JAZZ ASPEN SNOWMASS CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
JAS JUNE FESTIVAL (JUNE 23 – 36) FEATURES BOZ SCAGGS, DAVID BYRNE, ISSAC HAYES, STEEL PULSE, BOBBY MCFERRIN & DIANNE REEVES AMONG OTHERS!
JAS LABOR DAY FESTIVAL EXTENDED TO FIVE DAYS!! (SEPT 1 – 5)
“Reward your yearlong labors with a trip to Jazz Aspen” – Elle Magazine
New York, NY – March 31, 2005 — Jazz Aspen Snowmass announces its 15th Anniversary Season with a series of events to bookend your summer vacation plans. The JAS June Festival will kick off the season June 23 – 26 at Rio Grande Park in downtown Aspen and will celebrate a return engagement by Boz Scaggs as well as other headlining acts including David Byrne with the Tosca Strings, Issac Hayes, British reggae masters Steel Pulse, Bobby McFerrin, Diane Reeves and more.
Now in its 15th season, the JAS June festival was inspired by the legendary Marciac Festival in France, which is located in a charming village among the rolling hills of Gascogne. Similar in design, Jazz Aspen is nestled in the scenic and breathtaking Rocky Mountains where music devotees enjoy four days of music from top performers in a lively mountain town.
In addition to the headlining acts, performances will be held in smaller venues around Aspen, including a special new 15th year kick-off concert featuring the veteran jazz giant Ramsey Lewis Trio, as well as the internationally recognized jazz guitar sounds of John Scofield, in a “Tribute to Ray Charles” at the Hotel Jerome Ballroom. Additional shows included the funk and jazz of keyboardist Robert Walters 20th Congress and the wildly inventive Crescent City sounds of Bonarama, a group of seven trombones from New Orleans.
Gospel will fill the air once again in a “free” concert in the tent featuring JAS alumnus Ricky Dillard’s New Generation Chorale, a 30+ member Gospel Choir from Chicago, in their third JAS appearance. Additional free stage artists will be announced shortly.
In addition, this year’s incredible JAS Labor Day festival, which has become a stalwart among the summer concert scene, will be extended to five days for the first time in the festival’s history and will be the biggest Labor Day Festival yet. “We have full intentions of beating last summers attendance records,” stated festival producer Jim Horowitz.
The JAS Labor Day festival takes the opportunity each year to depart from its year-round-jazz-oriented programs and sister festival held in June to present a festival that celebrates all genres of music from roots, pop, bluegrass, rock, reggae, etc. The JAS Labor Day line-up will be announced shortly.
JAS June Festival tickets will go on sale to JAS Club members Wednesday March 30th and to the public Monday, April 4th. Tickets, priced from $35 and up, will be on sale through the JAS Box Office at 866 527 8499 ( JAS TIXX ) , or at www.jazzaspen.org.
For more information on JAS please contact Allison Elbl at PFA, 212.334.6116 or aelbl@pfamedia.net. Please also visit www.jazzaspen.org for regular updates.