Smitty: You’re getting me excited, John.
JE: So we’re always trying to do some things different and try to present something that maybe you can’t see every place else.
Smitty: Yes, and I especially like the Berks All-Star Jazz Jam too. There’s some great cats in there with that group.
JE: Yeah, that’s Thursday night at ten o’clock at the Sheraton, and this year Rick’s gonna be on it, Chuck Loeb, Gerald Veasley, Richard Elliot, Nick Colionne, Warren Hill, Joe McBride, and a few other people yet to be announced, but we always have a full stage of characters for that show.
Smitty: Yes you do, that a true jam.
JE: What makes it really nice is it’s a jam session but yet it’s an organized jam where it’s just not the same player just playing every tune. Some people leave the stage and we do different things. I mean, last year Chuck Loeb and Kurt Elling did this incredible thing on “Bye Bye Blackbird,” just vocal and guitar, and just brought the house down.
Smitty: (Laughs.) Yes, they did! And you know it’s always fun when Nick Colionne is in the house.
JE: Yeah, and Nick’s gonna be here a bunch this year. He’s coming in on Thursday, he’s also doing a show Saturday afternoon with Warren Hill, so he’s gonna be around, so he may end up being involved in that guitar thing too, so we’re not sure yet.
Smitty: Yeah, and then you’ve got the Trumpet Summit. Wow.
JE: Yeah, that fellow Dave Stahl is a guy from our area, great musician, bandleader, composer, and he does a lot of stuff and he has a great big band, and we’ve done some of these shows before where he brings in outstanding trumpet players from New York in the area and he does this show with these guest trumpeters and his big band, and we’re looking forward to that. That’s gonna be a hot show.
Smitty: Yes.
JE: And he has Brian Lynch coming in with that.
Smitty: Yeah, man, that’s gonna be some serious sounds there.
JE: Yeah, yeah. We did it one time before and actually Wynton Marsalis was in town and ended up sitting in on the deal.
Smitty: Oh wow.
JE: Yeah, it was amazing.
Smitty: You’ve got so many fond memories of this great festival because you’ve had the best of the best there so many years in a row and that speaks volumes for the commitment that you and everyone there at the Berks Arts Council have. Everyone’s commitment to this is just a great tradition that you’ve created.
JE: Well, we work hard at it. We try to make sure that we present something for everyone. We make sure the lineup’s diverse and we also try to keep it fresh so that the fans see something unique that there maybe in some cases this is the only place you’ll ever see it.
Smitty: Yes, and your fans love it.
JE: And like the show for Luther Vandross, that’s gonna be a one-time deal. They’re gonna do this show and that’s it.
Smitty: That’s special.
JE: That makes it special, so if you want to see that, you gotta come to the Berks Jazz Festival.
Smitty: Yes, great incentive to be there, and you’ve got one of my great friends in this business, Ms. Joyce Cooling coming in, and I will tell you, I just recently saw her live performance and you’re in for a treat if you can make that show. She’s just an incredible musician and a great person too.
JE: Good. Yeah, I like working with Joyce. She’s played the festival several times and every time she gives a great performance. She’s playing Sunday, March 18th. We’re doing something unique this year again. We’re teaming up with two smooth jazz stations in our market, one from the Harrisburg area, in Pennsylvania, and we’re creating Fan Appreciation Day Concerts on Sunday afternoon, March 18th, and that show is for Smooth Jazz 92.7 out of Harrisburg, Lancaster and York area. It’s gonna feature Nelson Rangell and Philippe Saisse and Joyce Cooling.
Smitty: Yes, great selections.
JE: We put a low ticket price, like 25 bucks, on it.
Smitty: Oh wow, very nice.
JE: We want to say thanks to the fans for supporting the festival and having a great afternoon of music. And the following Sunday we’re doing the WJJZ 97.5 Fan Appreciation Concert and that’s gonna feature Chuck Loeb with the Berks Jazz Fest Horns plus the WJJZ All-Stars, which are gonna be Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters and Steve Cole, and Gerald Veasley, so again it’s gonna be a party in the afternoon just to say thanks to the fans with a real affordable ticket price of 25 bucks. Can’t beat that.
