Summer of the Arts welcomes world-renowned jazz artists for Iowa City Jazz Festival
For Immediate Release: March 19, 2018- IOWA CITY, IA
An eclectic mix of top stars, genre legends, and young talents comprise the lineup for the 2018 Iowa City Jazz Festival, which will feature hours of free performances on the University of Iowa Pentacrest, as well as food, activities and more throughout downtown Iowa City from June 29 to July 1. The Jazz Festival, presented by the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, is in its 28th year.
Matt Wilson’s Honey and Salt
The festival starts off swinging on Friday, June 29, at 5 p.m., with the United Jazz Ensemble, which features the best young musicians from City High and West High. At 7 p.m. Behn Gillece Quartet will take the stage. The group is led by virtuosic vibraphonist and prolific composer Gillece. The night wraps up at 9 p.m. with “Hot Tamale Louie.” This multi-media piece, composed and directed by John Rapson, director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Iowa, includes lilting Western ballads, gentle Mexican waltzes, and folk songs and melodies from the East, all woven into a compelling narrative.
Saturday, June 30, the second day of the festival, begins at 1 p.m. with the North Corridor Jazz All Stars, a group composed of the best high school musicians from Cedar Rapids to Cedar Falls. At 3 p.m., the Braxton Cook Quintet takes the stage. The group is led by tenor saxophonist Cook, a recent graduate of the prestigious
Rene Marie
Julliard School of Music and sideman to Rihanna at the 2016 Video Music Awards. The Vincent Herring Quartet follows at 5 p.m. Herring, an alto saxophonist, is described as “intense and soulful with a multi-noted style and ebullient swing.” At 7 p.m., vocalist Rene Marie & Experiment in Truth will share her multifaceted style. Marie is known for her blend of folk, R&B and even classical and country, all of which ultimately encapsulate her hybridity. Saturday comes to a close with the Jane Ira Bloom Quartet at 9 p.m. Bloom, a highly regarded soprano saxophonist, is an American original with a “soaring, poetic, quick silver, spontaneous and instantly identifiable” sound.
Joshua Redman
The final day of the festival, Sunday, July 1, launches at 2 p.m., with Steve Kenny’s Group 47, a pillar of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Jazz scene. At 4 p.m., the Amanda Monaco Quartet will bring a guitar sound that is “utterly unique, a breath of fresh air in the cookie-cutter climes of both mainstream and free jazz.” In addition to touring, Monaco works as an educator at the Berklee College of Music. Matt Wilson, who will drum with Monaco’s group, will lead his own new combo at 6 p.m. Wilson’s Honey & Salt brings a collection of songs devoted to the Midwestern poet Carl Sandburg. In true Iowa City fashion, literature and music meet on stage. The festival ends at 8 p.m. with Sill Dreaming, a combo led by Joshua Redman and featuring Ron Miles, Scott Colley, and Brian Blade. The group’s repertoire includes tunes performed or inspired by the “Old and New Dreams” quartet of the 1970s and ’80s that featured Ornette Coleman alumni including Redman’s father, Dewey Redman.
In addition to these main stage sets, music will be performed on three side stages throughout the festival. A Culinary Row, artist booths, a FUN Zone, and a Beverage Garden round out this full weekend.
For a complete line-up CLICK HERE.