Coastal Jazz announces some headliners for this year’s Vancouver Jazz Festival

Posted on | February 14, 2012 | No Comments

by admin

Vancouver’s signature festival celebrates its 27th edition June 22 – July 1, 2012. The Festival is pleased to announce that tickets will go on sale Saturday, February 18 at 10 AM at www.northerntickets.com for a selection of major artists performing at this summer’s ten-day event. More major artists to be announced later.

George Benson
Saturday, June 23 @ 8pm Orpheum Theatre
Tickets Advance $75/70/65 + SC
10-time Grammy award winning superstar George Benson is both a matchless jazz guitar legend and an extraordinary vocalist with a lush soulful tenor that draws comparisons to Nat King Cole. During his early days he played with the likes of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Frank Sinatra while leading his own bands. In the 70s he surged to cross-over stardom with the triple-platinum album Breezin.’ A track from the album, “This Masquerade,” was the first song in history to reach #1 on the jazz, R&B, and pop charts. The decade also brought chart busters “Nature Boy,” “Give Me The Night,” and “Turn Your Love Around.” Since then Benson has consolidated his global reputation as one of the giants of music—no matter what the genre. http://georgebenson.com

The Avett Brothers
plus special guests The David Mayfield Parade
Tuesday, June 26 @ 8pm Orpheum Theatre
Tickets Advance $40/35/30 + SC
The Avett Brothers have found that sweet spot where Americana meets the pop savvy of Nick Lowe. – Chicago Tribune.
Exquisitely blending fraternal harmonies and a sense of songcraft that’s a brighter shade of Townes van Zandt, the Avett Brothers have fully embraced their shared birthright of melody and passionate performance. Their latest album, produced by Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, RUN DMC), is a propulsive, foot stomping “punkgrass” folk master- piece that filters CSNY countrified boogie through the Brothers’ early neo-punk roots. Like their contemporaries in Mumford and Sons, these rowdy but sensitive brothers are hitting their stride with their stunning folk-pop songwriting and rousing live shows. http://www.theavettbrothers.com

Bill Frisell plays John Lennon “ALL WE ARE SAYING”
plus special guests The Pugs & Crows Band featuring Tony Wilson
Friday, June 22 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $45 + SC
The most innovative and influential jazz guitarist of the past 25 years. – Wall Street Journal. Reflective and lyrical, Grammy Award winning guitarist Bill Frisell (Jack DeJohnette, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones) selects notes and textures with the same care and unparalleled taste he uses in selecting his high-calibre collaborators. For this project, Frisell applies his soulful arcs and rootsy undertones to an exploration of the music of John Lennon, alongside some of the most broadminded and expressive musicians on the planet including longtime John Zorn accomplice Kenny Wollesen drums, Lounge Lizard and Willie Nelson sideman Tony Scherr bass, and string-master Greg Leisz steel guitar. http://www.billfrisell.com

An Evening with Dianne Reeves
Saturday, June 23 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $45 + SC
You may have seen Diane Reeves in George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck”, performing recently with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra or singing at the 120th Anniversary Gala of Carnegie Hall. The four-time Grammy winner seems to be everywhere. Recognized as one of the world’s pre-eminent jazz vocalists, Dianne belongs to the pantheon of great jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. She engages audiences with her strong, multi-octave voice, rhythmic virtuosity and powerful storytelling style. Reeves combines all her influences to create a jazz-world-pop-bop synthesis that the Boston Globe calls “breathtaking.” http://www.diannereeves.com

Spectrum Road featuring Jack Bruce, Cindy Blackman-Santana, John Medeski & Vernon Reid
Monday, June 25 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $45 + SC
A sensational jazz-fusion supergroup, Spectrum Road features Jack Bruce (Cream) bass, Vernon Reid (Living Color) guitar, keyboardist John Medeski (Medeski, Martin, and Wood), and Tony Williams protégé Cindy Blackman-Santana (Lenny Kravitz, Santana), channeling Tony on the drums. Originally conceived as a tribute band to the late great jazz drummer Tony Williams’ Lifetime project, Spectrum Road has evolved into a cohesive group incorporating original tunes into their fiery reworking of pieces from the famed fusion group. The ridiculously talented musicians who make up this group are now guided more by using the musical spirit of Tony Williams as a starting point for new explorations in sound. www.ny1.com

Wayne Shorter Quartet
featuring Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Danilo Perez plus special guests Brad Turner Quartet
Tuesday, June 26 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $55 + SC
Legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter is widely acknowledged to be jazz’s greatest living composer, possessed of a rare combination of technical mastery and boundless creative energy. His output as a leader for Blue Note records, as well as his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the second classic Miles Davis Quintet of the 1960s, may arguably be the finest and most productive ten-year stretch in the history of music. In the ’70s he co-led Weather Report, a unit that helped define the fusion movement of the era. He then went on to collaborate with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Santana, Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan. Today, with pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade he leads an acoustic powerhouse band that critics and fans are calling “the best small group in jazz.” http://www.wayneshortermusic.com

Destroyer
plus special guests Inhabitants
Friday, June 29 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $25 + SC
Indie rock’s idiosyncratic and sometimes inscrutable crown prince, Dan Bejar, has transformed his critically- acclaimed Destroyer project once again, this time letting his trademark lyricism take a back seat to extended smooth grooves, reverb-drenched horn solos and yacht-invoking synth pads. The Polaris Music Prize nominated album Kaputt sees Bejar, the unorthodox singer/songwriter, standing back and letting the musical interplay have a far more significant role than on any previous releases. Bejar’s relationship to the confident soft rock sonics of his band evokes a wise and winking outsider poet, wandering the neon streets of a vibrant cosmopolitan city, bemused, a bit detached, but enthralled by the pulse of the night. http://www.destroyersongs.com

Robert Randolph & The Family Band
plus special guests Rich Hope & His Evil Doers
Saturday, June 30 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $40 + SC
Randolph’s latest album—the T Bone Burnett-produced “We Walk this Road”—is a celebration of African-American music of the past one hundred years, from gospel to early blues, to good old rock and roll. Named one of Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, Robert Randolph learned to play the pedal steel (aka “Sacred Steel”) in Church, and this upbringing is reflected in his musical mission to bridge generations and uplift audiences. Flying without a set list, an onstage dance party always on the verge of outbreak, Robert Randolph and the Family Band deliver their message of hope with virtuosic playing and a wickedly funky beat. http://www.robertrandolph.net

Los Amigos Invisibles
Sunday, July 1 @ 9pm Vogue Theatre
Tickets Advance $25 + SC
Be it Brazilian techno, Afro-jazz flavored pop, soul-samba or tropical disco, it’s all about hip-shaking beats. Imagine a world music party with a Latin flavor; (LAI) is the band filling the dance floor. — San Antonio Express. Latin Grammy award winners Los Amigos Invisibles have been spreading their fiery dance band grooves around the world ever since they roared out of Venezuela in 1995. The band actually got its first break when David Byrne discovered one of their albums in a record shop and shortly after signed them to his label, Luaka Bop. Years later, these Latin alternative kingpins continue to electrify audiences with their explosive live shows. http://beta.amigosinvisibles.com

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