Got your beach chairs, shades, and sunscreen ready? It’s time to mark your calendars for the annual Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival, to be held throughout the metro area June 12-26. National headliners this year will include sax legend Benny Golson, organ master Dr. Lonnie Smith, the vibrant beats of the Yellowjackets, and chanteuse Rosanna Vitro, along with our own home grown stars such as Bruce Henry, Doug Little, Butch Thompson, and Mulligan Stew. From soloists to big bands, from straight ahead to over the edge, from student clinics to club stages—this is the biggest jazz event of the year in not only the Twin Cities but the upper Midwest.

One of the largest civic events in the region, the HSJF is attended by nearly 75,000 jazz fans each year. At the center of the festival universe is Peavey Plaza, downtown Minneapolis’ outdoor amphitheater adjacent to Orchestra Hall and within two blocks the Convention Center and five major hotels. Within a few blocks of the plaza, several intersections are closed to traffic and support additional stages; nearby clubs, restaurants, and the Millennium Hotel bar provide additional venues for music throughout the day and evening. And across the Twin Cities area, St. Paul, Hopkins, Plymouth, Uptown Minneapolis, Eden Prairie, and Wayzata provide additional stages and activities to create a truly metropolitan festival, accessible to everyone. Even if you can’t be there for your favorite performers in person, Jazz 88 radio broadcasts live locally and streams live on the internet internationally. (If your summer vacation takes you to Italy or Australia, you can still keep up with the HSJF!)

The 2005 Festival is again under the able direction of Steve Heckler, and sponsored by the generous support of Mercedes Benz, KBEM FM 88 radio, WCCO TV, Minneapolis-St Paul Magazine, Copeland’s Restaurant, the Millennium Hotel, Dain Rauscher, Lander-Sherman, and a host of other corporate and private sponsors (see www.hotsummerjazz.com); in addition, the festival’s success depends upon the efforts of the many volunteers, club owners, and of course musicians who participate throughout the two weeks of activities and great music.

Last year marked the first time events were scheduled in downtown St. Paul, in Mears Park in Lowertown—a great venue to kick-off the festival's urban gigs, with headliner Lew Tabackin taking his hot tenor down the street into the Artists Quarter to finish the evening. Cuban keyboard dynamo Nachito Herrera and his Cuban All-Stars were booked on both sides of the river, at Mears Park and then a few days later on Peavy Plaza. Other highlights of the 2004 Festival included saxophone stars David “Fathead” Newman, Chicago legend Von Freeman, rising star Eric Alexander, and multi-hornman Ira Sullivan; keyboard virtuosos including organ master Jimmy McGriff, the ferocious young Hiromi, Italian lyricist Giacomo Aula, former Minnesotan, the very hot Bill Carrothers, and the fleet-fingered, walking encyclopedia Jon Weber who served the festival as “house pianist; bluesy vocalist Bettye Lavette on the Dakota stage; and local favorites like Dave Karr’s Mulligan Stew. The Millennium hosted a Vocalists’ Showcase, a who’s who of the area’s best voices, and evening jam sessions.

As in the past, this summer’s festival will include the fund raiser club crawl, “Jazz Night Out,” including a trolley route from one end of the Minneapolis downtown to the other, where you can stop along the way at any of a dozen music venues while raising money for the Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity--focusing on home ownership, and Project for Pride in Living (PPL)--focusing on rental housing.

Minnesota Orchestra Hall will again present a special evening with one of the masters of modern jazz, this year featuring Chick Corea and Touchstone, with special guest, our own Nachito Herrera, on June 21^st. The Dakota always presents at least one special show during the festival, and this year trumpet king Terrell Stafford and his quintet will be recording live over three nights (June 13-15); next up will be the festival return of Italian piano sensation Giacomo Aula and his Midwest Trio (June 16) and a weekend with the Doug Little Quartet (June 17-18). The following week, the Dakota will feature John Patitucci and Adam Rogers (June 21-22) and the Heatin' System's tenor sax man, Jerry Weldon (June 23). Across the river, the Artists Quarter's featured festival gig will be bop sax legend Charles McPherson (June 17-18).

Other special events include a number of clinics for students through the McPhail Center for Music, including public clinics with visiting artists. Last year, both Von Freeman and Fathead Newman engaged students in dialogue and demonstration, a delight to both young musicians and not so young jazz enthusiasts.

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