The Lethbridge Jazz festival announced their lineup up this week.
The eighth annual Lethbridge Jazz and blues festival is June 8-16 all over the City, but the major events are centred around the the Enmax Centre.
The festival begins at the Gate , June 8 with the always popular Young Lions concert featuring plenty of talented young musicians performing beginning at 12:45 p.m.
Jazz at the park in Galt Gardens, June 9 features an all local lineup beginning at noon With Papa King and the Boogiemen followed by Paul Kype and Texas Flood, ,Hippodrome, new band the Metrik Jazz Tentet and the Lethbridge Big B and at 4 p.m.
The festival welcomes several new venues including the Stoketown Cafe which hosts a blues brunch on June 10 at noon, with a performer to be announced.
The Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens brings back New York based, Hiroshima born guitarist Nobuki Takamen, who was a highlight of last year’s festival. this time he brings a band Tickets, available through www.lethbridgejazz.com are $35.
Jazz jams have always been a staple of the festival and jazz music in general. The Owl Acoustic lounge hosts the jazz jam again this year, June 12 at 7:30p.m.
The Sweet Inspiration Gospel Concert is another popular draw.
Marcus Mosely hosts this year’s concert at Southminster United Church, Wednesday, June 13. Admission is $10.
Johnny Summers and the Calgary Jazz Orchestra return to the festival this year to play the Canadian Western bank lounge, upstairs at the Enmax Centre, where several big shows will be happening due to losing the use of the Yates/ Sterndale Theatre due to renovations. They play everything from Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Bublé to Frank Sinatra. They will also be performing a tribute to Tommy Banks, who passed away last year, with Mallory Chipman, Banks’s grand-daughter and popular jazz musician in her own right.
“The Calgary Jazz Orchestra asked her to perform the Tommy Banks tribute with them,” he said, adding she performs her own show with her quartet, June 15 in the same place
Tickets for each show are $35.
Eccles is excited to present the Metrik Tentet.
“ We’re a new band. We wanted to bring together some of Lethbridge’s best jazz musicians. And we wanted to do something a little different than the Lethbridge Big band is doing. We play things like Miles Davis Birth of the Cool — Something that challenges us,” he said.
Due to the challenge of coordinating the 10 band members’ schedules, they don’t perform live very often. They play a Saturday afternoon at the Owl Acoustic Lounge about once a month including this week, April 21 at 3 p.m.
Food Truck Frenzy returns to the Enmax Centre parking lot, at 11:30 a.m., June 15. Local musicians HBO3 and the Steve Keenan band will provide the soundtrack for the afternoon. Calling all Superheroes and Princesses is art 3 p.m. during the Frenzy. Children of all ages are encouraged to come dressed as their favourite superhero or princess.
The Slice hosts a big blues night for the festival as award winning bluesman AC Reed performa t 9:30p.m. , June 15. Tickets are $20. On Saturday the owl Acoustic lounge hosts the Allison Au Quartet at 3 p.m.. Tickets for that show are $20.
The big event is at the Enmax Centre, June 16 as veteran Juno award winning jazz musician Holly Cole takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $51.50 for that concert.
” We were looking for someone big and someone who hasn’t played here before. Holly was at the top of the list. She’s be performing for 25 or 30 years. She’s terrific,” said Festival president Don Robb.
Tickets for that show are at available at the Enmax Centre. All other tickets are available online at http://lethbridgejazz.com/.
