[Edited for space; for full coverage including numerous jazz fests, see
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May 2, 2004
POP AND JAZZ FESTIVALS
Bonnaroo Jams In Everyone
By BEN SISARIO
California
COACHELLA Indio, ends today. Unless you happen to live nearby and are the impulsive type, it is probably too late to attend, but if you do, you will have something to brag about for a long time. Coachella has become one of the most talked-about festivals in recent years, as much because of its kiss-your-fingertips-and-say-magnifique bookings (a reunion of Iggy and the Stooges last year; the Pixies reunion yesterday) as its luxurious setting in the expansive Southern California desert. The Cure, the Flaming Lips and Air headline today's concert, and among the two dozen or so other acts are Belle and Sebastian, Basement Jaxx, Le Tigre, Bright Eyes, Dizzee Rascal, Atmosphere, Prefuse 73, Mogwai and Antibalas.
www.coachella.com HOLLYWOOD BOWL Los Angeles, June 25-Sept. 21. The old amphitheater gets a facelift this year, with a new shell â?? its fifth since 1922, with improved acoustics and some high-tech lighting and projection capabilities. The classical offerings are strong, but the pop side is tamer than it needs to be, with Harry Connick Jr., K. D. Lang, Rufus Wainwright and Dave Brubeck; a Blue Note label showcase on Sept. 1 has Van Morrison, Dianne Reeves, Kurt Elling, Greg Osby and others (but no Norah Jones). The Playboy Jazz Festival (June 19-20) has the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Etta James, Hugh Masekela, Savion Glover, the Herbie Hancock-Wayne Shorter-Dave Holland-Brian Blade quartet, Bela Fleck, Yerba Buena and Roy Hargrove. (323) 850-2000,
www.hollywoodbowl.org; Playboy Jazz Festival: (310) 449-4070.
MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL Sept. 17-19. Now in its 47th season, Monterey calls itself the longest continuously running jazz festival in the country. (The Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island was founded in 1954 but moved to New York in the 1970's before resuming in 1981.) This year it has lots of big names in promising and provocative combinations, just as a first-class jazz festival should: Bobby McFerrin with Jack DeJohnette, Terence Blanchard with Jon Faddis and Marian McPartland with Bill Charlap, Jason Moran and Lynne Arriale. Also: EST, Jean-Michel Pilc, the Bad Plus, John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet and a couple dozen others. Not bad! (925) 275-9255,
www.montereyjazzfestival.org `RETURN TO SIN CITY: A TRIBUTE TO GRAM PARSONS' Santa Barbara Bowl (July 9), Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles (July 10). More than 30 years after his death, Parsons stands as a visionary who equated rock and country, thus laying an early track for the alt-country revolution of the 90's. A pair of concerts pays tribute with a starry cast: Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle, along with the Thrills, Jim Lauderdale, Raul Malo and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Tickets for both shows go on sale Saturday.
www.gramparsonstribute.com Connecticut
OZZFEST All hail Ozzy Osbourne, who defies death at every turn and never misses a chance to promote himself. Earlier this year he had a bad accident on an all-terrain vehicle and said that he might never be able to perform again, then quickly and heroically announced his determination to headline the eighth Ozzfest tour. This year the lineup looks old-fashioned and rather classy by metal standards, with Judas Priest, Slayer, Slipknot and Phil Anselmo's Superjoint Ritual. If Mr. Osbourne were looking for a tour to bow out on, this would be a good one. It opens on July 10 at the Ctnow.com Meadows Music Center in Hartford and comes to Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y., on July 14 and the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., two days later. The tour runs through Sept. 4.
www.ozzfest.com District of Columbia
MARY LOU WILLIAMS WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL Kennedy Center, May 13-15. This isn't a major anniversary year for Williams, the pianist and composer who died in 1981 at 71. But suddenly she's everywhere. Besides this annual festival, now in its ninth year, she is being celebrated in a series at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and an intriguing new biography, "Soul on Soul," by Tammy L. Kernodle has just been published. Among the performers here are Miriam Sullivan, Luciana Souza, Carol Sudhalter, Janis Siegel, Geri Allen and LaVerne Butler. On May 14, Toshiko Akiyoshi will be given the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award. (800) 444-1324,
www.kennedy-center.org Florida
VERIZON MUSIC FESTIVAL Created three years ago by Festival Productions as a lighter version of its JVC Jazz Festival, this series of three small festivals has morphed into a mainstream pop event with little resemblance to its jazz origins. It began in New York last week; from May 14-20 it will be in Tampa Bay, with Evanescence, K. D. Lang, the Manhattan Transfer, Tinsley Ellis and the Flatlanders; in Los Angeles on July 22-25, it will feature India.Arie, Jewel and the salsa star Victor Manuelle. (212) 501-1390,
www.verizon.com/musicfestival Illinois
CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL June 10-13. One of the largest blues happenings in the world, this series programmed by the mayor's office regularly draws hundreds of thousands of fans for free concerts in Grant Park. This year, the festival's 21st, will feature a concert on June 11 by some of the oldest active blues guitarists: Robert Jr. Lockwood, David (Honeyboy) Edwards â?? both with direct links to the great Robert Johnson, who died in 1938 â?? and Homesick James. Other highlights include a 70th birthday tribute to Lonnie Brooks (a k a Guitar Junior), with his sons Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks. (312) 744-3315,
www.verizon.com/musicfestival RAVINIA FESTIVAL Highland Park, June 4-Sept. 12. The summer home of the Chicago Symphony, now 100 years old, has long had a strong pop and jazz component. This year is no different, although most of the names read as though they could have appeared at any time in the last three decades: Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Marian McPartland and Ramsey Lewis, José Feliciano, George Thorogood, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. But wait: younger faces include Roy Hargrove, Rufus Wainwright and Medeski, Martin and Wood. (847) 266-5100,
www.ravinia.org Indiana
BILL MONROE MEMORIAL MUSIC PARK AND CAMPGROUND Bean Blossom. Just five miles north of Nashville â?? Nashville, Ind., that is â?? this park is the host to a long list of country and roots-music festivals, the brightest of which is the annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. Now in its 38th year, it was founded by Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, and has a credible claim to being the oldest continuously running series of its kind. This year it runs June 13-19 with Rhonda Vincent, Melvin Goins, Eddie and Martha Adcock and a few dozen others. Other festivals here include the Olde Tyme Music Festival (May 13-15), the Central Indiana Bluegrass Festival (July 1-4), Paul Williams's Bean Blossom Gospel Jubilee (Aug. 12-14) and a blues festival (Sept. 10-12). (800) 414-4677,
www.beanblossom.com Louisiana
ESSENCE MUSIC FESTIVAL New Orleans, July 2-4. Not many festivals are as dedicated to the idea of black pop, or get such a broad swath of it, as this weekend series at the Louisiana Superdome. It celebrates its 10th season with a roster that juggles stars from the 60's to right now: Prince headlines the opening night, and Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Maze, Gladys Knight, New Edition and the hip-hop-gospel star Donnie McClurkin round out the lineups on the main stage. A second stage has Common, the Ohio Players, Little Milton and Kenny Lattimore and Chanté Moore. (800) 488-5252,
www.essence.com New York City
CELEBRATE BROOKLYN Prospect Park Bandshell, June 16-Aug. 7. When it comes to free and almost free outdoor summer concerts, Manhattan has its SummerStage and the proud inhabitants of Kings County have Celebrate Brooklyn. Its bookings are top-notch, and its location â?? around a handsome bandshell, with the never-too-crowded pathways of Prospect Park on one side and the stately town houses of Park Slope on the other â?? is ideal. It opens with Los Lobos and continues with Burning Spear and Oliver Lake (June 24); Hal Willner's tribute to Neil Young, with Cat Power, Ron Sexsmith and Iron and Wine (June 26); the incredible Turkish folk-techno fusion group Mercan Dede, with the equally incredible Gypsy group Les Yeux Noirs (July 23); and the longtime Brooklyn boosters They Might Be Giants (July 30). It concludes on Aug. 7 with its annual African concert, with Maria de Barros, Kanda Bongo Man, Kaleta and Sidiki. (718) 855-7882, ext. 45,
www.brooklynx.org HUDSON RIVER FESTIVAL Free concerts in various parks and open spaces in Lower Manhattan, June 15-Aug. 11. After seeing Glenn Branca conduct his symphony for 100 electric guitars in the shadow of the World Trade Center in the summer of 2001, I will always find these concerts strange and out of place. With Ladysmith Black Mambazo (June 29), the alt-blues-rock stars the Black Keys (July 6), an intriguing double bill of the Brazilian singer Luciana Souza and the Mexican singer Lila Downs (July 20) and the jazz-funkster Roy Hargrove (Aug. 11). (212) 528-2733,
www.hudsonriverfestival.com LINCOLN CENTER The schedule is just as full this summer as it was in the three previous seasons, especially for pop. The Midsummer Night Swing series, with 27 nights of concerts and dance lessons, opens June 10 with George Gee's Swingin' Big Band in a tribute to Count Basie and Glenn Miller, and it closes with Illinois Jacquet on July 16, with Los Macondos de Colombia, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Los Soneros de Oriente and others in between; the Lincoln Center Festival (July 6-25) has Elvis Costello for three concerts (with jazz, classical and pop themes), and DJ Spooky's multimedia "Rebirth of a Nation," with portions of D. W. Griffith's 1915 "Birth of a Nation" "remixed" with new images and hip-hop music; the 34th season of the free Out of Doors series begins on Aug. 10 with Sonny Rollins and runs through Aug. 30 with jazz, classical, world music and pop events nearly every day, including the the Indonesian rock group Krakatau Ensemble (Aug. 19), the 21st annual Roots of American Music weekend with Arlo Guthrie and the Saw Doctors (Aug. 20-21) and Chick Corea (Aug. 30). (212) 875-5766,
www.lincolncenter.org SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL Coney Island, July 17. One of the most welcome new summer additions, the Siren Festival is a day of sun and sea mist along the streets and boardwalk of Coney Island with the joyous cacophony of indie rock from noonish till sundown, courtesy of the good people at The Village Voice. This year the bands include Death Cab for Cutie, TV on the Radio, Blonde Redhead, Har Mar Superstar, the Constantines, Fiery Furnaces, the Fever and Your Enemies Friends.
www.villagevoice.com/siren SUMMERSTAGE Rumsey Playfield, Central Park. Thanksgiving should come in the summer in New York. It's the time when the beaches open up, ordinary pressures ease a bit and Central Park blooms with music, most of it free. SummerStage has long been a reason to be thankful, with world-class bookings that often include major New York debuts â?? a breezy afternoon show two years ago by the reunited African group Orchestra Baobab is a treasured memory â?? presented amid the beauty and tranquillity of the park's grand old trees. The full schedule of free concerts has not been announced, but the benefit (i.e., not free) shows are to include the Strokes (May 19), Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds and Guster (July 13-14), the return of Devo (July 23), Lucinda Williams (Aug. 10), Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (Aug. 18) and Jack Johnson with G. Love and Special Sauce (Sept. 13). (212) 360-2777,
www.summerstage.org New York State
JONES BEACH Wantagh. The full schedule here at everybody's favorite oceanfront Long Island amphitheater has not been announced, but early highlights include David Bowie (June 4), Kid Rock (June 11), Aerosmith and Cheap Trick (June 22), Sting and Annie Lennox (July 1), Britney Spears (July 8-9), the Ozzfest tour (July 14), the Roots with 311 and Medeski, Martin and Wood (July 25), the Projekt Revolution tour with Snoop Dogg, Korn, Less Than Jake and the Used (Aug. 2), Rush (Aug. 11) the Dead (Aug. 13-14) and John Mayer with DJ Logic and Maroon 5 (Aug. 18). (516) 221-1000,
www.jonesbeachamp.com MOEDOWN Snow Ridge Ski Area, Turin, Sept. 3-5. That Moe, a popular and enterprising jam band from upstate New York, would start its own mini-festival and invite some like-minded groups for a few evenings to play to their hearts' content is not a surprise. But what's impressive about Moedown is the extent to which the group â?? which encourages taping and other high-tech fan sacraments â?? welcomes audience participation. Fans at the band's winter tour and "Moe Cruise" were invited to document those shows on video; here they will be able to share their film and, according to a press release, "tell Moe how the band has changed them or what they would change about the band, the music and the Moe concert experience." It's the biggest focus group ever assembled! With fellow jammers the Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, Ani DiFranco, Cracker Van Beethoven, David Grisman, Les Claypool and Medeski, Martin and Wood.
www.moe.org SONGS AT THE LAKE Lake Placid, July 31-Aug. 1. A new outdoor festival in the clean air (and, usually, cool temperatures) of the Adirondack Mountains, with Los Lobos, Rosanne Cash, Donna the Buffalo, Little Feat, Sonny Landreth, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Guy Clark, Steve Forbert, Buckwheat Zydeco and others. (518) 523-3330,
www.songsatthelake.org Rhode Island
NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL Aug. 6-8. The real fun here tends to happen when Bob Dylan appears. This year, as most, he will not, but the lineup is still attractive, with usual suspects like Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Doc Watson, plus top-notch newcomers like Corey Harris, Ollabelle, Slaid Cleaves and Laura Cantrell, and some intriguing combinations like the Dixie Hummingbirds with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson. (401) 847-3700,
www.newportfolk.com Tennessee
BONNAROO Manchester, June 11-13. This undefinable smorgasbord on a 700-acre farm 60 miles south of Nashville, in just its third year, has already revolutionized the modern rock festival with an aesthetic of multiplicity and connoisseurship. Building on a core of big-name jam-rock â?? a niche market of proven profitability â?? the promoters have put together a multifaceted music event that is one of the few in the country that rightly deserves to be called a festival. Bob Dylan rubs elbows with Dave Matthews; the Dead and David Byrne make room for Wilco, Trey Anastasio and Ween, Ani DiFranco, Willie Nelson and Patti Smith. Not enough for you? How about Primus, Robert Earl Keen, Loque, My Morning Jacket, Bill Laswell's Praxis, Nellie McKay, Danger Mouse, Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing, Yo La Tengo and the Jazz Mandolin Project? Bring sunscreen and taping equipment.
www.bonnaroo.com CMA MUSIC FESTIVAL/FAN FAIR Nashville, June 10-13. A monster four-day festival of country music at the Coliseum â?? the home of the National Football League's Tennessee Titans â?? and elsewhere in downtown Nashville. With Brooks and Dunn, Clint Black, LeAnn Rimes, Montgomery Gentry, Wynonna, Trace Adkins, Terri Clark, Vince Gill, Lonestar, Keith Urban, Jo Dee Messina, Clay Walker, Glen Campbell, Darryl Worley, Billy Ray Cyrus and Charlie Daniels. Highlights are to be broadcast on CBS during the summer. (800) CMA-FEST,
www.fanfair.com GREAT HIGH MOUNTAIN TOUR Well, it makes sense: grab the musicians who played on the soundtracks for the films "Cold Mountain" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and send them on tour. (T-Bone Burnett, who produced both soundtracks, is one of the musical directors of the tour.) With Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Ollabelle, Norman and Nancy Blake, the Whites, the Cox Family and others. It kicks off Wednesday at the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, comes to the Beacon Theater in New York on May 27, and runs through June 14. Knoxville: (877) 995-9961,
www.tbarena.com; New York: (212) 307-7171,
www.ticketmaster.com Texas
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS MUSIC FESTIVAL Zilker Park, Austin, Sept. 17-19. An outgrowth of the long-running concert program on PBS, this series actually takes place outdoors in Austin (as opposed to inside a television studio with a cityscape backdrop) and has a huge lineup, with some 130 bands over just three days. It is still being booked, but confirmed big names include the Pixies, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper and Trey Anastasio.
www.aclfestival.com KERRVILLE FOLK FESTIVAL Quiet Valley Ranch, May 27-June 13. The grandaddy of all grass-roots folk festivals, Kerrville has attracted emerging songwriters and performers since 1972. The festival has a knack for bringing out new talent: Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams and Nancy Griffith all played it early in their careers, and Michelle Shocked recorded her breakthrough "Texas Campfire Tapes" album there in 1986. Rod Kennedy, the festival's founder, sold it in 1999 and retired two years ago, but things do not appear to have changed under its new ownership. Big names this year include Willis Alan Ramsey (composer of the immortal "Muskrat Love"), Ellis Paul, Slaid Cleaves and Peter, Paul and Mary, but the real stars are always people you haven't heard of yet. (800) 435-8429,
www.kerrville-music.com Washington
BUMBERSHOOT Seattle, Sept. 3-6. Like most outdoor festivals in major cities, this Labor Day series in Seattle Center, in the shadow of the Space Needle, has a huge and varied lineup of plays, comedians, acrobats and crafts peddlers. But the big news â?? and the draw for locals â?? is always the handful of top rock bookings that are made long in advance. This year the festival has scored an early coup: the Pixies, those beloved giants of turn-of-the-90's indie rock whose reunion is the highlight of the Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif., this weekend, and who will spend the rest of the summer playing in Europe. Bumbershoot is one of the few open festivals to have the group when it returns in September (the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas is another). The other big names here are non sequiturs: Nas, Nickleback, Harvey Pekar and Koko Taylor. (206) 281-7788,
www.bumbershoot.org LOLLAPALOOZA Thirteen summers since Perry Farrell established the festival that codified the alternative rock aesthetic and reinvented the summer package tour, he is back with a revision inspired by Coachella and Bonnaroo, the summer-concert trendsetters of the moment. The ninth Lollapalooza (it returned in 2003 after a hiatus of five years) will be a two-day affair; whether this is the best way to capture the communal vibe or to sell more overpriced bottles of water, we will have to guess. The tour begins July 14-15 at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, with Morrissey, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, the Polyphonic Spree, PJ Harvey, Gomez, String Cheese Incident, Le Tigre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. No New York-area date has been announced. (360) 825-6200,
www.whiteriverconcerts.com West Virginia
ALL GOOD SUMMER FESTIVAL AND CAMP OUT Marvins Mountaintop, Masontown, July 9-11. The biggest growth area in summer concert promotion is the regional mini-festival based around jam bands that cater to an ardent niche audience. Here's another one that is tempting in its abundance even if every band is not to my taste: Keller Williams, Leftover Salmon, Darkstar Orchestra, Del McCoury, the Disco Biscuits, North Mississippi Allstars, Soulive, Ozric Tentacles, Steve Kimock Band, Libby Kirkpatrick and â?? but of course â?? Medeski, Martin and Wood. Advance tickets start at $69 for the weekend. (800) 594-TIXX,
www.walther-productions.com/8All_Good.htm
