Reno Jazz Festival Events Announced

Pianist/composer Fred Hersch (pictured) and alto/soprano saxophonist Kenny Garrett will headline the 2005 Reno Jazz Festival. The festival, held each spring at the University of Nevada-Reno, will take place this year from April 21-23. The Reno Jazz Festival offers competitions, workshops and clinics by jazz professionals for young jazz musicians throughout the west, and concludes with a festival showcase concert and awards ceremony to honor the brightest young standouts.

Fred Hersch and the university’s own faculty ensemble, The Collective, will perform April 21. Hersch, who started playing piano at the age of four, is known for his ability to reinvent jazz standards. Hersch has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and has recorded with artists such as Diana Krall, Joe Lovano, and Jim Hall. The Collective, made up of Larry Engstrom (trumpet) Peter Epstein (alto saxophone) David Ake (piano) Hans Halt (bass) and Andrew Heglund (drums), has toured frequently throughout the western United States.

The Kenny Garrett Quartet will perform April 22. Raised in a jazz family, Garrett has been playing since he was a young boy and over the course of his career, he has played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Mel Lewis Orchestra. He also worked with Miles Davis during a five-year, four-album period, and has collaborated with the likes of Sting and Peter Gabriel.

The Festival Showcase Concert and Awards Ceremony will take place April 23 and will feature awards and encore performances from some of the festival’s groups and soloists.

Tickets and more information can be found online at www.unr.edu/rjf.

Originally Published April 1, 2005