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ATTENTION ALL MEDIA \u00e2\u20ac\u201c FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n
Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, JazzFest 2007 Artist Information<\/p>\n
(Sioux Falls, 2\/20\/2007)\u00c2\u00a0 The main stage performance line up for the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival \u00e2\u20ac\u201c JazzFest (spelled as one word with a capital J and F), in Yankton Tail Park in Sioux Falls on July 20-21, 2007 is as follows:<\/p>\n
Main Stage Performers
\nListed in no particular order.\u00c2\u00a0 Artists are subject to change at any time.<\/p>\n
Northlanders Jazz Band Augustana College\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Northlanders Jazz Band was started in 1954 with Earl Colgan as its first student director. It continued as a student-run organization until Dr. Harold Krueger assumed its leadership in 1965. Since then, the Jazz Band has performed for many campus and community events as well as being featured with numerous guest soloists in the annual Jazz on the Upper Great Plains Festival.\u00c2\u00a0 Dr. Paul Schilf directs the group.<\/p>\n The Lee Boys The Lee Boys are a family band – three brothers and three nephews – at the forefront of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sacred steel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d guitar-driven gospel. The Florida sextet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soul-stirring sounds have justly earned a cult following thanks to Roosevelt Collier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inspired pedal-steel playing, leader Alvin Lee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine Fender work and songwriting skills, Keith and Derrick Lee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s full-throttle vocals and lots of happy crossover with the jam band scene.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers Rod Piazza has been the driving force behind Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers since 1979.\u00c2\u00a0 The band recorded their first album in 1980.\u00c2\u00a0 From that time on up through the present, Rod and his band mates have released nearly a dozen albums and have toured blues clubs, venues and festivals in the US, Canada, England, Germany and Japan.\u00c2\u00a0 With his wife Honey Piazza on piano and upright bass player Bill Stuvee, as well as guitarists such as Alex Schultz and Rick Homstrom and drummer Jimmy Bott, their sound combines the styles of Jump Blues, West Coast Blues, and Chicago Blues.\u00c2\u00a0 Known for their exciting and powerful live performances, Rod Piazza often strolls around the audience, while not missing a note on harmonica, jumps on a bar or counter and duels it out with either the piano or guitar.<\/p>\n Doreen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jazz New Orleans Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans is a group whose interest lies in spreading the culture and traditional music of New Orleans all over the world through performance and education.\u00c2\u00a0 Their show-stopping performances at private engagements and music festivals all over North and South America, Canada, Europe, and Asia have coined them the name \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Show Stoppers.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d They not only entertain their audiences through music, but also teach the rich, historic and diverse culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. They have received rave reviews from newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs such as VH1, PBS, BET and MTV which tell of the many delightful surprises in each and every one of their performances.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Doreen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jazz New Orleans performed in Sioux Falls in March 2006.<\/p>\n Steve Weingart and Mike Miller<\/p>\n Steve Weingart began his musical career playing piano at age three. In his formative years of classical study, In 1984 Steve was awarded a full scholarship at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music to further his study of jazz. It was during this period that Steve’s writing and playing abilities were brought to the forefront. His mastery of the keyboard and programming expertise quickly thrust him into the thick of the Cincinnati music scene. In 1994, Steve decided on a change of scenery and moved to Los Angeles CA, where he has found his way with new musical experiences, and has become one of the most in demand keyboardist in town. Steve is now based in Burbank, California and along with his busy playing schedule; he is also on the faculty at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood.<\/p>\n Mike Miller was born into a musical family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1953.\u00c2\u00a0 He was the third of four bass-playing brothers, performing with his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jazz combo at twelve.\u00c2\u00a0 While much is made of individuality and originality among musicians, Miller seems beyond those qualities: he is unlikely in the way he defies description.\u00c2\u00a0 Consider that Miller has worked with jazz pianist Chick Corea, diva\/comedienne Bette Midler, pop craftsmen Gino Vanelli and Burton Cummings, the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Wall of VooDoo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stan Ridgeway, film composer and former Devo front man Mark Mothersbaugh, the Frank Zappa Banned from Utopia alumni band, and many others.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a range of experience that challenges the imagination \u00e2\u20ac\u201c edgy spontaneity in Corea\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s electric jazz, slapstick \u00e2\u20ac\u0153comedy guitar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with Bette Midler, and complex orchestration in writing of Marc Anthony Turnage and Frank Zappa.<\/p>\n Bonerama The sheer force of four trombones playing simultaneously was to be their calling card. Still, when Mark Mullins and Craig Klein formed the trombone blitzkrieg of Bonerama, skeptics and traditionalists raised their voices in puritanical protest. The initial stirrings of the trombone cavalcade known as Bonerama began in 1998, when Mullins and Klein found themselves with some rare time off from their steady gig in Harry Connick Jr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big band.\u00c2\u00a0 The ensemble tours frequently, selling out venues like Manhattan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tobacco Road. San Francisco\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Boom Boom Room.\u00c2\u00a0 Bonerama has gained a remarkable reputation for incendiary live performances, as well as a devout and ever-expanding fan base.<\/p>\n Jon Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen A funky piano wizard with a standout soulful voice, Jon Cleary embodies decades of Crescent City music magic, continuing the tradition of R&B giants like Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint.\u00c2\u00a0 A slot at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1994 proved that he was an integral part of the local music scene and coaxed Cleary to form his own permanent backup band.\u00c2\u00a0 Named the “Absolute Monster Gentlemen” after a catch phrase uttered by late guitar luminary Johnny “Guitar” Watson, the band brings an array of roots styles to Cleary’s raw sound. Cleary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s band garnered fast popularity on the merits of its skin-tight arrangements and intense interplay.<\/p>\n Robert Cray Band Robert Cray is one of a precious few active blues artists with the talent and vision to successfully usher the idiom into the future without resorting either to slavish imitation or simply playing rock while passing it off as blues. Just as importantly, his immensely popular records helped to jump-start the contemporary blues boom that still holds sway to this day. Blessed with a soulful voice that sometimes recalls ’60s-great O.V. Wright and a concise lead guitar approach that never wastes notes, Cray’s ascendancy was amazingly swift — in 1986 his breakthrough Strong Persuader album for Mercury (containing “Smoking Gun”) won him a Grammy and shot his asking price for a night’s work skyward. Unlike too many of his peers, Cray continues to experiment within his two presiding genres, blues and soul. Sets such as Midnight Stroll, I Was Warned and Shame + a Sin for Mercury show that the “bluenatics” (as he amusedly labels his purist detractors) have nothing to fear and plenty to anticipate from this innovative, laudably accessible guitarist. – Bill Dahl, All Music Guide<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.augie.edu\/dept\/music\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.leeboys.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.themightyflyers.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.doreensjazz.com\/index.htm<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.bonerama.net\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.joncleary.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.robertcray.com<\/a><\/p>\n