'Legends in the Making' 09-10 Concert Series On Sale Now!

The Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues Society will highlight 'Legends in the Making' for the 2009-2010 Concert Series. The musicians presented in this year’s series will prove that legends in jazz and blues are indeed among us today. The artists for the 2009-2010 Concert Series are as follows:

Kyle Eastwood Band

November 13, 2009 – 8pm
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater

Growing up as the son of Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood must have been quite a production. Jazz was always a part of the Eastwood household. Kyle’s first memory of playing music was when Clint taught him how to play the left hand bass line of Boogie Woogie while he played the right hand solo over the top. Having dabbled on electric bass as a teenager, he now also plays the upright, acoustic and double bass. Kyle says, “My roots remain in jazz but I like adding all kinds of different flavors.”

Jane Monheit
December 3, 2009 – 7pm
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater

Jane Monheit is now firmly established as one of the post millennial jazz world’s foremost vocalists. Growing up, Jane lived in a house constantly filled with music. Both Monheit's grandmother and aunt worked as professional singers, while just about everyone else played various instruments or sang for pleasure, including her father, David Monheit, who plays bluegrass guitar and banjo in his spare time.

James Cotton "Superharp" Band
January 16, 2010 – 8pm
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater

The musical pedigree of Grammy Award winner James “Superharp” Cotton consists of a veritable who’s who in the world of the Blues. Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006, the Smithsonian Institute in 1991, and winner of countless W.C. Handy Blues Awards, he has shared the stage with B.B. King, Johnny Winter, the Allman Brothers, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Sam and Dave, The Grateful Dead among many others. His most famous association comes from his musical relationship with the great Muddy Waters, earning his nickname “Superharp”.

Bonerama
March 12, 2010 – 8pm
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater

When Bonerama struts onstage with its four-trombone frontline, you can guess it’s not quite like any jazz rock band you’ve seen. New Orleans’ Bonerama has been recognized by Rolling Stone, hailed as “the ultimate in brass balls.” The group has also been honor for “Best Rock Band” by the Big Easy Awards 2007. Having appeared at the Sioux Falls JazzFest in 2007, Bonerama recently won numerous OffBeat Magazine Awards; and regularly tops Offbeat’s trombone category.

Brubeck Brothers Quartet
April 9, 2010 – 8pm
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater

Being the son of a jazz legend can be daunting experience, especially if you follow in his footsteps. The Brubeck Brothers Quartet is an exciting jazz group featuring two members of one of America's most accomplished musical families, Daniel Brubeck (drums) and Chris Brubeck (bass & trombone). Guitarist Mike DeMicco, and pianist Chuck Lamb, complete this dynamic quartet. The Brubeck Brothers Quartet's debut Koch recording, Intuition, impressed the national jazz media and spent several weeks in the top ten radio charts while earning enthusiastic reviews from JazzTimes, Downbeat, Boston Globe and many other respected publications.

Subscriptions for the 2009-2010 concert series are available now and start at $158 per person and are available through the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society. Purchase your subscription online now, or call the office at 605-335-6101.

Bookfair Will Help Raise Funds for SFJB Ed Fund

Combine your love of books and music to help out the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society on Sunday, April 26 at Barnes & Noble!

Simply download and print out the voucher below, bring it to the cash register when you check out and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society.

The Barnes & Noble Bookfair is being held in conjunction with April is Jazz Appreciation Month and national Turnoff Week.

Dakota Jazz Collective will perform a special in-store set at 3pm that day.

Barnes & Noble Sunday hours are 10am to 9pm.

http://www.sfjb.org/downloads/Bookfair-Flyer-and-Voucher-SFJB.pdf

Wynton Marsalis Gives Nancy Hanks Lecture

What an inspiring way to start a Friday!

The 22nd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.

Brand-Spankin' New JazzFest Website Launches!

Thanks to our friends at Blend Interactive, the JazzFest website got a facelift. Check it: http://www.jazzfestsiouxfalls.com.

Sioux Falls Fusion Premier with Middle School Jazz Ensemble

On Tuesday evening, the All City Middle School Jazz Ensemble performed a shared concert with the Augustana Northlanders Jazz Band at Kresge Recital Hall.

The Middle School Ensemble is comprised of 20 of the finest 7th and 8th grade jazz players in the city representing all five of the city's public middle schools. That evening, the band had the great honor of playing with Doug Beach, a nationally-known Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, composer, publisher, educator and arranger. Mr. Beach commissioned the piece "Sioux Falls Fusion" especially for the group, which served as a grand finale. A fun Latin-swing number, the commission of "Sioux Falls Fusion"was made possible with support from the Mr. Kealey Fund, the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, and the Sioux Falls Public Schools. (The photo below l-r: Doug Beach and Danny Kealey)

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society also had the great pleasure of awarding the Michael Miller Scholarship to two players in the band. CJ Point a bass player from Patrick Henry and Pierre Guzman from Memorial. Point and Guzman will have the opportunity to study jazz privately or attend Augustana's band camp with their scholarship awards.

SFJB Staff Picks Top 5 Jazz Albums

In honor of Jazz Appreciation Month, the SFJB staff decided on the arduous task of picking their top 5 jazz albums. Here's how things shook out:

Robert Joyce, Executive Director

Miles Davis Kind of Blue

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out

Miles Davis Sketches of Spain

Charlie Parker Parker with Strings

Fourplay Best of Fourplay

Katrina Lehr-McKinney,

Executive Coordinator

Fitzgerald and Pass Again

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane At Carnegie Hall

The Very Best of Nina Simone 1967-1972 Sugar In My Bowl

Diana Krall Live in Paris

The Brad Mehldau Trio The Art of the Trio v.4 Back at the Vanguard

Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month during April!

The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society is preparing to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month during April with several special events.

Jazz Appreciation Month was designated by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in 2001 and the U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2003 that declared April as Jazz Appreciation Month.

“The intention of the celebration is to draw public attention to the glories of jazz as both a historical and living treasure,” says Katrina Lehr-McKinney, executive coordinator of the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society. “This is the fifth year we’ve put together special events for JAM.”

Throughout April, events around the United States will play a part in heightening the awareness of America’s only indigenous art form - jazz music.

Jazz Appreciation Month events in the Sioux Falls community include (insights from Katrina Lehr-McKinney in italic):

• Jazz film Sunday series at Monk’s House of Ale Repute. All films start at 7pm.
• April 5: Calle 54
• April 12: One Night with Blue Note
• April 19: Bird
• April 26: A Great Day in Harlem

This jazz film series is a new venture for us and we are very excited that Monk’s is willing to expand their usual film offerings to focus on jazz music! The films selected are a wonderful mix of documentary, live performance footage, and drama.

• The All City Middle School Jazz Ensemble/Augustana Northlanders Jazz Band concert April 7^th at 7:30pm at Kresge Recital Hall on the Augustana College Campus. Guest clinician/composer Doug Beach will also perform. The All City Ensemble will premier a piece by Mr. Beach entitled “Sioux Falls Fusion,” commissioned for the All City Middle School Jazz Ensemble.

The All City Jazz Ensemble program has been in existence since 2002. The program gives students an opportunity to learn about jazz improvisation and performance at an in-depth level. Two scholarships are awarded each year to students in this group as well, so they can go on to study jazz privately or at Augie’s band camp.

• Jazz 101 – For Adults: JazzFest 2009 Artist Preview April 14^th at CJ Callaway’s Event Center at 7:30pm
  

Jazz 101 is a great event for anyone interested in learning more about the jazz and blues musicians that are presented at JazzFest or on our concert series. Dr. Paul Schilf does a great job keeping the evening a fun yet educational experience for those with all levels of background on the music.

• Downtown Jazz Crawl on April 25^th
• Touch of Europe – Jazzed from 8pm to midnight
• Paramount Studio – Terry Brooks from 9-11pm
• Latitude 44 – Brian Hanagan Group from 9pm to close
• Monk’s House of Ale Repute – Dan Peterson Trio from 7-10pm
• A Taste of the Big Apple – John Kelly & Co. from 5-7pm, West Coast Jazz Trio from 7-9pm
• Michelle’s Coffee – Geoff Gunderson from 7-9pm
• Wild Sage Grille – Jim McKinney Trio from 6-9pm

Last year, we had crawlers from Brookings, Iowa, and several surrounding communities take part in the evening. Making an evening out and visiting all the Jazz Crawl locations is a great time! You can have appetizers and drinks at one location, dinner at another, dessert at a third, and so on! It’s truly a great event that benefits both downtown businesses and local jazz musicians!

• Barnes & Noble Book Fair Fundraiser for the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society April 26^th. Special in-store performance by Dakota Jazz Collective at 3pm. A percentage of most purchases will be donated to the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society!

We hope that our fans will come down to Barnes & Noble on the 26^th to help us raise funding for our Educational Fund, which provides scholarships and education events to students in Sioux Falls and throughout South Dakota. You’ll also want to hang out and listen to Dakota Jazz Collective’s set at 3PM!

For more information about Jazz Appreciation Month events, visit the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society’s website, www.sfjb.org.