This year’s JVC Jazz Festival, already in its 22nd year, will take place from June through October in nine cities worldwide. While JVC Jazz Festival New York is the festival series’ anchor, JVC is also sponsoring festivals in Miami Beach, Chicago, Newport (R.I.), Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Paris, The Hague and Warsaw.
From June 1-5, the JVC Jazz Festival will be in Miami Beach, with headliners including Chris Botti (pictured) and Norman Brown’s “Summer Storm” featuring Peabo Bryson, Brenda Russell and Everette Harp. The party will move to New York for an extended stay from June 13-25 with highlighted performers including Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Dave Brubeck, Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr. (see related story “JVC Jazz Festival New York Offers 13 Days of Jazz”) and then to Chicago from July 21-23 with the Funk Brothers and the Charlie Hunter Trio.
JVC Jazz Festival Newport will take place from Aug. 11-14 and features Eartha Kitt, Wynton Marsalis Septet, McCoy Tyner Trio, Medeski Martin & Wood and Jon Faddis Quartet, among other performers. In the San Francisco Bay area, the smooth jazz JVC Jazz Festival Concord will take place on Aug. 20 with artists including Dave Koz & Friends “Smooth Summer Night,” Chris Botti, and Norman Brown’s “Summer Storm,” this time also joined by Brian Culbertson and Ledisi in addition to the previously mentioned members. In its final U.S. stop, JVC Jazz Festival Hollywood Bowl will take place on Aug. 21, with artists still to be announced.
Worldwide, JVC Jazz Festival will be at The Hague from July 7-10 with Ibrahim Ferrer opening the festival and a performance by the Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette Trio; other performers will be announced May 10. The line-ups of Paris’ festival, from Oct. 14-24, and Warsaw’s festival, from Oct. 28-30, will be announced at a later date.
An additional JVC Jazz Festival is also schedule for some time in November in Tokyo, with a schedule still to be announced.
JVC was founded in 1927, with its history rooted in the production of gramophones and records and later expanded to encompass most aspects of the audio and video industry. It began its festival sponsorship in 1984, when it teamed up with George Wein’s Festival Productions, Inc.
More information on the festivals can be found at Festival Productions’ website.
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