FEBRUARY 4, 2010 ISSUE
JAZZfest at ASU February 12 to 25
Jazz educator, musician and ambassador Todd Wright will perform several times throughout JAZZfest.
Groove 8, formerly known as Audioform, returns to Legends for a night of funky jazz fusion.Featuring established and up-and-coming musicians from across the region, ASU will once again host JAZZfest—two weeks of performances exploring the various and continually evolving forms of the American music genre.
JAZZfest will take place Friday, February 12—kicking off with Todd Wright’s annual Valentine’s concert—through Thursday, February 25. Tickets to most events are free, with the exception of shows at Legends and the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock.
Most of the performances take place at various locations on the ASU campus, but JAZZfest organizers have also collaborated with the Blowing Rock Jazz Society to co-promote a concert at the Meadowbrook Inn and with Canyons in Blowing Rock and Casa Rustica to promote concerts at the two restaurants. Other collaborators include the Hayes School of Music and APPS Club Shows.
About the Performers
Known as Western North Carolina’s “ambassador of jazz,” saxophonist Todd Wright, director of jazz studies at ASU, performs several times during JAZZfest and plays a large role in coordinating the festival.
“Todd Wright is our No. 1 consultant,” said Alan Mueller, assistant director of Student Programs at ASU. Wright performs regularly with the Todd Wright Quartet and has performed with international jazz greats Benny Golson, Clark Terry, Eddie Daniels, Wycliffe Gordon, and many others.
Groove 8, formerly known as Audioform, performed at JAZZfest in 2009. The acid-jazz funk collective originated in Charlotte and has toured nationally, fusing jazz, funk and soul into a sound augmented by a big horn section and a groove-oriented rhythm section.
“It is definitely what I would call fusion,” Mueller said. “They are a very, very fun group.”
Bafoodus has been gaining a solid dance-floor following in the High Country over the past few years with its original electric jazz funk compositions and scintillating covers of such artists as Tina Turner, Slayer, Prince, Steely Dan and others. Bafoodus is Andy Page on guitar, Mike Runyon on keys, Scott Haynes on bass and vocals and Ryan Lassiter on drums.
Bafoodus will be joined by funk, rock and jam outfit GyPsy Ninjas, a Boone band that counts the Grateful Dead, Herbie Hancock, Medeski Martin and Wood, Marvin Gaye, Stanly Clark and others as influences.
The Swing Guitars, featuring Andy Page and Jay Brown on guitar and Ben McPherron on bass, focuses on the early period of jazz guitar from the late 1920s through 1940. The band performs music by Django Reinhardt, Nick Lucas, Oscar Aleman, Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson, among others, encompassing such styles as traditional gypsy themes, lush ballads, Parisian dancehall waltzes, swinging jazz standards and blues-influenced tunes.
A Grammy award-winning recording artist, John Riley has enjoyed a stellar career as a jazz drummer, including concerts and recordings with artists such as John Scofield, Mike Stern, Woody Herman, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Miles Davis.
“[Riley] is a fantastic drummer and professional clinician,” Mueller said.
JAZZfest will also feature performances by jazz students and the Hayes School of Music’s Jazz Ensembles I and II.
For more information and ticket details, call 828-262-3032 or click to www.jazzfest.appstate.edu.
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