Jazz and blues fans won’t have to wait much longer until the start of the seventeenth Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival – JazzFest. The festival is free as always and will be held July 18-19 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, SD. There will be a $10 parking fee to park inside Yankton Trail Park. Shuttle buses will run from O’Gorman, Roosevelt, and Lincoln High Schools for $3 round-trip and Spoke-N-Sport will be providing a free bike valet at JazzFest so you can take the bike trail.
The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival is organized by the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
JazzFest Main Stage Performers At-a-Glance
Friday, July 18
Joyce Cooling – 6:00pm
Joyce Cooling’s penchant for eclectic music crystallized when she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980s and began dabbling in keyboards and percussion. She taught herself to play guitar by ear, and developed a personal style of finger picking that gives her playing its unique sound and feel. Her latest album, Revolving Door is different in that it tells a story first, and then lets the music follow.
http://www.joycecooling.com/Tab Benoit – 7:30pm
With all of the makings of an American music icon, Tab Benoit has become one of the premier roots stylists of the century. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Benoit barely remembers how he learned to play the guitar. “I had a book that showed you how to play chords, after I learned the first three; I got rid of the book.” Benoit says. Since that time, the music has seemed to come naturally to him.
http://www.tabbenoit.com/Taj Mahal – 9:30pm HEADLINING FRIDAY
Taj has been playing his own distinctive brand of music – he has been described as Afro-Caribbean blues, folk-world-blues, hula blues, folk-funk, and a host of other hyphenations – for more than 40 years. Caribbean, Hawaiian, African, Latin, and Cuban
sounds and rhythms mix with folk, jazz, zydeco, gospel, rock, pop, soul, and R&B, all layers on top of a solid country blues foundation. A self-taught musician, Taj plays more than 20 instruments including the National Steel and Dobro guitars. His remarkable voice ranges from gruff and gravelly to smooth and sultry.
http://www.tajblues.com/Saturday, July 19
Blues Bashers – 12Noon
A force as powerful as a Midwest tornado is gathering steam and rolling out of America’s forgotten state and into your eardrums – The Blues Bashers. The band features a man who’s forgotten more musical adventures than most of us will ever have: Bobby Berge. Wanting to add some new blood to the mix, Bobby hooked up with Jesse Christen. On harmonica and vocals is Derek Snow. Rounding out the group on bass is Brian Masek, who’s been playing in the Midwest for over a decade.
Slim Man – 1:30pm
Slim Man’s first gig? He was in fifth grade, and he played guitar and sang a few Beatles songs for the sixth grade graduation. While in middle school he took up bass, and Slim Man’s band ‘Momma’s Max’ opened up for Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Raspberries, and others. Slim Man went back into the studio in the early 90s, re-sang the songs he’d written for Brian Jack, added a few new songs, and End of the Rainbow, the very first Slim Man CD, was born. The CD yielded a Top Ten Hit, “Faith In Us”, and the CD went on to be included in over a dozen Top Ten lists for the year (1995).
http://www.slimman.com/Jonah Smith – 3:00pm
Smith’s a throwback, for sure, and there’s something very familiar about his music, but it doesn’t really sound like anything you’ve heard before. It does, however, sound very of the moment. His voice soulful and magnetic and his songs awash in the warm, distinctive tones of his Fender Rhodes, Smith writes songs that sound brand new. Tastefully rootsy and endlessly soulful, Smith’s self-titled national debut- the premier release from Relix Records – ranges from vintage, pedal steel-laced Americana to classic, Rhodes-drenched, blue-eyed soul.
http://www.jonahsmith.com/Simone – 5:00pm
Simone was born Lisa Celeste Stroud in Westchester, NY. She is the daughter of musical legend and freedom fighter Nina Simone. She was raised across three countries and in turn experienced a life full of music, foreign language, culture and constant movement. Simone’s career has consisted of touring in musical productions, jazz, bands, as a vocalist, in Broadway performances, and with international touring artists. When Nina Simone passed away, her entire estate was left to her daughter, leaving Simone a large collection of charts for composition she had used for recording and performing over the years. These charts became the basis for Simone’s newest record, Simone on Simone.
http://www.simonesworld.com/Robben Ford – 6:30pm
Robben Ford is one of the premiere electric guitarists today, particularly known for his blues playing as well as his ability to be comfortable in a variety of musical contexts. A four-time Grammy nominee, he has played with artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Witherspoon, Miles Davis, George Harrison, Phil Lesh, Bonnie Raitt, Claus Ogerman, Michael McDonald, and many, many others.
http://www.robbenford.com/Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk – 8:30pm
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk is a group of musicologists that transcend age and styles in a free-flowing approach to their art. Dumpstaphunk weaves a vocal and musical tapestry from key members of Dave Matthews & Friends, Trey Anastaio, Jewel and the Neville musical families. The band’s music incorporates drops of Sly and the Family Stone and Meter-esque jams as well as other diverse influences into a spicy musical gumbo. Dumpstaphunk’s brand of New Orleans deep fried funk has them heralded as the most hypnotic and riveting band to come out of New Orleans in many decades.
http://www.dumpstaphunk.com/Jonny Lang – 10:00pm HEADLINING SATURDAY
The Grammy winning, former prodigy instrumentalist, who topped the Billboard New Artist chart with his first album at age 15, stands now as a mature creative force, made more sensitive yet also toughened by life’s adventures. He’s learned what it means to rise above hard times and to find meaning where chaos seemed to rule. A professional musician since age 12, Lang rocketed from his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, to international renown in his mid teens.
http://www.jonnylang.com/Second Stage Features Local/Regional Talent
Friday July 18
6:00pm Bluetanes
8:00pm Soulcrate Music
Saturday, July 19
12noon M80
1:30pm Jazz Portraits
3:00pm Victoria Pennock Band
4:30pm Dakota Jazz Collective
6:00pm Snakebeard Jackson
7:30pm Truth & Adapt
8:45pm Solution
ARTISTS AND TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Sanford Children’s JazzQuest – Just for Kids!
Friday, July 18
5-9pm: Inflatable games open
Saturday, July 19
1-9pm: Inflatable games open
2-7pm: Artist-in-Residence Kelly Quamen
2-3pm: Instrument Petting Zoo
3pm: Story Lady
4pm: Little Bird Band
5pm: Larry Hoover’s Karate For Kids Exhibition
5:30pm: Mr. Fun and Funtime Funktions Performance
6pm: Mr. Twister Magic Show
6:30-7:30pm: Mr. Twister balloon twisting
7:30pm: Mystik Toyz children’s parade
JazzFest Poetry Tent 2008
Saturday, July 19
2pm: Open Reading
4pm: Featured Readings from SD Poet David Allan Evans, Dee Nelson, Cory Heidelberger, David Evans, Jr., and Norma Wilson
6pm: Poetry Slam Competition
And More...
JazzFest features music, kid’s activities, poetry and much, much more!
The festival will feature over twenty food vendors, nearly thirty arts, crafts and informational booths, beer gardens, a cigar booth, a misting tent, and fireworks!
Midcontinent Communications is going to be on hand to make JazzFest a “HotSpot” by providing free wireless internet access on festival grounds. The Midcontinent Big Screen will provide festival goers with a bird’s eye view of what’s taking place on the main stage.
The festival remains free to the public with the support of 60 sponsors and over 800 volunteers.
We would like to send a sincere thank you to these JazzFest 2008 Sponsors:
Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health System, Midcontinent Communications, Carlson Distributing.
Beal Distributing, Hoffman Graphic Design, Holiday Inn City Centre, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, BillionAuto.com, Blend Interactive, Inc., Results Radio/Cumulus Media, Howalt-McDowell Insurance, Inc., Medical X-Ray Center, CITI, The Design Studio, Inc., Imagenation, United Rentals, Argus Leaders, KELO/MyUTV, Sanford Children’s, South Dakota Arts Council.
Ag United for South Dakota, Dakota Beverage, Eide Bailly, First PREMIER Bank/PREMIER Bankcard, HenkinSchultz Communication Arts, JAZZIZ Omnimedia, Yellow Book, Granite City.
Karl’s TV & Appliance, Lewis Drug, Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Xcel Energy, Poet Nutrition, CNA Surety, Spoke-N-Sport, Good Spirits Fine Wine and Liquor, Schmitt Music, AAA Travel of South Dakota, Strange Farrell & Johnson PC, State Steel, Sioux Falls Green Project, US Bank, Chef Jeni & Co., Schaap’s RV Traveland.
First National Bank in Sioux Falls, K&M Music, Electric Construction Company, Sioux Falls Zombie Walk, Millennium Recycling, Novak Sanitary Services, Pfeifer Implement, Royal Limousine, Stogeez.
Risty Benefits, CH Robinson, Lew’s Fireworks, City of Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation.
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