interviews on both weekend days with Festival stars. On Saturday, August 10^th, an after Party & Jam follows at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Southbury.

Visit www.litchfieldjazzfest.com or call 860-361-6285 for tickets and info. Tickets: Advance: $30 Lawn, $55 Tent, $150 - $500 premium tickets and passes; Multi-Day Discounted JazzPasses available. Handling fees apply. Children 12 and under free on the Lawn with an adult.

For accommodations and lodging information www.litchfieldhills.com.