Fri 6/21-Sat 6/22
The 45th annual Tri-C JazzFest announced its ticketed shows in the various Playhouse Square theaters a few months ago. Now it’s revealed the lineup of bands who’ll perform on its outdoor stage during the free, on-the-street festival Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening, taking place at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 14th street, which is closed off for the event.
The schedule includes several artists new to the lineup as well as many of the old standbys, because why tinker with success? Both evenings’ headliners repeat from previous years; both are major crowd favorites with the ability to get a street filled with a thousand people of all ages dancing, clapping and cheering. Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band will close Friday evening at 10:30pm with the warmth and energy of their crowd-embracing reggae music. In the closing slot on Saturday, timbales player/band leader Sammy DeLeon will be rounding up a stageful of the region’s Latin jazz musicians to end the festival on a high note with percussion, horns and of course the dazzling keyboard playing of his regular sidekick Jackie Warren.
As for the rest, Cleveland Brazilian guitarist/vocalist Moises Borges starts things at 3pm Friday, followed by veteran sax player Ernie Krivda and his 19-piece Fat Tuesday Big Band at 4:15. At 5:30, Cleveland’s 40-year-old Horns and Things will share some soulful jazz; at 6:45 New York trombonist Sam Blakeslee performs, followed by sax player Ronell Regis at 8, and Cleveland singer/songwriter/guitarist Sam Hooper at 9:15.
Saturday’s festivities start at 3pm with Cleveland’s New Orleans-style horns and percussion ensemble Da Land Brass Band. Gospel ensemble Humbly Submitted performs at 4:15.
At 5:30 one of the area’s most talented young jazz musicians, 19-year-old vocalist/composer Ava Preston, moves up to the big stage: in previous years she’s performed on the Tri-C Jazz Academy side stage as a member of that training unit. Now she’s bidding farewell to Cleveland as she heads to New York to study at Juilliard.
She’ll be followed by prolific and tireless local sax player Bobby Selvaggio with his Bobby Selvaggio 11, a chamber jazz ensemble that plays his original music and features some of the top young jazz artists in northeast Ohio. Sax player/Oberlin faculty member Chris Coles leads a band at 8pm, and at 9:15 the Thomas Schinabeck Quintet performs, with special guest jazz trumpet player and former artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra Sean Jones, playing Schinabeck’s compositions. Like Preston, Schinabeck is a Tri-C JazzFest alum who has moved on to a top national music school, the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.
The free outdoor festival includes food trucks, a beer garden, street performers, cooking demos, vendors and a kids’ tent. Get more information here.
Cleveland, OH 44115
3 Responses to “Tri-C JazzFest Sets Music Lineup for Free Outdoor Festival”
Veronica Robinson's
Hello,
I’m interested in becoming a volunteer during the Tri- C Jazz Festival.
I hope to hear from you.
My phone number is (216) 482-5125
Anastasia Pantsios
Can you contact Kendra here:
Kendra Willis
Volunteer Coordinator
216-987-4214
kendra.willis@tri-c.edu
Hank Wait
Stale. The live performers are too predictable. Stale!