ATTENTION ALL MEDIA – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival, JazzFest 2007 Artist Information

(Sioux Falls, 2/20/2007)  The main stage performance line up for the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Festival – JazzFest (spelled as one word with a capital J and F), in Yankton Tail Park in Sioux Falls on July 20-21, 2007 is as follows:

Main Stage Performers
Listed in no particular order.  Artists are subject to change at any time.

Northlanders Jazz Band
http://www.augie.edu/dept/music/index.html

Augustana College’s Northlanders Jazz Band was started in 1954 with Earl Colgan as its first student director. It continued as a student-run organization until Dr. Harold Krueger assumed its leadership in 1965. Since then, the Jazz Band has performed for many campus and community events as well as being featured with numerous guest soloists in the annual Jazz on the Upper Great Plains Festival.  Dr. Paul Schilf directs the group.

The Lee Boys
http://www.leeboys.com/

The Lee Boys are a family band – three brothers and three nephews – at the forefront of “sacred steel” guitar-driven gospel. The Florida sextet’s soul-stirring sounds have justly earned a cult following thanks to Roosevelt Collier’s inspired pedal-steel playing, leader Alvin Lee’s fine Fender work and songwriting skills, Keith and Derrick Lee’s full-throttle vocals and lots of happy crossover with the jam band scene. 

Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers
http://www.themightyflyers.com/

Rod Piazza has been the driving force behind Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers since 1979.  The band recorded their first album in 1980.  From that time on up through the present, Rod and his band mates have released nearly a dozen albums and have toured blues clubs, venues and festivals in the US, Canada, England, Germany and Japan.  With his wife Honey Piazza on piano and upright bass player Bill Stuvee, as well as guitarists such as Alex Schultz and Rick Homstrom and drummer Jimmy Bott, their sound combines the styles of Jump Blues, West Coast Blues, and Chicago Blues.  Known for their exciting and powerful live performances, Rod Piazza often strolls around the audience, while not missing a note on harmonica, jumps on a bar or counter and duels it out with either the piano or guitar.

Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans
http://www.doreensjazz.com/index.htm

Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans is a group whose interest lies in spreading the culture and traditional music of New Orleans all over the world through performance and education.  Their show-stopping performances at private engagements and music festivals all over North and South America, Canada, Europe, and Asia have coined them the name “The Show Stoppers.” They not only entertain their audiences through music, but also teach the rich, historic and diverse culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. They have received rave reviews from newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs such as VH1, PBS, BET and MTV which tell of the many delightful surprises in each and every one of their performances.   Doreen’s Jazz New Orleans performed in Sioux Falls in March 2006.

Steve Weingart and Mike Miller

Steve Weingart began his musical career playing piano at age three. In his formative years of classical study, In 1984 Steve was awarded a full scholarship at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music to further his study of jazz. It was during this period that Steve’s writing and playing abilities were brought to the forefront. His mastery of the keyboard and programming expertise quickly thrust him into the thick of the Cincinnati music scene. In 1994, Steve decided on a change of scenery and moved to Los Angeles CA, where he has found his way with new musical experiences, and has become one of the most in demand keyboardist in town. Steve is now based in Burbank, California and along with his busy playing schedule; he is also on the faculty at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood.

Mike Miller was born into a musical family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1953.  He was the third of four bass-playing brothers, performing with his father’s jazz combo at twelve.  While much is made of individuality and originality among musicians, Miller seems beyond those qualities: he is unlikely in the way he defies description.  Consider that Miller has worked with jazz pianist Chick Corea, diva/comedienne Bette Midler, pop craftsmen Gino Vanelli and Burton Cummings, the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Wall of VooDoo’s Stan Ridgeway, film composer and former Devo front man Mark Mothersbaugh, the Frank Zappa Banned from Utopia alumni band, and many others.  This is a range of experience that challenges the imagination – edgy spontaneity in Corea’s electric jazz, slapstick “comedy guitar” with Bette Midler, and complex orchestration in writing of Marc Anthony Turnage and Frank Zappa.

Bonerama
http://www.bonerama.net/

The sheer force of four trombones playing simultaneously was to be their calling card. Still, when Mark Mullins and Craig Klein formed the trombone blitzkrieg of Bonerama, skeptics and traditionalists raised their voices in puritanical protest. The initial stirrings of the trombone cavalcade known as Bonerama began in 1998, when Mullins and Klein found themselves with some rare time off from their steady gig in Harry Connick Jr’s big band.  The ensemble tours frequently, selling out venues like Manhattan’s Tobacco Road. San Francisco’s Boom Boom Room.  Bonerama has gained a remarkable reputation for incendiary live performances, as well as a devout and ever-expanding fan base.

Jon Cleary and the Monster Gentlemen
http://www.joncleary.com/

A funky piano wizard with a standout soulful voice, Jon Cleary embodies decades of Crescent City music magic, continuing the tradition of R&B giants like Professor Longhair, James Booker, Dr. John, and Allen Toussaint.  A slot at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1994 proved that he was an integral part of the local music scene and coaxed Cleary to form his own permanent backup band.  Named the “Absolute Monster Gentlemen” after a catch phrase uttered by late guitar luminary Johnny “Guitar” Watson, the band brings an array of roots styles to Cleary’s raw sound. Cleary’s band garnered fast popularity on the merits of its skin-tight arrangements and intense interplay.

Robert Cray Band
http://www.robertcray.com

Robert Cray is one of a precious few active blues artists with the talent and vision to successfully usher the idiom into the future without resorting either to slavish imitation or simply playing rock while passing it off as blues. Just as importantly, his immensely popular records helped to jump-start the contemporary blues boom that still holds sway to this day. Blessed with a soulful voice that sometimes recalls ’60s-great O.V. Wright and a concise lead guitar approach that never wastes notes, Cray’s ascendancy was amazingly swift — in 1986 his breakthrough Strong Persuader album for Mercury (containing “Smoking Gun”) won him a Grammy and shot his asking price for a night’s work skyward. Unlike too many of his peers, Cray continues to experiment within his two presiding genres, blues and soul. Sets such as Midnight Stroll, I Was Warned and Shame + a Sin for Mercury show that the “bluenatics” (as he amusedly labels his purist detractors) have nothing to fear and plenty to anticipate from this innovative, laudably accessible guitarist. – Bill Dahl, All Music Guide

Derek Trucks Band
http://www.derektrucks.com/

The Derek Trucks Band takes a progressive approach to roots music, blending rock, blues, jazz, and world music into the sound that now defines the DTB. The chemistry between the band members in this ensemble is undeniable, a result of heavy touring and fearless improvisation.  The Derek Trucks Band is known for their amazing live performances, led by Trucks’ soaring guitar work, and backed by the impressive individual talents of this band.  The Derek Trucks Band is supporting their 2006 release “Songlines” as well as their DVD release “Songlines Live”, providing further proof of the explosive power of this live juggernaut.  Just 27 years old, Trucks has forged a name for himself over the years as an innovative guitar virtuoso, the youngest musician named in Rolling Stone’s List of “The Top 100 Guitarists of All Time”.  Trucks was recently asked to join guitar legend Eric Clapton’s world tour as a featured soloist in his band.  Touring over 300 days per year, Trucks currently divides his time between The Derek Trucks Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and his new gig sharing the stage with Clapton. 

The second stage line up will be announced at a later date.

More information about JazzFest 2007 can be found at www.jazzfestsiouxfalls.com.