Freihofer’s Jazz Festival

I’ve updated the lineup with expected set times!

The 2010 lineup and ticket information has been announced! Details are available at http://jazzfest.louthompson.com/2010-lineup/.

2010 headliners will include legendary blues musician Taj Mahal.

Expect more artists to be announced in the coming weeks.

Until then, check out Taj Mahal in action!

We’re less than five short days away from the 2009 Festival! To help you prepare for a wonderful weekend, the expected set times (PDF) have been announced.

La Timbistica is performing at the Festival Saturday on the Gazebo stage. Recently Berklee College of Music published the young band’s biography, which reads in part:

La Timbistica, who also perform as the Berklee Latin Jazz All-Stars, is led by conguero and Berklee student Paulo Stagnaro; and includes students, drummer Marcos Lopez and bassist Juan Maldonado; trombonist Nick Noonan and saxophonist Godwin Louis, both Berklee alumni; and pianist Alex Brown, a student at New England Conservatory. The Berklee Latin Jazz All-Stars won the 2008 Down Beat Student Music Award for Best Jazz Band, and recently lit-up the stage at the Duke Ellington and Monterey jazz festivals, two of the largest and most prestigious festivals in the U.S.

La Timbistica’s Latin jazz repertoire ranges from Afro-Cuban and Brazilian classics to some of its own modern original compositions. The group also performs contemporary salsa and timba by artists like Isaac Delgado, Marc Anthony, and Victor Manuelle. La Timbistica has quickly become a mainstay in the Boston music scene, making regular appearances at Havana Club, Mojito’s Lounge, and Wally’s Jazz Café, and at various music festivals in the area. Its members have performed and recorded with some of the Latin music industry’s most prominent musicians, including Paquito D’Rivera, Danilo Perez, Batacumbele, Truco y Zaperoko, N’Klabe, and Tony Perez, among many others.

— La Timbistica Plays 32nd Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs

It looks like the lineup has been announced in its entirety. Of course, things are still subject to change…

I’ve made a few updates to the lineup to reflect the latest info I’ve gathered:

• Spanish Harlem Orchestra will perform on Saturday, per Pollstar.
• Buster Williams will perform on Saturday, per Pollstar.
• Bettye LaVette will perform on Sunday, per Pollstar.
• Julian Lage was known to be a performer for Sunday — the update is that we expect him on the Gazebo Stage, per his record company’s website.

Information about the 2009 lineup is beginning to trickle in from multiple sources, including this press release from SPAC.