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Twin Cities Winter Jazz Fest on March 2, 2008 featuring Sonny Fortune |
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Written by Pat Courtemanche
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008 |
 Sonnt Fortune © Howard A. Gitelson
In addition to two sets by Sonny Fortune (5:00 pm & 7:00 pm), the Main Stage will feature Southern Minnesota’s Real Big Band and the Bellagala Big Band. On the Upper Stage, music will include the excellent horn-driven bop quintet Snowblind, the adventurous Bells & Whistles and more. The Jazz Vocalists of Minnesota, a coalition of some of the area’s top singers, will perform throughout the day on the Atrium Stage. MacPhail Center for Music will host two clinic stages, with a spotlight on youth performers and workshops.
Proceeds from the Twin Cities Winter Jazz Fest benefit the summer Twin Cities Jazz Festival, which returns in June 2008.
Sonny Fortune, born in the great jazz city of Philadelphia in 1939, is a saxophonist who is compared to the greats – including John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and the like. Fortune moved to New York City in 1967 to pursue his jazz career and, except for a brief stint in Los Angeles, has been in the Big Apple ever since. After early work with drumming legend Elvin Jones, Fortune joined Mongo Santamaria’s group for a two-year period. His next major endeavor was a period with McCoy Tyner, appearing on some of the piano great’s seminal recordings. Fortune was recruited to join Miles Davis’s band in 1974 during Davis’s fusion era, and over the period of one year the group’s output reached four albums. Since that time, Fortune has alternated between recording with luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie and George Benson, and leading his own dates with a focus on his riveting original compositions. Fortune has been a headliner at top jazz festivals around the world, has had his music featured in the Jack Nicholson movie “The Crossing Guard,” and has continued to release recordings as leader and sideman. An alto saxophonist who is equally adept at flute, clarinet, and tenor and baritone sax, Sonny Fortune is among the most respected names in jazz. |
Saturday, 20 March 2010
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