3rd Annual Rochester City Jazz Festival

The 3rd annual Rochester City Jazz Festival will take place on Saturday November 10th from 2:30 p.m -8 p.m. at the Rochester Art Center. Tickets are $20 (Children 10 and under are free) and the festival will include performances by four regionally and internationally recognized jazz groups including the Steve Kenny Quartet, Kevin Clements (bass) and Dave Hagedorn (vibes), Fuzzy Math, and the McNasty Brass Band. Food and alcohol service will be provided by Old Abe Coffee Co.

The festival is made possible through the sponsorship of the Downtown Rochester, Minnesota, the 507 Magazine, Northern Sun Productions, Minuteman Press, The Rochester Art Center, and My Town My Music.

Schedule:

• Doors: 2 p.m.
• Steve Kenny Quartet: 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Kevin Clements, bass, and Dave Hagedorn, vibes : 4-5 p.m.
• Fuzzy Math: 5:30-6:30 p.m.
• McNasty Brass Band:  7-8 p.m.

Tickets:

• Adults & Kids 11+: $20.00
• Kids 10 & under: Free!

McNasty Brass Band

7-8 p.m.

McNasty Brass Band is a collection of Minneapolis/Saint Paul based horn players and percussionists that fuse the Minneapolis sound with the spirit of New Orleans. The outcome of this fusion is hard-hitting dance music and high-energy live shows. Each player works tirelessly outside McNasty Brass Band as a side-man, some with national and international touring acts. That’s what makes McNasty special– these youthful but experienced side-men come together and showcase their compositions, solos, group vocals, and stage presence as front-men. “McNasty Brass Band is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t make fun of the kid who is super into trumpet in 5th grade” (twincitiesmedia.net). “King Size Life,” their first studio album (available January 27, 2017), encapsulates their live energy with exciting compositions, rowdy gang vocals, and rip-roaring solos. The only thing missing is their dance moves!

Fuzzy Math

5:30-6:30 p.m.

Fuzzy Math is a Twin Cities-based group offering an eclectic mix of original jazz and creative pop covers…something for everyone. Founder, composer and keyboardist Mark Vandermyde started migrating from Mozart to Miles in middle school, studied composition at Harvard, and assembled a group of top-notch musicians to bring to life his vision of creating tunes that are interesting, accessible and fun; serious music that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The group was named to the StarTribune’s Best of Minnesota list (“Best Jazz Act For People Bored With Jazz”) and recently released their third CD “Dreamers Drive”. Joining the group for the Rochester City Jazz Fest are staples of the metro music scene Aaron Hedenstrom on saxophone, Eric Graham on bass and Haralds Bondaris on drums.

Links:

• www.fuzzymath.band
• www.facebook.com/fuzzymathjazz
• www.cdbaby.com/cd/fuzzymath13

Kevin Clements, bass, and Dave Hagedorn, vibes

4-5:00 p.m.

Kevin and Dave met in 1997 in Northfield, MN, and have been playing jazz together ever since. They play personalized arrangements of standards from the Great American Songbook, as well as contemporary compositions by musicians such as Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, and Kenny Wheeler. The combination of vibes and bass is a unique one, and interesting to both jazz aficionados as well as those not as familiar with the jazz tradition.

Kevin is a retired Northwest Airlines pilot, who made a living in a previous life (before getting his wings), playing bass in places like Dallas, Texas, and Kona, Hawaii. Dave is the jazz band director at St. Olaf College, and performs all over the Twin Cities metro area with a variety of different groups and genres.

The duo has played annually at the summer Bridge Chamber Festival in Northfield, at venues such as St. Olaf College, Carleton College and the Grand Theater. Most recently, they performed at Loon Liquors and Imminent Brewing in Northfield, MN.

Steve Kenny Quartet

2:30-3:30 p.m.The Steve Kenny Quartet is a flexible membership ensemble that focuses on select Original Compositions by Steve Kenny and a number of crowd-pleasing innovative arrangements of Jazz standards. The group has been performing on Twin Cities stages for 4 years, and has toured the Midwest and appeared on music series at Drake University, the Eau Clair Jazz festival, and the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. The ensemble is currently in post-production of a CD/Music App release of all original compositions. That product will be released in October, 2018. The quartet will include Steve Kenny (flumpet), Levi Schwartzberg (vibes), Ted Olson (bass), and Miguel Hurtado (drums).

Steve Kenny is active in the Minnesota Jazz community as a Performer, Composer, Band Leader, Producer, Publisher, and Curator. He is frequently appearing on various Twin Cities and regional stages playing FLUMPET(tm) while performing in or leading ensembles. He’s prolific as a Jazz composer, often performing and recording his own original works which have won awards and commissions. Steve is a founding member of ‘the illicit sextet’, “Group 47”, “What Would Monk Do?” and his own Quartets, and he is the creative force behind the production company “illicit Productions”, which produces well over one hundred live shows a year and has a growing yearly catalog of Jazz CD’s being produced, released and distributed, including the successful ‘Twin Cities Jazz Sampler CDs’, with Volume 3 slated to be released in early 2019. Steve also curates and produces weekly Jazz series at Jazz Central Studios, Black Dog Lowertown, and in the summertime at Studio Z in Saint Paul.