Jazz in Downtown Wooster
The 2009 Wooster Arts Jazz Fest
This year’s festival, the 6th Annual Wooster Arts Jazz Fest (WAJF), will offer some great jazz from three different bands.
Leading off will be this year’s featured group, the Fat Tuesday Big Band from Cleveland, led by renowned Cleveland sax player Ernie Krivda. Ernie is now in his fifth decade as a jazz musician. He has toured with the Jimmy Dorsey band, and played in the house band at the old Leo’s Casino club in Cleveland for famous Motown greats like Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, The Four Tops and The Temptations. After a tour with the Quincy Jones Band Ernie moved back to Cleveland and founded the Fat Tuesday Big Band. The big band is now regarded as one of the best big band jazz orchestras in the country. They will bring their high energy and skill to the stage on the southwest quadrant of the Square in Downtown Wooster.
The second group, back by popular demand, is the River City Jazz Band, also from the Cleveland area. Led by Bill Parthe, the band is a WAJF crowd favorite with its renditions of vintage Dixieland Jazz. As in past years, they will also lead the New Orleans style Jazz Parade through the streets of Downtown Wooster, beginning at approximately 1:45pm, beginning at the Gazebo. The band loves to perform the music of early jazz greats like Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong. They have performed all over northeastern Ohio, including at Sea World, the Catawba Island Club and the Avenue at Tower City in Cleveland.
After a second set by the Fat Tuesday Big Band the jazz will continue with a performance by the Canton Cabaret Jazz Combo, a quintet chosen from the Canton Cabaret Orchestra, the pit orchestra in residence with the Canton Cabaret Dinner Theater. Led by sax player David Kolinski-Schultz, the band will feature “The Great American Songbook.” Joining David will be Larry Pindel on piano, John Chambers on bass, Scott Thomas on drums and well-known trumpet player Bob Hill.
Bring a folding chair and get ready for some wonderful jazz, performed by some of the best musicians in northern Ohio. |
