James Lamperetta highlighted six CDs recently released by artists scheduled to perform at this year’s Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in his most recent Jazz Beats column.
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La Timbistica
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
The Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga is going strong into its 32nd year, but today The New York Times published an interesting article explaining why many other long running jazz festivals, including the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City, will not take place this year.
Two years ago the impresario George Wein sold his company, Festival Productions, to a group led by Chris Shields, a charismatic entrepreneur who planned to transform Mr. Wein’s empire through aggressive growth. Now that plan has all but collapsed, as Mr. Shields’s company, Festival Network, has lost its top sponsor, as well as several signature festivals, delivering what many call a painful blow to jazz.
Last year Festival Network presented 17 festivals around the world, but Mr. Shields said he has none to announce this year. The company lost its contract for the Newport jazz and folk festivals in Rhode Island because of late payments for use of state parkland. The Freihofer’s Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., another longtime Wein event, has gone to a competitor…
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2009 Lineup Has Been Announced
It looks like the lineup has been announced in its entirety. Of course, things are still subject to change…
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Lineup Updates
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.
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Rachael Price at SPAC Once Again
Rachael Price appeared at the 2008 festival, opening the main stage on Sunday to rave reviews. I was not familiar with her beforehand, but her set was one of the festival highlights for me. I do not expect her to return for the 2009 festival, however I recently learned that she will be at SPAC again this year, playing the Spa Little Theatre on Friday May 29.
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2009 Lineup News
Information about the 2009 lineup is beginning to trickle in from multiple sources, including this press release from SPAC.