Jazz & Blues Festival '98

 

   Jazz and blues come to Charlottetown in a festival  of performances June 11-14.   Approximately twenty shows will feature regional and Canadian jazz and blues performers, plus some world beat, at intimate venues around town.

    Highlighting the festival will be a performance by saxophone artist Bucky Adams.  A consummate musician and prolific composer, Bucky has been guest artist with the prestigious Nova Scotia Mass Choir since 1993.  In past years Bucky has had the opportunity to share music with jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B. King, Count Basie and Oscar Peterson.

    Also playing during the festival is the Glamour Puss Blues Band, winners of the 1998 ECMA for Blues/Gospel Artist of the Year.  This group has played extensively in the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and the Magdalene Islands performing a unique brand of blues-cajun music.

    Worldbeat music will be represented by the six-piece showband Afro-Musica from Halifax.  They combine traditional and contemporary African sounds and rhythms and express them through music and dance.  Bandleader Edo-King has developed the Afro-Musica experience to showcase his vision of world unity through the universal appeal of music.  An Afro-Musica performance has a largely original repertoire delivered in a multitude of languages and a stage show featuring various forms of African dance.

    These performers will be featured in major concerts at the Arts Guild from June 11-13.  Other groups to play at the Festival are Mark Green Blues, Isaac Blewitt Cooper, Double Cross Blues, Eileen Joyce Blues and Dysfunctional Blues.  Venues include Island Rock Cafe, D'Arcy McGee's, Baba's Lounge, Route 66 and Barney's Restaurant. Tickets are available at Back Alley Discs, Reading Well Bookstore, Tweel's Gif Shop and Jazz & Blues Society (569-4049)