Litchfield Jazz Festival Announces the 2011 Lineup

http://litchfieldjazzfest.com/ljf/ljf-line-up-off/

2011 marks the 16th Anniversary of The Litchfield Jazz Festival. LJF continues the tradition of showcasing jazz legends and fostering up-and-coming talent as we've done since 1996. "Nothing beats the Litchfield Jazz Festival…an ongoing tradition for those in the know." -- JazzImprov.
Visit our Festival History page for a complete line-up history. 2011 Artist Profile Pages Coming Soon. As soon as they appear you can click the name or photo below to learn more about each artist.

Artist Profiles Coming Soon...

Friday, August 5th

Friends of the Festival Gala
The Clayton Brothers Quintet
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue -- Special 90 minute set  

Saturday, August 6th

Albert Rivera Organ Quintet
Champian Fulton Quartet
The Bronx Horns
Vijay Iyer Trio Ray
Charles Tribute with Davell Crawford
Roy Haynes Fountain of Youth Band*

Sunday, August 7th

Dena DeRose Trio
Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio
Matt Wilson Quartet plus Strings
Joe Lovano Nonet
Jimmy Heath Big Band*

*NEA Jazz Masters Live is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Clinics & Artist Talks led by Artist-in-Residence Matt Wilson

Roy Haynes
Jimmy Heath
Joe Lovano
Dr. Lonnio Smith
Vijay Iyer
The Bronx Horns

My Time at the Jazz Conference in New Orleans

I can't think of a better time then getting together in a beautiful city with thousands of people all for the love of jazz. With shows, clinics, panels, discussions and of course seeing friends and colleagues you may have not seen in a while.

I arrived early Thursday morning to New Orleans, LA even with my flight having a slight delay. The flight was packed with great musicians, from legendary pianist Junior Mance to amazing drummer Matt Wilson and a bunch of Jazz Education Conferences attendees.
I was fortunate to have Litchfield Performing Arts and RS Berkeley(my saxophone endorsement) bring me down, so I did my best to split my time spent with them both. Not to mention trying to have time to meet a whole lot of new people, But it worked out perfectly!

(L:R) Albert Rivera, Vita Muir(LPA), Todd Feldman, Don Braden 

Friday came quickly and a bunch of the RS Berkeley endorsers got together to do an impromptu performance of "When The Saints Go Marching In" Fun times for all!
I always love these conferences, cause it builds up memories that last a long time.

Saturday went quick with my flight in the late afternoon, but I was able to have a great lunch and conversation with my good friend Frank Alkyer (Publisher of Downbeat Magazine) and a number of other people including saxophonists Claire Daly and Andrew Hadro as well as PR supervisor of Alfred Music Publishing Marina Terteryan and marketer/vocalist Carri Bugbee about the future of self marketing, career building and social media. Pretty intense, but I feel like I got a lot of it.

My flight back from JetBlue was quick and easy with fellow saxophonist Victor Goines(J@LC) among others and even happen to be sitting next to some jazz fans!
I head back to NY with a refreshed mind, and some great ideas. 2011 is just in it's beginning stages and words can't express how excited I am!