News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The High Mountains Dixieland Jazz Festival is looking back on a rousing musical weekend, and already looking forward to next year - with a new name.
The festival announced its new moniker - High Mountains Jazz in Sisters - in this year's program. According to festival organizers, the new name better reflects the variety of bands and styles featured at the festival, including swing and Big Band sounds as well as Dixieland.
Festival-goers sampled that variety at four venues around town, and both audiences and bands had a fine time.
"I think it was a spectacular festival," said publicist Tome Worcester. "We had great enthusiasm from the crowds. We really felt good about the bands we had."
Worcester made special note of the Tribute to the Songstress of the '40s and '50s held on Saturday, featuring Sherri Colby and the Blue Street band, Yve Evans with Chicago Six and Black Swan vocalist Marilyn Keller.
"The program at the high school was standing-room-only and a smash," Worcester said. "That, to me was one of the highlights of the festival."
Festival chairman Ray Buselli thought the festival was a great success, though he noted that attendance appeared to be slightly down from last year's show.
He believes attendance figures should show between 5,000 and 6,000 jazz fans attending over the three-day event.
"It was the most smoothly run festival we've had," Buselli noted. "The bands were highly complimentary of the organization and all the volunteers."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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