Curt's Jazz Cafe

Official 2012 Atlanta Jazz Festival Artwork by Corey Barksdale

You may recall that last May, I documented in this blog my family’s trip to the 34th Annual Atlanta Jazz Festival. Last year, it was a spur of the moment decision that we made, based on the luck of our work schedules. The music was great and we had a great time, until my Sunday evening eye incident.

Well, this year we are well ahead of schedule. And I plan to carry plenty of insect repellent to keep nasty flying things out of my face. It’s a good thing, as the lineup is even stronger than last year’s.

First of all there’s an extra day of free music. Where the 2011 Festival had two free days; this year the free portion of the festival in Piedmont Park extends through Monday. And we will be there to catch every minute.

Here’s a look at this year’s lineup:

Saturday, May 26, 2012

• 3 pm – Dwight Andrews
• 5 pm – Cyrus Chestnut Trio
• 7 pm – Kathleen Bertrand
• 9 pm – Roy Ayers

Sunday, May 27

• 3 pm – Mushy Widmaier Quintet
• 5 pm – Gregoire Maret
• 7 pm – Lionel Loueke Trio
• 9 pm – Tito Puente, Jr. and his Orchestra

Monday, May 28

• 3 pm – Yolanda Rabun
• 5 pm – Russell Gunn and Elektrik Butterfly
• 7 pm – Grace Kelly Quintet
• 9 pm – Robert Glasper Experiment

In addition to these artists on the Main Stage, there will also be a lot happening on the Atlanta International Jazz Stage, where some fine up and coming artists will be featured, such as bassist Omer Avital, vocalist/trombonist Saunders Sermons and trumpeter Melvin Jones, who set the house on fire on the main stage last year, in an appearance with vocalist Audrey Shakir.  The International Stage shows go on simultaneously with the Main Stage shows, but it’s definitely worth checking out at some point during the weekend.

And for those of you unfamiliar with the AJF, that was not a typo earlier, it is free.  One of the largest and finest free jazz festivals in the country, or even in the world.  So get there early, bring your lawn chair and your cooler and make a weekend of it.  I’ll be dropping blog posts regularly over the next six weeks, leading up to the festival, with further information about the artists. I’ll also be vlogging live from the festival, as we did last year.

For information about Piedmont Park, a full event schedule and hotel accommodation suggestions, visit the Atlanta Jazz Festival website.

Well see you in the ATL on May 26th!

This entry was posted on April 18, 2012 at 12:37 am and is filed under Atlanta Jazz Festival 2012, JazzLives! with tags atlanta jazz festival, live jazz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.