The 34th annual Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival will be held in Delaware Water Gap, Pa., on September 9-11. This year the festival is celebrating Bob Dorough.
Dorough’s career began in the 1940s. He has toured with Sugar Ray Robinson (when he was an entertainer), recorded with Miles Davis, composed for ABC-TV’s Schoolhouse Rock. Dorough has released 21 albums as a leader and also served as a sideman.
Also appearing for the first time with her own band at the festival this year is Grace Kelly, who has been honored for the third year in a row as Alto Saxophonist Rising Star in the annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and was also the winner of the Jazz Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards in 2008 and 2010. Her special guest will be NEA Jazz master Phil Woods.
The extensive line-up also highlights NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman, Urbie Green, Peggy Stern and Sweet Sue Terry, Zen for Primates, and saxophonist Jay Rattman and vocalist Najwa Parkins.
The festival begins on Friday night at the Dutot Museum at 6:00 p.m. with a musically themed art show and reception, and then is followed by theater, dance, poetry and classical music at the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain from 7:00-9:30 p.m. (tickets are $10.00). The festival’s main stage kicks off at noon on Saturday with bands every hour until 9:00 p.m., and then again on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with a free jazz mass. The main stage jazz performances begin at 12:30 p.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m. Tickets for one day are $25.00, $40.00 for a 2-day ticket (available on Saturday only). Students and seniors are $15.00 per day. Children between 5 and 12 years are $10.00 per day while those under 5 are free.
For more information, visit COTA Jazz or call 570-424-2210.
Schedule
SATURDAY Sept. 10, 2011
Noon – Peggy Stern & “Sweet” Sue Terry
1:00 – The After Hours Trio + One
2:00 – Jay Rattman Quartet
3:00 – JARO
4:00 – Stephanie Nakasian with the Hod O’Brien Quartet featuring Paul Hubbell
5:00 – Bob Dorough
6:00 – The Bill Goodwin Experience
7:00 – “To Al and Zoot with Love” featuring Lew Del Gatto and Bob Keller
8:00 – Zen for Primates
SUNDAY Sept. 11, 2011
10:00 -Jazz Mass
12:30 – Go Trio + Jeannie Brooks
1:30 – COTA Cats Volume XXXI
2:30 – Urbie and Kathy Green with the Jesse Green Trio featuring John Jensen
3:30 – 3Spirit
4:30 – David Liebman Group – 20th Anniversary
5:30 – Jerry Harris and Sweetlife
6:30 – Grace Kelly Quintet with Special Guest Phil Woods
7:30 – The Erin McClelland Band
