Sisters Jazz Festival opens Friday

Cornet Chop Suey --one of the featured acts at the Sisters Jazz Festival. photo provided Four bands with four distinct musical styles will provide a simultaneous kick-off in different venues at noon Friday, September 17, to open the 2004 Sisters Jazz Festival (SJF).

A mix of Big Band, swing, Cajun-zydeco, traditional and contemporary jazz will continue the remainder of Friday afternoon and evening and on Saturday and Sunday, as eight festival touring bands and five regional groups mount the Sisters stages.

Leading off Friday will be familiar Sisters favorites Gator Beat, Chicago 6 with Yve Evans, Cornet Chop Suey and High Street, a high-energy group whose talents range from jazz standards to blues, swing and Latin. This will be High Street's first SJF appearance.

Gator Beat also will perform at the Festival's Cajun-style warm-up party at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Village Green. All-event badge holders will be admitted free at the warm-up, while other patrons will be charged $5. Students also will be admitted free by showing their student body card, as will children under age 12.

The four other touring groups coming to Sisters are Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band, from Orlando, Florida, a group celebrating its 13th year together that continues to expose listeners to new arrangements of old jazz charts; Canadian piano virtuoso Michael Kaeshammer; Brady McKay and Four Play Jazz; and Titan Hot Seven, led by Clarinetist Bob Draga and Pianist Jeff Barnhart.

Regional groups scheduled for the festival include the Dan Balmer Quartet, from Portland; Club 7, a band made up primarily of University of Oregon students and graduates, and Bend's Michelle Van Handel and the Silver Lining Jazz Band.

Dan Balmer has been described as "the defining sound of contemporary jazz guitar in the Northwest," while Club 7 is anchored solidly in traditional jazz under the leadership of clarinetist Michael Almich.

Michelle Van Handel is familiar to Central Oregon jazz patrons as a vocalist, composer, and keyboard artist. She is backed by bassist John Allen, Dillon Schneider, guitar, Ted Burton, clarinet and Bruce Gavlik, trombone and drums.

The Sisters Middle School Jazz Ensemble and the Sisters High School Jazz Band will perform also on Friday afternoon at SJF's open venue in Barclay Park.

Jazz venues include continuous performances in the Village Green tent, the Comfort Inn/Mt. Shadow RV Park Pavilion, and Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill and Saloon. Limited use venues are at Barclay Park and Sisters High School Auditorium.

Special programs for the 2004 Sisters Jazz Festival include the following:

• "Three on One," featuring pianists Jeff Barnhart, Michael Kaeshammer and Randy Morris using three grand pianos at the Sisters High School Auditorium, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday;
• An after-hours jam session with festival musicians at Bronco Billy's at 10: 30 p.m. Saturday;
• Two Gospel programs Sunday morning at 9 a.m. with Yve Evans and Chicago 6 at the Village Green and High Street at the Comfort Inn Pavilion.

All-event and individual day badges for the jazz festival may be purchased in advance at Paulina Springs Books, or beginning Thursday at the Village Green.

Badges will be available at the major venues during the festival.

All-event youth badges are available for students ages 12-18 for $10 and children under 12 are admitted to performances free when accompanied by an adult.