Hot Jazz Festival in Wilmington NC
15 Great Musicians Provide Trad Jazz Along the Cape Fear River
The weather might be cool in the port city of Wilmington - but things will heat up Jan 31 to February 2 when the 28th Annual NC Jazz Fest blows into town.
On Thursday, January 31, in Wilmington North Carolina, at the Hilton Riverside’s Grand Ballroom, the 28th Annual North Carolina Jazz Festival will kick off with hometown favorites, the University of North Carolina/Wilmington Big Band leading the pack of world-class musicians. Currently 18 students make up the band, and their heritage is solid. Over the past 25 years UNCW Big Band has been invited to play at North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, Holland, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and Austria's the Graz Jazz Festival.
Adding to Thursday night's musical repertoire of traditional jazz, in the cabaret style venue, will be members of the West Coast based B.E.D. (featuring jazz greats Becky Kilgore, Eddie Erickson, Dan Barrett, and Joel Forbes) and a sure to be rousing jam with other All Stars.
On both Fridays and Saturdays the concerts, featuring 15 of the world’s best begin at 7:30pm. A brunch on Saturday morning allows festival patrons and musicians to munch and mingle.
Honored as one of Top 20 events by the Southeast Tourism Society, the North Carolina Jazz Fest strives to showcase new talents with established favorites.
“This year’s North Carolina Jazz Festival promises to excite and entertain by introducing some new faces and sounds along with much loved jazz musicians from previous years,” states Sandy Evans, Chairman of the event.
Returning this year is the 12-year-old phenomenon – Jonathan “Jazz” Russell, who at 18 months was pointing to a violin and begging to play. Now the Suzuki trained string player, and featured on his own CD, The Sheik of Araby can improvise jazz with the best of the veterans.
On the flip side Bucky Pizzarelli is celebrating over 70 years as a virtuoso on the guitar. Long a member of the Doc Severinson band that appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Pizzarelli continues to bring fans to the staggering heights of sheer musical thrills with his playing.
The late singer/songwriter Mel Torme hailed clarinetist, Ken Peplowski, as “magic” and visitors to the NC Jazz Fest can see why first hand
Besides having gigs with the renowned Benny Goodman and being heard on the soundtracks of Woody Allen movies, Peplowski is also the musical director for the Eugene Jazz Festival.
Canadian Bria Skonberg might be young but her musical chops, as a trumpeter, are fully developed. A recent graduate of Capilano College with a degree in jazz performance, the twenty something cites Louis Armstrong as her personal inspiration. Appreciated across three continents Skonberg is a young star on a meteoric rise.
Tickets to the Jazz Fest can be purchased for single performances or as a patron package, which includes Saturday’s jazz brunch.
The Hilton Riverside is offering special room rates to visitors, and more off- season discounts can be found by at the Wilmington/Cape Fear Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau website.
The mid-winter blues will melt away with this hot weekend.
