Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival
| Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Jazz |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) |
|
| Years active | 18 |
| Inaugurated | 1999 |
| Website |
twincitiesjazzfestival |
The Twin Cities Jazz Festival is one of the largest, free civic events in the upper Midwest, attracting 30,000 people. Founded in 1999 by promoter Steve Heckler, the festival holds events at Mears Park in St. Paul in the Lowertown neighborhood. The festival closes several blocks and has used clubs such as the Bulldog, Hat Trick, Black Dog, Station 4, Artists' Quarter, Union Depot, Amsterdam, Heartland, Bedlam, and SW Craft Bar.
Media partners have included Jazz 88 radio (broadcasting live locally and streaming live on the internet internationally), WCCO-TV, The Rake, City Pages, Jazz Police, La Prenza, and MPLS-St. Paul magazine. The festival has received extensive coverage in the Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, and Skyway News.
Festival performers have included Eric Alexander, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Atlantis Quartet, The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman, Dave Brubeck, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Joey DeFrancesco, Eumir Deodato, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bill Evans, Von Freeman, Benny Golson, Hiromi, Red Holloway, Kristin Korb, Bettye LaVette, Howard Levy, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, Frank Morgan, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Chris Michalek, Barbara Morrison, David "Fathead" Newman, Tiger Okoshi, Danilo Pérez, Bernard Purdie, Phil Hey Quartet, Dewey Redman, Return to Forever, Melvin Rhyne, Bobby Sanabria, Peter Schimke, Ben Sidran, Norman Simmons, Lonnie Smith, Esperanza Spalding, Spyro Gyra, Percy Strother, Ira Sullivan, Lew Tabackin, Clark Terry, Butch Thompson, Jon Weber, Jerry Weldon, and the Yellowjackets.