Friday, April 29, 2011

BLUE NOTE JAZZ CLUB 30TH ANNIVERSARY, The Chill Jazz Corner

In honor of its 30th anniversary, the Blue Note Jazz Club is opening its doors throughout New York City during the month of June for the inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival. More than 80 shows featuring many artists who have performed at the Blue Note for years will take the city by storm at this year's largest New York jazz festival. More than 60,000 tickets are available. The festival will feature a diverse group of high-profile artists including Dave Brubeck, Chris Botti, Nancy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin, Brian Wilson, The Roots, Chaka Kahn, Roberta Flack, El Gran Combo, Jon Hendricks, Kathleen Battle, McCoy Tyner, Youssou N'Dour, Bill Frisell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Madeleine Peyroux and many more. In addition to presenting a special series of shows at the Blue Note, the club has scheduled shows at the Beacon Theatre, Town Hall, BB King Blues Club & Grill, Highline Ballroom, Terminal 5, Joe's Pub, Mercury Lounge, Rose Hall at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, The Lehman Center for Performing Arts, and the Katonah Museum of Art.

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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Blue Note Jazz Club Unveils Festival, Wall Street Journal

Is jazz a dying art form? WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout once asked in these pages.

Not a chance, according to the Greenwich Village-based Blue Note Jazz Club. In honor of its 30th anniversary, the institution will host the first inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival during the month of June, the club announced this past week. Throughout the month, more than 80 shows featuring established jazz legends and rookie experimentalists will take place across the city.

The club is hosting the Festival to fill the void left by promoter and producer George Wein’s New York Jazz Festival, which usually occurs in June but which is on hiatus this year. Wein himself will perform at the Blue Note’s Festival in mid-June.

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Is jazz a dying art form? WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout once asked in these pages.

Not a chance, according to the Greenwich Village-based Blue Note Jazz Club. In honor of its 30th anniversary, the institution will host the first inaugural Blue Note Jazz Festival during the month of June, the club announced this past week. Throughout the month, more than 80 shows featuring established jazz legends and rookie experimentalists will take place across the city.

The club is hosting the Festival to fill the void left by promoter and producer George Wein’s New York Jazz Festival, which usually occurs in June but which is on hiatus this year. Wein himself will perform at the Blue Note’s Festival in mid-June.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Blue Note Sets Jazz Fest, Variety.com

New York's Blue Note Jazz Club has recruited an array of stars from the jazz and pop worlds to celebrate the club's 30th anni with the maiden Blue Note Jazz Festival.
Artists, many affiliated with the club for years, include jazz stalwarts Dave Brubeck, Jon Hendricks, Lee Konitz, Nancy Wilson, McCoy Tyner and Bobby McFerrin, as well as jazz voices of a more recent vintage like Chris Botti and Madeleine Peyroux. Pop, hip-hop and R&B acts to perform include Brian Wilson, Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack, the Roots, Youssou N'Dour and Meshell Ndegeocello.

The shows will take place throughout the city during June, kicking off June 1 at the Blue Note itself with Konitz, Bill Frisell, Gary Peacock and Joey Baron heading a five-night bill. Other venues include Town Hall, Beacon Theater, Terminal 5 and the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts.

"Thirty years ago, I never could have dreamed that the Blue Note would become what it is today," owner and operator Danny Bensusan said of the Greenwich Village club (which has no affiliation with the storied jazz label of the same name). "We're presenting musicians all over New York who have played the Blue Note since the beginning, as well as new ones who we hope will continue to come back for many years."

Fest will include a series at the Mercury Lounge devoted to up-and-coming artists in a variety of genres, as well as the new Spontaneous Construction Series at the Blue Note, which will put young, experimental artists together for the first time.Additionally, the BNJF will sponsor educational programs for non-profit org JazzReach and its Ellington! program at the Highline Ballroom, which will host hundreds of NYC public school students over three afternoons.

For complete fest schedule, go to BlueNoteJazzFestival.com.

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