Fans
enjoy a wonderful time and
great music
at JazzFest in Pensacola's historic Seville Square
Saturday & Sunday
April 5 and 6, 2008
Pensacola JazzFest, now in its 25th year, is
a FREE all-jazz festival held in downtown, historic Seville Square.
The event is administered by the Jazz Society of Pensacola with able
assistance from WUWF-FM and the Arts Council of Pensacola. The two-day
festival, held in
early spring each year, celebrates America's Unique Musical Art
Form--Jazz. The Jazz Society of Pensacola works all year to
present this festival as its annual gift to the community.
Appreciation is expressed to our individual and corporate donors as
well as the Arts Council of Northwest Florida and the Florida Arts
Council.
The 25th Annual Pensacola
JazzFest will feature:
Printable
one-page PDF of the information below...
Butch
Thompson’s Big Three.
Thompson, an acclaimed pianist and Jelly Roll Morton scholar heard
regularly as part of the Prairie Home Companion broadcasts, will be
joined by vocalist/banjoist Jimmy Mazzy of Boston and trumpeter Duke
Heitger of New Orleans. This trio has recorded and toured nationally
and internationally. From Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” to W. C.
Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin,” this
unique jazz trio led by pianist Butch Thompson plays an exciting
program of American classics—jazz from the beginning. Trumpeter Duke
Heitger and banjoist/vocalist Jimmy Mazzy join Butch in a show that
ranges from Dixieland to lowdown blues—or as New Orleans pianist Jelly
Roll Morton put it, “everything from blues to opera.”
Shelly
Berg Trio.
Shelly Berg is an accomplished pianist who plays jazz styles from
ragtime to modern. He is frequently requested as accompanist for
Monica Mancini, Patti Austin and other vocalists and jazz legends
including trombonist Bill Watrous. He was previously Professor of Jazz
Studies at University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
In April 2007, he was named Dean of the Frost School of Music at the
University of Miami. Berg has served previously as President of the
International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE).
The Jazz Guardians,
an 18-member big band stationed at Army Ft. McPherson, GA, can perform
in the style of big bands of yesteryear paying tribute to Duke
Ellington, Woody Herman and Count Basie as well as contemporary big
band jazz.
Saxophonist
Dayve Stewart.
Known as “Soul Man,” Dayve will entertain with the smooth sounds of
contemporary jazz. He has a Caribbean background with a Cuban mother
and Jamaican father. At the young age of 12, he performed with
trumpeter Sonny LaRosa’s “Youngest Jazz Band.” Stewart’s latest CD is
entitled “Feel Me.” Stewart attended FSU with a major in Commercial
Music and a minor in Business and is now touring worldwide.
Pensacola’s
clarinetist/saxophonist Bob Maksymkow.
Bob will perform with backing from the Shelly Berg Trio. As a
teenager, he took clarinet lessons at Juilliard School of Music from
Augustin Duques, who was also musical coach for Benny Goodman. Bob has
degrees from Juilliard and the University of West Florida (UWF) and is
a member of UWF’s adjunct music faculty.
Headliners above will perform both days at the Pensacola JazzFest.
Additionally, the winner of the UWF/Phillips Jazz Piano Competition
will perform on Sunday. JazzFest pianists Butch Thompson and Shelly
Berg will be judges for the UWF/Phillips Jazz Piano Competition held
at the UWF Theater Main Stage on Saturday night.
The festival’s Youth Stage will feature local area middle
school and high school jazz bands on both days. One high school jazz
band and one middle school jazz band, yet to be named, will also
perform on the main JazzFest stage.
