New Format Pays off Big for COOL Jazz Winnipeg Festival

By TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival (Jazz Winnipeg Inc.)

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With rave reviews and huge attendance, the 2007 COOL Jazz Winnipeg Festival was an enormous success.

The festival opened with a spectacular, nearly sold-out show by Pink Martini on June 22nd. The 99.1 COOL-FM Performance Series continued Saturday night with an exceptional double bill featuring the innovative trio The Bad Plus and saxophonist Joshua Redman widely considered to be part of the next generation of jazz icons.

Sunday night featured a once in a lifetime concert experience when Kenny Garrett and Herbie Hancock shared the bill at the Burton Cummings Theatre. After two outstanding performances, the night was capped off when Kenny joined Herbie onstage for an encore. Not content to serve up just one double-bill, the COOL Jazz Winnipeg Festival presented David Fathead Newman and Freddy Cole sharing a show at McPhillips Street Station on Monday night. Manitoba talent was celebrated with music and dance at Jazz on Tap on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet took the stage at the Centennial Concert Hall and wowed the audience a stunning performance. The week of Performance Series shows was capped off with a show from singer Madeleine Peyroux and an incredible performance from the Derek Trucks Band.

At the New Groove Series, James Hunter and Jackie Greene played an exceptional show at the Pyramid Cabaret on Friday night. Champion & His G-Strings were joined by turntablist Mike Relm. Papa Mambo led a hot night of salsa on Sunday night and rising hip-hop star Cadence Weapon took the stage Monday night. The week continued with the eclectic instrumental sounds of The Hylozoists and afrobeat band Antibalas. And the house was packed for the Thursday night show by mashup DJ Girl Talk.

Harmonica genius Carlos del Junco played three nights at The Windsor Hotel to kick off The Blues Series. Guitar Shorty served up two outstanding shows followed by two nights of jump blues with Little Charlie and the Nightcats.

The Late Nite Series featured two packed nights for singer Sophie Milman. Other highlights included an impromptu jam at the Exchange Events Centre with Benito Gonzales and Nat Reeves from Kenny Garretts band and David Fathead Newman who joined Steve Kirby and his band on Sunday night. Vocalist Dione Taylor, the Vijay Iyer Quartet and the incredible Esperanza Spalding gave incredible performances throughout the week.

Thanks to support from TD Canada Trust, the Jazz Labs offered free workshops from festival performers including The Bad Plus, Owen Clark, Björn Thoroddsen, Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa, Henry Cole and Esperanza Spalding.

Audiences were treated to free afternoon performances at The Forks from Big Jay Harrison and the Jive Flyers. On Saturday, Owen Clark paid tribute to local music legend Gar Gillies.

The Mars Hill Jazz for Lunch Series brought hundreds of music fans to Old Market Square with performances by A Taste of New Orleans, ODD, Lullaby Baxter, Andrew Rathbun and the Klowak / Cummings Group.

For the first time, the COOL Jazz Winnipeg Festival closed with four days of free music in Old Market Square. Audiences came in droves to celebrate Canada Day at the TD Canada Trust Stage and were treated to fantastic performances all weekend from artists like WIL, DK Ibomeka and dbClifford. Canada Day festivities started at 11:00 a.m. with big bands including and activities for the whole family. The music was interrupted briefly by the rain but was back on quickly and the night was capped off by a lively show from dbClifford. The festival finished as it began with a spectacular night of music capped off by the funk soul of Moses Mayes.

Jazz Winnipeg acknowledges the generous support of our title sponsor 99.1 COOL-FM; TD Canada Trust; Xerox; Great-West Life; St. Johns Music; The Winnipeg Free Press; Heineken; Shaw Cablesystems; Epic Information Solutions; The Fairmont Winnipeg; Mars Hill Group; Casinos of Winnipeg; McNally Robinson Booksellers; The Prolific Group; Maxim Transportation Services; Pattison Outdoor Advertising; Music Performance Fund; The Canada Council for the Arts; Ibex Payroll Services; The Exchange District Biz; JazzTimes Magazine; the City of Winnipeg; the Winnipeg Arts Council; Manitoba Culture, Heritage & Tourism; and Manitoba Film & Sound.

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