Cape May Jazz Fest - Nov 7-9

[Lois Gilbert]

The 20th Cape May Jazz Festival presented by Fleet
Celebrates It¹s Tenth Anniversary Year
November 7-9, 2003

Celebrating the 20th festival and the Ten Year Anniversary of the Cape May Jazz Festival, the November 7-9 festival will brings back a number of special festival performers from past festivals who return to mark this exciting milestone. Maynard Ferguson¹s Big Bop Nouveau Band will kick off the festival on Friday night with two shows at Convention Hall, 7:20 and 9:30pm. Ferguson is a jazz legend, an internationally renowned big band leader and one of the world¹s greatest trumpet and brass instrumentalists. The Big Bop Nouveau Band has redefined big band jazz for this millennium. This group draws upon bebop, straight-ahead jazz, funk, swing, classical and contemporary music to create a fresh sound within the classic big band form.
Also on Friday night, New York City¹s well-known jazz vocalist Carla Cook will perform three sets with her quartet at 8pm at Savannah Key. Don¹t miss this chance to catch Little Jimmy Scott performing two shows at the Grand Hotel Ballroom at 9:30 & 11pm. Billie Holiday often singled out Little Jimmy Scott as her favorite singer and over his long career, he has achieved notoriety as a jazz and R&B singer and a pop balladeer. This point is driven home on his latest Milestone recital, But Beautiful.

Offering three sets in each venue, the Friday 9pm lineup includes the Big James Montgomery Blues Band at Cabanas, the Soul Cruisers at the Congress Hall Ballroom, Ojoyo at Carney¹s Main Room and vocalist Sherry Wilson Butler with the Aaron Graves Trio and Louis Taylor at Carney¹s Other Room.
As usual, nine different shows will be presented Saturday night, November 8. The smooth sound of ³Pieces of a Dream² returns to Cape May Convention Hall for 2 shows at 7:30 and 9:30 pm. This group first started playing throughout the tri-state area, and were quickly featured on Temple University¹s pioneering jazz radio WRTI (a long-term sponsor of Cape May Jazz Festival). Papa & Joey DeFrancesco will perform 2 shows at the Star of the Sea Auditorium at 7:30 and 9:30pm. From 8pm-midnight pianist David Leonhardt and vocalist Nancy Reed perform three sets at Savannah Key. Six other Saturday night performances will take place from 9pm to 1am for three sets each. Oscar Brown, Jr. with the Aaron Graves Trio will perform at the Grand Hotel while Eric Alexander¹s One for All plays the Congress Hall Ballroom. The Festival All Star Band plays the Corinthian Yacht Club. This special performance includes special friends of the Cape May Jazz Festival, who unite to perform a special celebration of the festival¹s 10 year anniversary and will record a commemorative CD. Members include Tim Eyermann, Jeannie Brooks, Brian Trainor, Winston Byrd, Charles Frambrough and Keith Killgo. The Ray Vega Latin Jazz Quintet is sure to kick up the tempo at Carney¹s Main Room while the Lenny Roberts Quintet plays Carney¹s Other Room. At Cabanas the East River Blues Band will complete the evening.

This year, the Saturday afternoon program is increased from two jam sessions at Carney¹s Main and Other Rooms and a Blues Jam featuring Bluebone and Georgie Bonds at Cabanas by adding a blues performance of Frank Bey and Sam Taylor at Savannah Key. All four Saturday afternoon performances take place from 1:00pm-4:00pm. A CD signing party and wine tasting sponsored by Delicato Family Vineyards will be held from 5pm-6pm.

Also on Saturday, free jazz workshops from 10am _ 1pm are offered at the Star of the Sea Auditorium. The topics of this November¹s workshops include guitar, horn, voice, improvisation and the ever-popular Rhythm Circle. Sunday afternoon presents two jam sessions at Carney¹s Main and Other Rooms and the Jazz Brunch at the Pelican Club (reservations and payment directly to the Pelican Club). Jam passes always sell out early so don¹t hesitate. For complete updated lineup information visit our website at www.capemayjazz.org.

The Cape May Jazz Festival, presented by Fleet has been produced bi-annually, in April and November for ten years since 1994. It has become a corner on the national cultural scene and is a well-respected event throughout the jazz music community. Each festival grows and adds new segments that move increasingly into educational and thematic events. Cape May, NJ is within driving distance of the major metro areas of New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore and Washington, DC. The Cape May Jazz Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Dept. of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Friends of Cape May Jazz, Inc. is a non-profit organization that produces the festival. Its mission is to develop and maintain the Greater Cape May, NJ, area as the hub for jazz in the mid-Atlantic region and to foster the appreciation of jazz as an American art form through the presentation of concerts, festivals, educational programs, workshops and jam sessions for musicians. For more information call 609-884-7277, or visit us online at www.capemayjazz.org.