News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The tents are up. Volunteers are primed. The weather gods are smiling. Bands are coming, and so are excited jazz fans.
If pre-sales are any indicator, a record crowd will enjoy three days of traditional jazz, swing, big band and Cajun-zydeco when High Mountains Jazz at Sisters gets underway Friday at 1 p.m.
Festival sponsors and Early Bird fans already will have had an evening of top music at a sponsor dinner Thursday night, featuring the youth band Hull's Angels and at a warm-up party Thursday night at the Main Avenue venue.
The Warm-up Party is a Festival bargain: $5 for three-day badge holders, including volunteers; $10 for others. Bands featured Thursday night include Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band at 7 p.m.; the Bob Crosby Bob Cats at 8:15 p.m. and Chicago Six at 9:30 p.m.
Friday's opening set at 1 p.m. features the hard-driving traditional jazz band Grand Dominion at the Village Green and the ever-favorite Chicago Six with vocalist Yve Evans at the Coyote Creek venue.
While fans enjoy the openers at the Village Green and Coyote Creek, Central Oregon middle and high school students will be treated to a jazz clinic at Sisters High School, conducted by Ed Hull and Hull's Angels, the youth band from Fresno, California. Visitors are welcome at the clinic. Hull's Angels will also play several sets at the four festival venues.
Other students will enjoy the festival bands, too. The popular Portland band, Stumptown Jazz, will entertain Elizabeth Renner's classes at Sisters Elementary School Friday morning, and Bill Allred's band will perform at an assembly at Mt. View Middle School in Bend on Friday.
High Mountains Jazz at Sisters has built its reputation on quality jazz bands invited to perform at the four venues here. This year is no exception.
Bands returning to Sisters this year include Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band, from Orlando, Florida; Blue Street Jazz Band, from Fresno; Chicago Six with Yve Evans; Grand Dominion Jazz Band, an international trad jazz band with players from Washington and Canada; California's High Sierra Jazz Band, another traditional jazz band with a great following throughout the country; Natural Gas Jazz Band, returning to Sisters after an appearance here four years ago; Stumptown Jazz, with Vocalist Jay Fleming, from Portland; and the local favorite, Wall Street Jazz Band from Bend.
Appearing for the first time at the Sisters venues will be the Bob Crosby Bob Cats, an east coast band that plays the charts of the noted Bob Crosby, a favorite band of the mid-century swing era. Also new to Sisters this year is Gator Beat, a Sonoma, California, band that features New Orleans swamp funk - a blend of Cajun and zydeco with two-steps and waltzes.
Appearing also for the first time in Sisters will be the Central Oregon Youth Jazz Band, directed by Andy Armer, and sponsored by High Mountains Jazz. Special features at the 1998 High Mountains Festival include a Ladies of Song set at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, at the Village Green; a tribute to Al Smith, retiring leader of the High Sierra band Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Village Green; and three free Gospel services Sunday at 9 a.m.
The gospels will feature High Sierra at the Village Green; Blue Street at the Mt. Shadow RV Park venue and Stumptown Jazz at the Coyote Creek venue.
Prior to the Sunday gospel services, the Kiwanis Club of Sisters will serve breakfast for a nominal cost at the Village Green, beginning at 7 a.m. Proceeds from the breakfast help Kiwanis support a variety of programs for children in Sisters.
Because of increased advance sales that may crowd the venues on Saturday, the High Mountains Festival is offering a special price for fans who would like to attend on Friday and Sunday.
The Friday-Sunday special will allow purchasers of the $20 adult Friday badge to get Sunday's admission for another $5. That represents a $10 savings over individual purchase. That offer will be available until 7 p.m. Friday, September 18. Adult three-day badges are $50 per person.
High Mountains Jazz offers a three-day youth badge for $10, and children under the age of 12 years are admitted free when accompanied by an adult badge holder.
To reserve badges, call 549-1332 for the High Mountains Jazz hot line.
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