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Festival News
Litchfield Jazz Camp has officially launched its spring Regional Teen Jazz Combos in Hartford and New York;
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Litchfield Performing Arts has announced the opening of two job positions in their offices in Goshen, CT. Litchfield Performing Arts is also seeking to hire three interns for the summer.
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Read Our Excecutive & Artistic Director, Vita West Muir's take on the JazzTimes Reader's Poll.
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The November 2011 issue of DownBeat Magazine features great shots of jazz legend, Roy Haynes, in action at the 2011 Litchfield Jazz Festival...
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October 13th -- by Brynn Mandel...After suffering audience declines of close to 50 percent and surveying recent and past attendees about what they wanted, Litchfield Jazz Festival organizers will return the 16-year-old annual event to its former home at the Goshen Fairgrounds next summer.
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We thank the hundreds of you who were kind enough to respond to our post Festival survey. And we've heard you loud and clear. You want us to provide you again with a true "festival" experience - music in an outdoor venue where you can all join together to enjoy it...
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by Owen McNally, August 4, 2011. Vijay Iyer, who leads his adventurous trio Saturday at 5:15 p.m. at the star-packed, 16th annual Litchfield Jazz Festival in Kent, is an original new music artist, an innovator and iconoclast. For Vijay Iyer, a brilliant pianist with rigorous training in mathematical and scientific thinking...
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July 29, 2011 -- by Philip Lutz
...Leading the big-band charge this year will be the saxophonist Jimmy Heath, 84, a bebop stalwart who cut his teeth as a member of Dizzy Gillespie's band in the 1940s...Mr. Heath will front a 16-piece orchestra at Litchfield...Mr. Heath said his writing had evolved since the early days, but acknowledged that the evolution had been limited.
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NBC Connecticut - August 2, 2011. NBC Connecticut's Yvonne Nava talks with the Festival's Lindsey Turner on Tuesday morning about this weekend's events in Kent. Enjoy the interview and a performance by talented Litchfield Jazz Campers by clicking the photo below. NBC Connecticut - Partners in a Caring Community.
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KENT, CT -- Litchfield Jazz Festival Announces Ticket Discount Deals for Students, for Groupon members (Hartford region) and a special Bring a Friend promotion (buy 3 get 1 free).
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival has added a NEW student discount off of their tickets purchased at the gate. Students 25 and under with a valid student ID are eligible.
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As we gear up for the 16th Anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival on August 5-7, we look back fondly on last summer's festival. Remember highlights with us, or see what to expect if you're new to the Litchfield Jazz Festival.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival will present two NEA Jazz Masters this August -- the great drummer Roy Haynes and renowned saxophonist Jimmy Heath. Both artists will participate in Artist Talks earlier each day. Mr. Heath will also spend a residency day at Litchfield Jazz Camp on July 28th.
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PR & Marketing Director Lindsey Turner sat down with Matt Wilson to talk about his role as Litchfield Jazz Festival's Aritst-in-Residence for a second summer. Learn about his inspiration, his connection to Litchfield Jazz Festival, and get excited to hear him perform for his 17th and 18th times on the Festival on Sunday, August 7th.
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The Litchfield area is filled with talent and money and dedicated community spirit. Vita Muir, the Founder/Director of Litchfield Performing Arts, the not-for-profit that produces the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Jazz Camp, has been named on of the 50 Most Influential People of Litchfield County by Litchfield Magazine. See who else made the list.
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NEA Jazz Master Roy Haynes and his Fountain of Youth Band performed on the Late Show with David Letterman last night (June 8th). Watch the video clip here.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival will make its 16th Anniversary appearance August 5 -7 in Kent CT. This year’s lineup is literally award winning, and as always, star studded. Litchfield Performing Arts, the non-profit producer, will be honored at the festival...
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'Christmas Tree-O' Is Drummer Matt Wilson's New CD. Although recorded on a scorching-hot day in May, drummer Matt Wilson's new jazz Christmas album is one of the coolest, finest and festive holiday discs released in many decades....
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Swing in the Holiday Season with Artist-in-Residence Matt Wilson. "Christmas Tree-O: A Holiday Concert” will be held in Kent on December 11th. Enjoy jazzy tunes from his latest release, “Christmas Tree-O,” out now on Palmetto Records. Proceeds support the Litchfield Jazz Camp Scholarship Fund.
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The week of November 11th and 18th tune into NPR to hear performances from the 15th Anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival this past summer including a new work from Mario Pavone, and performances by Gerald Clayton and Gabriel Alegria. On Saturday, August 7, 2010, NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater came to the Festival to record bassist Mario Pavone’s live performance of a new work with his group Orange Double Tenor and got more than they expected.
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The green hills of Kent, Connecticut resounded once more with the sound of jazz as the 15th Anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival settled in from Friday, August 6th through Sunday, August 8th. This year the main stage was again indoors in the newly air-conditioned hockey rink with a secondary tent stage outdoors. And this year, the weather cooperated with two beautiful sunny days and three starry, starry nights.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival, which has been uniting people of many colors, cultures and creeds for over a century, provided a healing through music for a state rocked by the tragedy of the Manchester shootings last week. Nowhere was this cross-cultural harmony more pronounced than during Saturday's final performance by Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra.
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By OWEN McNALLY, Special to The Courant. Anat Cohen, one of the best among Israel's many jazz exports to the United States, demonstrates her world-class clarinet chops Sunday night as she performs with her quartet at the 15th annual Litchfield Jazz Festival in Kent. A highlight of the star-studded weekend bash, the multi-talented Tel Aviv native pays homage to legendary clarinet virtuoso Benny Goodman (1909-1986) in a swinging salute to "The King of Swing" called "Clarinet Work: Benny Goodman & Beyond."
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Celebrating its 15th season, the Litchfield Jazz Festival this weekend both honors and presents Dave Brubeck, the legendary and still swinging composer/pianist/bandleader who turns 90 on Dec. 6.
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Terell Stafford joined Rhonda Hamilton in the WBGO studio last week to explain how Bill Cosby turned him on to teaching, and to discuss his upcoming gig with the Cannonball Adderley Tribute Band at the Litchfield Jazz Festival. Terell joins Bela Fleck, Dave Brubeck, Gerald Clayton and others in Connecticut to celebrate the event’s 15th Anniversary on Saturday, August 8th.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival has come a long way in its 15 years, both in terms of growth and distance. As its name indicates, it began life in Litchfield, on a field behind the White Memorial Conservation Center. Quickly outgrowing that venue, the festival spent many years at the Goshen Fairgrounds, before moving to Kent and a site at Kent School.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival is proud to announce a month of free concerts throughout July and August – “Kent Has That Jazz – Presented by the Litchfield Jazz Festival.” Last summer’s concerts were so well received by the community, the series has been expanded. Part 1 of the series features Litchfield Jazz Camp’s award-winning faculty. Part 2 highlights talented Litchfield Jazz Camp students.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival increases its “green” initiatives this summer by installing biodiesel generators that use 100% bio-fuel turning the Festival into a truly eco-friendly event.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival and Camp are proud to partner with Divas World Productions to present “Jazz is Cool”--- A Jazz Salon with the Great Delfeayo Marsalis on Saturday, July 24th at 7:30 PM in Kent, CT. This performance is part of 30 part concert series, “Kent Has That Jazz,” which will be open to the public and run from July 12 – August 7 in Kent with performance by Litchfield Jazz Camp’s renowned faculty and talented students.
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Litchfield Magazine's Wendy Carlson spent the day with jazz legend Dave Brubeck. Enjoy her interview and watch some video footage of Dave playing and chatting with her from his home in Connecticut. "For more than 70 years, Brubeck has been making jazz. He continues to compose and perform with the latest incarnation of his quartet...up in Kent at this year’s Litchfield Jazz Festival, August 6-8, which is dedicated to him...
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2010 -- Come see what the beautiful Litchfield Hills in Connecticut has to offer this summer. Explore The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, Infinity Music Hall & Bistro and Lime Rock Park in addition to the Litchfield Jazz Festival.
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On Friday evening, August 6th, the Litchfield Jazz Festival's 15th Anniversary kicks-off with the event of the season -- the Opening Night Friends Gala at the Morrison Gallery. Enjoy a Taste of Kent, music by Litchfield Jazz Campers, up-front seats to hear Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck and more.
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On Sunday, April 25th, friends of The Festival came together at the home of Bob and Carol Lenz in South Kent to enjoy an Afternoon of Jazz & Friends. A Special Preview of the 15th Anniversary with a performance by Aaron Weinstein which raised over $5000 for the Litchfield Jazz Camp Schoalrship Fund.
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Enter at DownBeat.com to Win a Weekend at the 15th Anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival in Kent, Connecticut. Includes 3-day passes and a B&B stay.
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Photos from the 2009 Litchfield Jazz Festival are coming to litchfieldjazzfest.com soon. Want to see some now?
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August 13, 2009: Review by Marcia Hillman. For two and a half days this past weekend, jazz invaded Connecticut with the arrival of the 14th Annual Litchfield Jazz Festival. This year, in a new home on the Kent School grounds in Kent, Connecticut, this major musical event, hosted by WBGO broadcaster and jazz journalist Michael Bourne, presented what seemed to be "a cast of thousands" of jazz artists geared up to play their best for an audience eager to hear them....Kudos to Vita West Muir (founder and executive artistic director), her staff and the devoted crew of volunteers for organizing and pulling off one of the best straight-ahead jazz festivals on the map.
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NBC Connecticut's Anjuli Porter interviews Festival PR & Marketing Director, Lindsey Turner and Litchfield Jazz Camp students perform in the new NBC studios in West Hartford on Friday, July 31st. Read more to watch the interview and hear the camp students.
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Due to inclement weather this week, the Litchfield Jazz Festival's main stage performances will be held indoors in the hockey rink on the Kent School Campus all weekend. Read more for details.
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WNPR's award winning program, Where We Live, is hosted by News Director, John Dankosky. This morning, Thursday, July 30th, he came to Kent with his producers and they aired Where We Live live at the Fife 'n Drum Restaurant in Kent. Click to listen to the podcast of the program.
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July 30, 2009; Owen McNally for the Hartford Courant. Jane Monheit, 31 And Post-Baby, Is Enjoying The Maturing Of Her Career, Image.
Vocalist Jane Monheit's robust, irreverent sense of humor — especially crisp and candid when mocking sexual stereotypes in the music biz — might surprise enraptured fans who envision her solely as a gorgeous, dulcet-toned diva, a divine sex symbol who also happens to sing like an angel.
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KENT-City dwellers have long recognized the pastoral charms of the Litchfield Hills, where patchwork fields of green and glorious blues skies invoke an atmosphere of a simpler life. While the region has changed under this influx of visitors and the landscape remains rural, the lifestyle has become more cosmopolitan, providing a richly textured array of cultural recreation.
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"Houston Person At Litchfield Jazz Festival August 2" by Owen McNally, Riffs: Jazz Notes,
July 23, 2009. Houston Person hasn't merely practiced and memorized the now-canonized Great American Songbook material that has become so popular.
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It’s easy, relaxing and affordable to get to Kent on the Metro North train from Grand Central Station in New York City. Take the Harlem Line Train to the TenMile River stop in Amenia, NY, just 10 miles from Kent. From there you'll meet our shuttle bus (read more for details and shuttle schedule).
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Jazz Around Kent Presented by the Litchfield Jazz Festival. 22 Free Concerts from July 6 – 29. Three nights a week at 7:15 PM Jazz Camp faculty perform at Kent School and three times a week Jazz Camp students perform in Kent.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival announces a celebrity host and MC for the 2009 Litchfield Jazz Festival, WBGO’s Michael Bourne. Michael is a long-time jazz journalist and broadcaster: 40 years as a senior contributor to DownBeat Magazine, 37 years as a jazz jock, including 25 years with WBGO Jazz88 in Newark, NJ.
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Marshall Miles of WHDD interviewed Lindsey Turner, PR & Marketing Director, about the 2009 Litchfield Jazz Festival's move to Kent and line-up details. Get the inside scoop; listen to the interview on-line. Bonus interviews with Paulette from Doc's, Peter from Starbuck Inn and Elissa from the Fife. More to come with Jazz Camp faculty; stay tuned.
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July, 2009: Now in his “third career,” the California-based vocalist [Bill Henderson] looks forward to coming east to perform at the 2009 Litchfield Jazz Festival.
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Hartford Advocate, June 10, 2009. Bring A Blanket; Round-up of summer festivals. Litchfield Jazz Festival, July 31-August 2, Kent, CT. Connecticut’s most significant jazz event...
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Civic Duty: Jazz fests, local economies work hand in hand - by Eric Fine. "The Litchfield Jazz Festival's new digs mean a new beginning."
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival is thrilled to announce the 2009 line-up and its move to the gorgeous campus of Kent School in Kent, CT. The line-up includes Jane Monheit, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Poncho Sanchez and many more.
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The Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Jazz Camp are thrilled to announce their move to a new home, The Kent School in Kent, CT.
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Litchfield Jazz Festival Named a “Top 100” Event for 2009
The Litchfield Jazz Festival was named one of the "Top 100 Events and Festivals" in the US and Canada by the America Bus Association in 2006 and again in 2009! Save the date now for this summer -- Friday, July 31 - Sunday, August 2, 2009. See Line-up here.