Friday, July 25, 2008

JazzFest Attracts 90,000 People!

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, organizers of the annual Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival – JazzFest, estimates that 90,000 people were in attendance at the weekend event.

“The rain delay on Saturday afternoon did little to stop people from coming out in record numbers to enjoy the music this year,” according to Robert Joyce, Executive Director of the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society.

There was an increase in parking at the festival site as well. Festival receipts and parking numbers help to estimate the attendance numbers.

Headliners Taj Mahal on Friday night and Jonny Lang on Saturday night were a great reason for the large crowds. The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society attributes the festival’s success to the local and regional sponsors, the 800 volunteers and the fans who continue to make this event a success.

JazzFest is a free event and has been an annual music festival at Yankton Trail Park since 1996. The dates for JazzFest 2009 are July 17-18.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival – JazzFest is organized by the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, a non-profit arts organization.

Whew! That was fun!

For the 90,000 of you that attended JF08, thanks for coming out! We are grateful that you patiently waited out the storm and came back to enjoy a great day of music on Saturday!

To the many sponsors and hundreds of volunteers: You are the heart of the JazzFest. It just wouldn't be possible without you! Thank you for your generosity of funding, time, energy and resources!

A very special thanks goes out to the JazzFest Committee. This amazing group of nearly 70 volunteers are the gears that make the JazzFest machine go. Every facet of the festival is coordinated by this wonderful group of volunteers. These people plan months in advance and work for several days in the hot July sun to ensure everything at the festival runs smoothly. There wouldn't be a JazzFest without them.

Check the JazzFest website for new photos!

Things are slowly getting back to normal around the SFJB office now. On to the 08-09 Concert Series, educational programs, our Jazz & Brews fundraiser, and much more!

Of course we're already planning for JazzFest 2009! Mark your calendars for July 17-18!

Friday, July 11, 2008

JazzFest 1 DAY Away!

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.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

JazzFest Does Its Part To Go Green

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival – JazzFest is doing its part to go green for a healthier environment. JazzFest has joined up with Millennium Recycling and Novak Sanitary Services to implement recycling of aluminum and plastic at JazzFest 2008. Both businesses will donate a portion of the proceeds from recycling to the SFJB Scholarship Fund. So make sure you throw away your bottles and cans in the bins marked recycling and give a young musician the chance to learn.

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, the organizers of JazzFest, recommends that festival-goers either ride their bikes or take the JazzFest shuttle, bus, trolley, or bike trail to the festival.

Shuttle Information:
-Shuttle Locations: Roosevelt, Lincoln and O’Gorman High School Parking Lots.
-Shuttle Price: $3 per person for the round trip. 5 and under ride free.
-Shuttle Times: 5pm to 12:30am Friday; 11am to 12:30am Saturday.

Downtown Trolley Information:
-The downtown trolley will pick up/drop off at the downtown Holiday Inn City Centre at 8th Street between Phillips and Main Avenues (Downtown Crazy Days is also taking place this weekend!)
-Trolley Price: FREE!
-Trolley Times: 5pm to midnight Friday and Saturday.

Bike, Walk, Rollerblade or Jog to JazzFest!
Spoke-N-Sport is providing an on-site, free bike valet to festival goers that choose to pedal to the festival. Biking is a great way to arrive at JazzFest, as Yankton Trail Park is located on the city-wide bike trail. The bike trail map is available through the JazzFest website.


Sioux Falls Green Project will also be at the festival this year providing some helpful tips on living green that everyone in the Sioux Falls community can benefit from.

Green art will also make a statement at JazzFest. Minneapolis visual artist Erik Ritter will display and create artwork made from unwanted junk at JazzFest 2008.

Ritter’s latest project, entitled de-JUNKed, is a commentary on America’s plastic throwaway culture. deJUNKed is a call for people to send in their favorite junk and Ritter will make a piece of art out of these items. So bring a shoebox full and see what he can create.

In addition to displaying his art in a booth during JazzFest, Ritter will work on new pieces and create “green art” with children in the Sanford Children’s JazzQuest on Saturday afternoon.

Kids! Don’t throw away old toys. Bring old toys and other household junk to create a dinosaur sculpture on Saturday in the kid’s area.