Lew Tabackin © Howard A. Gitelson

Local musician Dan Kozak founded the festival eleven years ago in order to honor Topeka's most famous jazz musician, saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. Coleman Hawkins came to Topeka from St. Joseph, Missouri for the opportunity to study music. He attended Topeka High School and studied music at Washburn University, now one of the festival's major sponsors. Coleman Hawkins went on to make the tenor saxophone the "voice" of jazz itself. The saxophone was a novelty instrument before Coleman Hawkins elevated it to its present status. He remained at the forefront of jazz and recorded over four decades, all the way into the post-bop era of the late 1960's, performing with most of the giants of jazz over the years.

Lew Tabackin, flutist and tenor saxophonist, is an artist of astonishing vision. His electrifying flute playing is at once virtuosic, primordial, cross-cultural, and passionate. His distinctive tenor sax style includes the use of wide intervals, abrupt changes of mood and tempo, and purposeful fervor, all in the service of showing the full range of possibilities of his instrument - melodically, rhythmically, and dynamically. Without copying or emulating jazz greats of the past, Mr. Tabackin has absorbed elements into his style, ultimately creating his own sound and aura.

Orquesta Alto Maiz (or-KES-ta Al-toe my-EE-s) also known as “The Salsa Band” is something of a musical enigma. It is a popular eleven-piece Latin-jazz-dance band made up of musicians now living in the "heartland" of America. The Latin tinged music they perform, usually found in the clubs of New York City, L.A. or Miami, has secured them a reputation as one of the hottest bands in the Midwest.

Musician / Educator Mark Levine writes: “The sounds of the guaguancó and bembé are springing up all over the country, and in no place do they sound better than they do in Iowa - eastern Iowa, to be exact - where Bob Washut's Orquesta Alto Maiz has everyone snapping their fingers in clave.”

Patrick Beach of the Des Moines Register writes"...elements that make this band such a blast: live exuberance, exceptional playing, sweaty Latin material, and unrelenting rhythm."

Christian Scott

Orquesta Alto Maiz plays a wide range of Latin musical styles, including merengue, samba, cha-cha-cha, salsa, calypso, and boleros. In addition to Latin-jazz standards by Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, Ismael Miranda, Mario Bauzá, Poncho Sanchez and other, the band has produced many successful original compositions as well.

One of the brightest jazz stars to emerge in the last few years is trumpeter Christian Scott. He makes his Concord Jazz debut with Rewind That, arguably the most remarkable premiere the genre has seen in the last decade. Instead of revisiting bebop the way young lions did in the early 1990s, Scott delivers a smart, grooved, and plugged-in set of tunes (nine of the 11 tracks are originals) with his electric sextet. Steeped in the jazz tradition and intent on participating in the music's evolution, the New York-based Berklee College of Music grad is indeed a significant new voice poised to make an impact on the future of jazz.

Schedule

FRIDAY - JUNE 2, 2006
• 4:45pm - 5:00pm Introductions & Acknowledgements
• 5:00pm - 6:00pm Dan Kozak's Topeka Ascension Orkester (Free Jazz)
• 6:15pm - 7:15pm Dan Thomas Quintet (Jazz)
• 7:30pm - 8:30pm Makuza (Latin Jazz)
• 9:00pm - 10:30pm ORQUESTA ALTO MAIZ Latin Jazz & Salsa

SATURDAY - JUNE 3, 2006
• 10:00am - 10:15am Introductions & Acknowledgements
• 10:15am - 11:00am Washburn University Jazz Combo
• 11:15am - 12:00pm Kansas State University Concert Jazz Ensemble
• 12:00pm - 2:00pm Mulvane Mountain-Plains Art Fair-Washburn University John Jaramillo - Orlando Zuniga (Smooth Jazz)
• 12:15pm - 1:00pm UMKC Jazz Band
• 1:15pm - 2:00pm John Paul & the Hellhounds (Blues)
• 2:00pm - 4:00pm Mulvane Mountain-Plains Art Fair-Washburn University Irving Curtis Group (Jazz)
• 2:15pm - 3:00pm The Blues Notions (Blues)
• 3:15pm - 4:15pm Fast Johnny Ricker
• 4:30pm - 5:30pm Loren Pickford / Bryan Hicks Group (Jazz)
• 5:45pm - 6:45pm Greg Carroll & Midnight Blue (Jazz)
• 7:00pm - 8:30pm Bob Bowman & Bowdog (Jazz)
• 9:00pm - 10:30pm Concord Recording Artist CHRISTIAN SCOTT

SUNDAY - JUNE 4, 2006
• 10:15am - 10:30am Introductions & Acknowledgements
• 10:30am - 11:15am Kansas City Kansas Community College Jazz Combo
• 11:30am - 12:15pm Topeka Jazz Workshop Band
• 12:30pm - 1:15pm Ron Gutierrez (Jazz)
• 1:30pm - 2:30pm Tommy Ruskin and Julie Turner
• 2:45pm - 3:45pm Everette DeVann Quartet featuring Eboni Fondren
• 4:00pm - 5:30pm LEW TABACKIN TRIO with Boris Koslov & Mark Taylor
• 5:45pm - 6:30pm El Shaddai Gospel Choir
• 6:30pm Closing & Jazz Benediction

The festival takes place in the big parking lot at Topeka Harley-Davidson, known as Harley Town, at 21st and Topeka Boulevard just South of the Expocentre. It takes place on June 2-4, 2006. For More details, visit them on the web at www.hawkinsjazzfest.com

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