Jazz in the Square 2007 Preview

22 Jun 2007

by:

Syracuse, NY – Held each July in historic Clinton Square in Downtown Syracuse, Jazz in the Square is this summer’s coolest destination on a hot summer night. This year’s expanded edition of the three day festival will take place July 26-28, and include Clinton and Hanover Squares as well as downtown clubs and the Jazz Central Theater. Roving musicians throughout the Armory Square district will complete the army of jazz artists who will combine to transform the Salt City into Music City for a long weekend of jazz in all its forms. Always fun and always free, every year Jazz in the Square boasts an all-star, international line-up. A total audience of 25,000 is expected.

Now in its sixth year, Jazz in the Square was created in response to overwhelming public opinion that indicated Syracuse deserved a downtown jazz festival that would boost the Salt City’s cultural scene and economy. What sets this jazz festival apart is that it is produced by a not-for-profit regional performing arts organization, the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation CNYJAF, at www.cnyjazz.org). By collaborating with other Downtown Syracuse supporters and destinations to serve the largest downtown footprint possible, the festival has become an anchor event for Syracuse’s cultural revival. The fun always spills into other parts of downtown, thanks to the vision of CNYJAF Executive Director Laurance Luttinger, who every year ensures that Syracuse sponsors, merchants, and vendors take part. In addition to three concert stages, Jazz in the Square boasts the Jazz Alley Restaurant Row, a Wine Court, Late Night Dance Parties at Syracuse’s chic Armory Square nightclub The Ohm Lounge, and the Hanover Square Club Crawl, which will include acts at The Coffee Pavilion, the Bull & Bear Pub and Downtown Manhattan’s.

Jazz in the Square is just one of many initiatives developed by the CNYJAF, now the second largest art music presenter in Central New York and the surrounding region. The Foundation is the region’s primary year-round producer of jazz events in concert, cabaret, scholastic, and festival settings. Its mission is to boost exposure to and participation in the jazz art form for the whole community - downtown residents and merchants, urban youth, and African-American and Latino minorities.

“Jazz in the Square is a celebration of the unique diversity and social power of America’s Music,” said Luttinger. Each year’s schedule of concert, club, and educational jazz events has been designed to provide an incredibly diverse selection of jazz styles to sample, from classic swing to symphonic jazz, big band to bebop, jam band funk to R&B, Latin tango, and salsa, as well as scholastic groups of all kinds. The CNYJAF has been providing a winter season of events to the region since 1996, including the prize-winning Central New York Jazz Orchestra (CNYJO) Concert Series. It now programs year-round at its downtown arts center “Jazz Central”, attracting over 850 patrons each month to all types of shows in its theater. “Our year-round mission is to bring jazz in all its forms to our area,” said Luttinger. “We are bringing the same dedication to artistry, education and multicultural outreach to this great festival that we have been delivering in concert, cabaret and educational programs for years.”

The festival is primarily made possible again by naming sponsor Partners Trust Bank and by Senator John A. DeFrancisco, both strong believers in jazz as an essentially urban art form with great power for social and economic improvement. They share in the knowledge that downtown Syracuse is kept vital by summer festivals, and by the hard, year-round work of performing arts organizations like the CNY Jazz Arts Foundation.

Said Steve Mahler, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations, Partners Trust Bank, “We are pleased to be part of the celebration of the arts in the heart of downtown Syracuse. We believe this type of event in Syracuse is indicative of a strong local arts community and a thriving downtown. We’re happy to be a part of both. We are also proud to play a role in keeping the important art form of American Jazz thriving in our downtown. A strong cultural arts community helps to improve the quality of life for those in and around Central New York. This festival is vital when it comes to keeping the arts community in our region vibrant.”

Said Senator DeFrancisco, “I am once again pleased to support Jazz in the Square, I have been involved with this festival since it began six years ago and it is encouraging to see it grow each year. I applaud Larry Luttinger and the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation for keeping jazz alive in downtown Syracuse and Central New York. Festivals such as this not only help to support our downtown merchants but more importantly, they help to keep our cultural arts in our community strong which in turn enriches the lives of all Central New Yorkers.”

Onondaga County understands the cultural and economic value of this event as well. Said Onondaga County Executive Nicholas J. Pirro, “A vibrant arts and downtown community is essential to the overall quality of life for residents throughout Onondaga County. That is why I am such a supporter of events like Jazz in the Square. I would also like to commend Larry Luttinger, Executive Director of the CNY Jazz Arts Foundation and Partners Trust Bank, the presenting sponsor, for all they have done to ensure the success of this ever-expanding event.”

Mayor Matthew J. Driscoll said, “Jazz in the Square has become a summertime staple for jazz-lovers. This year’s event once more has attracted big names to its line-up of performers. I commend Larry and the CNY Jazz Arts Foundation for another outstanding festival.”

They are joined by returning sponsors The Downtown Committee, City of Syracuse, WAER, News 10 Now, Time Warner Cable, Alan Byer Volvo, Southern Wine & Spirits, Brooklyn Brewery, Eastwood Litho, Lockheed Martin Employees’ Federated Fund, J.W. Burns Investment Counsel, the Post-Standard, Jeanneret Associates, Jazziz Magazine, Sitation LLC, ADWORKS, WFBL, Sunny 102, Total Care, CXTec, IAJE-New York Chapter, The Ohm Lounge, Downtown Manhattan’s, Bull and Bear Pub, The Coffee Pavilion, Syrasoul, Hollerback Productions, ThINC, 40 Below Public Art and other individual and business sponsors and vendors to make this long weekend of jazz, food and fun happen for Syracuse.

This year, new sponsor SRCTec, new manufacturing subsidiary of Syracuse Research Corporation, is making it possible for the festival to host the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for a symphonic jazz evening unique to jazz festivals nationwide. Other new sponsors include Washington Street Partners, CXTec, Stoli Elite and Jacob’s Creek.

The event’s success at attracting new listeners last year will again be utilized, according to Luttinger. “Last year’s premier Hanover Square Stage Club Crawl was a big success at attracting young audiences at last year’s festival. We will again be joining forces with Hollerback Productions, ThINC and 40 Below to co-market this part of our festival to appeal to the young “creative class” that we need to remain in Central New York to work and live. We’ve expanded the festival to include Thursday night programming, folding in Thursday’s “Hanover H.O.P.S.” schedule of jazz, world music and funky jazz bands, and will continue to present great, danceable funk music there all weekend, with bands who will play in surrounding clubs until 2am every night. With the help of sponsorships by The Ohm Lounge and the Downtown Committee, we will do this in Armory Square as well, creating as large a footprint for our event as possible.”

Thursday July 26th
The performance schedule begins Thursday, July 26th at 5pm with a happy hour set by The Dinosaurs, the hard-hitting eclectic Rock and Soul band made up of employees of CXTec. Then the acoustic swing of Swing This, led by local legends Mark Hoffman and Hal Casey, takes over on the J.W. Burns second stage until the 60-piece Syracuse Symphony appears at 8pm for a Big Band Bash led by Grant Cooper. Emerging crooner-pianist Danny Sinoff and his trio will make an appearance with the orchestra, to give the audience a taste of what he will bring to the main stage on the final Saturday evening of the event. “Danny was our major breakout artist last year, and unfortunately his set was shortened by the weather,” said Larry Luttinger. “He is the next Harry Connick, Jr., in my humble opinion, and we’re making a major place at the table for him this year. He will blow audiences away, guaranteed. Our audience will be able to say they saw him when as his career blossoms in the future.” The evening in Clinton Square ends with another set by Swing This, lasting until 11pm. As if that weren’t enough, the Hanover Stage will be programming a full lineup of bands from 5 to 11pm anchored by Philadelphia-based band Blue Method. The first of nightly late night jams will take place at Jazz Central after the Clinton Stage shuts down, lasting until the wee hours of the morning, featuring Danny Sinoff and his sideman as hosts.

According to Larry Luttinger, organizer of the festival, “Savvy festival goers will come down for the kickoff Happy Hour to catch a great meal and be in place in time for our unique symphonic jazz concert with jazz bookends. Aficionados can stay for the after-concert session and then hit the jam at Jazz Central until the wee hours. This evening’s schedule sets the pattern for the rest of the weekend. Each great day will start and finish the same way. Out-of-towners and even serious local fans will want to turn this experience into a total getaway by staying nearby and shuttling to the site each day.”

Friday July 27th
Friday’s “Sunny 102” Happy Hour commences at 5pm with the infectious blues of The Fabulous Ripcords, regular weekenders at the Dinosaur Barbeque, along with a 5pm Hanover Stage set of African-tinged funk by Fredonia-based On The Sly.

The Main Stage schedule kicks off at 6:15 p.m. with an opening set by the Jesse Collins Band, led eponymously by its Syracuse expatriate and hard-hitting alto saxophonist. Jesse will bring his New York band back upstate in celebration of his first CD. On at 8:15pm is NEA Jazzmaster Phil Woods with Bret Zvacek and the entire 17-piece CNY Jazz Orchestra, fresh from their repeat performance at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Woods will play an extended set of his original compositions and arrangements.

The main stage schedule finishes with a rare East Coast festival appearance by the legendary jazz and smooth jazz flutist Hubert Laws with his own West Coast Band, featuring members of his musical family. Laws is universally respected as the world’s most versatile virtuoso of jazz and classical flute, and has collaborated throughout his 30-year recording career with hundreds of artists, from Paul McCartney to Lena Horne. Both Laws and Woods have recently made solo appearances in Syracuse in the 2006-2007 CNY Jazz Orchestra Concert Series, and these back-to-back performances represent a triumphant return for both.

The J.W. Burns second stage will feature the Latin dance music of the Mambo Inn Orchestra, an all-star septet of the best salsa musicians of Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. Armory Square’s chic Ohm Lounge will host the Detroit area Afro-beat band NOMO until 2am.

The funky jazz in Hanover Square continues until 11pm with sets by the tenor sax-driven Sam Kininger Band and the Boston-based Ryan Montbleau Band. They will then fan out to play late sets in Hanover Square clubs until 2am while Jazz Central heats up again with its late night jam hosted by house band led by Jesse Collins.

Saturday July 28th
The final day of the festival kicks off with another 5pm Sunny 102 Happy Hour with Dinosaur Barbeque blues regulars the Gonstermachers, followed by another main stage triple bill starting at 6:30PM with a set by Reid’s Raiders, led by legendary bassist Rufus Reid, veteran of bands led by Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie Dexter Gordon and Bill Evans. Known worldwide as an educator as well, Rufus and keyboardist Frank Puzullo will also preside over the afternoon’s Scholastic Jazz Festival, scheduled for 12 noon until 4pm on the main stage, as well as the evening’s late night jam session at Jazz Central.

Then at 8:15pm the Danny Sinoff Quartet returns to the main stage for a swinging set culled from the Great American Songbook, this time featuring selections from their most recent CD “Live At Ellington’s.” The Main Stage closes with a 10p.m. set by the top RnB saxophonist in the country, Los Angeles native Gerald Albright. The platinum-selling Albright also is a veteran of tours with Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Phil Collins and many others, as well as an actor in such shows as Melrose Place and A Different World.

The J.W. Burns Stage in Clinton Square will feature NOMO, fresh from their Ohm Lounge appearance, while The Mambo Inn Orchestra moves to the 314 S. Franklin St. Ohm Lounge in the heart of Armory Square for Latin dancing until 2am. Hanover Square lineup starts with Syracuse’s own Interstellar Funkateers at 5pm, followed by jam band sextet Dark Hollow and world percussion jam band Mecca Bodega playing until 11pm. Host of the final Jazz Central jam will be Rufus Reid and his band.

Throughout the festival, locations in Armory Square to include Starbucks, Dante, Kitty Hoynes, Pastabilities, Teddy’s,, Pascale, Clark’s Ale House and Al’s Wine and Whiskey Lounge will be stops for roving street musicians from the Hanover Square lineup. ###

A Note Regarding Our Look
The marvelous, hip and classy look and overall direction of this year’s festival print and web based graphic art is provided by ADWorks of Skaneateles. Sitation LLC is responsible for the completely redesigned festival web site at www.jazzinthesquare.org. These efforts bring an international level of visual quality to this event that equals its musical artistry. Many thanks to our partners for their dedication, belief in our mission and total expertise.