Our Previous Years!

This was the biggest and best year of the festival yet! Friday night’s appearance by Chuck Mangione drew a capacity crowd of 8,000 to Clinton Square, a magic performance that was judged “Best Concert of 2006” by the Post-Standard! Other highlights were Branford Marsalis and his entire band jamming at Jazz Central until 4am to close the event with a bang, along with Rufus Reid, Alex Sipiagin, Bob Sheppard, and many others. Our new late night “club crawl” extended the festival’s footprint to many area clubs that rocked until the wee hours, especially the Ohm Lounge’s “Latin Dance Parties”. Other highlights included great sets by Joyce Cooling, Mike Mossman’s Timba Tango, Joey Magnarelli’s Criss Cross All-Stars, and Nancy Kelly with the SSO.

2005 was another groundbreaking Jazz In the Square as we expanded the festival to include "Jazz Alley", a wine area, improv workshop for kids and parents, and Late Night Jams at Jazz Central. Audiences were thrilled with a lineup that included the Joshua Redman Elastic Band -- a show we won't soon forget!

For the 2004 festival, Banu Gibson and the Hot Jazz with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra got the party started on the first night, followed by the CNY Jazz Orchestra, Tony Monaco Organ Trio, The Bad Plus, and the Eric Reed Quintet with Paula West on Friday. On Saturday, the crowd was thrilled by Stan Colella Parks & Rec All-Star Big Band, the Manlius Pebble Hill Combo, Liverpool High School Jazz Ensemble, Mood Swings, Jon Seiger and the All-Stars, Vanessa Rubin, and Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project. And of course who could forget our 2004 headliner, Kevin Eubanks!

The 2003 festival featured jazz all-stars including Byron Stripling, Jack Maheu, and headliners Barbara Morrison and Bucky Pizzarelli.

The 2002 festival, our first year in Clinton Square, attracted such jazz talents as Banu Gibson, Joe Carello, Phil Freeman, Ronnie Leigh and Carmen Bradford, Barbara Jones, Nicholas Payton, Eddie Daniels, and Arturo Sandoval.