http://www.strictlyearnest.com/dajf.html
TRAFFIC ALERT: I-35 will be shut down at the North Texas Boulevard Bridge in Denton starting on Friday evening. Expect traffic delays. For more details or alterate routes to the park please click this link: http://www.discoverdenton.com/event/denton-arts-jazz-festival-2/?instance_id=101632
The Denton Arts and Jazz Festival is a celebration of the arts in a community known for embracing and nurturing music, dance, choral, drama and the visual arts. The free event is produced by the Denton Festival Foundation, Inc. with the generous support of sponsors such as the Dallas/Fort Worth American Federation of Musicians Local 72-147 and the city of Denton. Held the last full weekend in April at Denton’s Quakertown Park, the event features seven stages of continuous music, fine art, crafts, and food, games and information booths in a beautiful, outdoor setting.
The Festival Foundation uses proceeds from booth rentals and concession sales to support the arts throughout the city of Denton. Arts facilities, service organizations, and preservation projects have all been the recipients of the proceeds from past events, in addition to public art for the enjoyment of all.
Come see the best that Denton has to offer – the sights, sounds and flavors that make up the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival are perfect for all ages.
Due to the large crowds we ask that you leave your pets at home – SERVICE DOGS ONLY, PLEASE and NO COOLERS IN THE JAZZ AREA!
UNT One O’Clock Lab Band
Friday, April 29, 2016
7:00 pm - Jazz Stage
For 68 years the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band has been the premier ensemble of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton, Texas. Since the 1970’s, the band’s albums have received six Grammy nominations with a multitude of great composers, performers, and educators all throughout the music world. Over 60 recordings and a tradition that just keeps swingin’, the One O’Clock Lab Band is under the direction of Jay Saunders.
Patrice Rushen & Friends
Friday, April 29, 2016
9:00 pm - Jazz Stage
Multi-Grammy nominated artist, Patrice Rushen, is fashioning her career after the legacy of her long-time friend and mentor, Quincy Jones. Composer…Producer…International Recording Artist… Rushen has definitely earned the respect she has been awarded by her peers in the music industry. Rushen has amassed an impressive list of “firsts”. She was the first woman to serve as Musical Director for the 46th, 47th & 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first woman in 43 years to serve as Head Composer/Musical Director for television’s high honor, the Emmy Awards and the first woman Musical Director of the NAACP Image Awards and HBO’s Comic Relief. A classically trained pianist, Rushen has spent a lifetime honing the skills that maker her one of the music industry’s most versatile and sought after artists. ASCAP honored here publishing company for the song “Men in Black”, as the 1997 Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture.
Curently, her career focus is composing for films, television and orchestras. Some of the many artists she has recorded with include: Carlos Santana, Quincy Jones, Stanley Clarke, The Temptations, Al Jarreau, Sheena Easton, Lee Ritenour, Eddie Murphy, Prince, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, & Ramsey Lewis. Don’t miss this performance with Patrice Rushen & Friends.
The Flatlanders
Saturday, April 30, 2016
9:00 pm - Jazz Stage
The Flatlanders are an American Country band from Lubbock, Texas, founded in 1972 by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, each contributing vocals, guitar and songwriting skills. Ely’s, Hancock’s, and Gilmore’s individual trajectories, influenced by Beat writers, Elvis and Eastern mysticism, merged in the weirdly creative crucible of Lubbock, Texas. When the individual members found success in their solo careers, interest in The Flatlanders was rekindled with the band reuniting several times since. In 1972, the band travelled to Tommy Allsup’s Odessa, Texas studio at the urging of a local radio DJ. The 14 songs recorded on reel-to-reel tape arguably marked the birth of alternative country music. In celebration of their 40th anniversary together, the esteemed founding fathers of Americana released a collection of these recordings as The Odessa Tapes via New West Records. Though lost for nearly four decades, The Odessa Tapes’ pristine recordings capture without any polish the special blend of country, folk, roots and cosmic The Flatlanders pioneered. These talented musicians continue to perform and write their special kind of music for albums, movies and television.
A “toe-tapping” good time for all!
Brave Combo
Sunday, May 1, 2016
7:00 pm - Jazz Stage
Winner of 2 Grammy Awards with a total of 7 nominations, Brave Combo continues to tour extensively. Trying to describe Brave Combo’s music requires a pretty extensive vocabulary - at least when it comes to musical styles. For over three decades, the Denton, Texas based quintet has perfected a world music mix that includes salsa, meringue, rock, cumbia, conjunto, polka, zydeco, classical, cha-cha, the blues and more. They are America’s Premier Dance band and a rollicking, rocking, rhythmic global journey — offering what one critic recently wrote, “Even if you come for the party, you’ll leave with something of a musical education.”
Keyboardist, guitarist, accordionist, and singer Carl Finch founded the band in 1979, releasing their first records on the band’s own Four Dots Records. Alongside Finch for most of Brave Combo’s 30+ years has been multi-instrumentalist Jeffrey Barnes, who joined in 1983. Barnes is known for his lively and imaginative stage wear, as well as playing an array of reeds and woodwinds, harmonica, pennywhistle, guitars, you name it, sometimes in multiple, simultaneous combinations. Rounding out the current line-up are trumpet player Danny O’Brien, drummer Alan Emert and Little Jack Melody on bass guitar. “Polka Down” with Brave Combo the closing night of the festival.
