JazzFest is a two-day outdoor musical event, July 17-18, 2009 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls. It features two stages and is free to the public.
FRIDAY PERFORMERS: | |
 | JOYCE COOLING 6:00pm Friday Joyce Cooling's penchant for eclectic music crystallized when she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980s and began dabbling in keyboards and percussion. She taught herself to play guitar by ear, and developed a personal style of finger picking that gives her playing its unique sound and feel. Her latest album, Revolving Door, is different in that it tells a story first, and then lets the music follow. |
 | TAB BENOIT 7:30pm Friday With all of the makings of an American music icon, Tab Benoit has become one of the premier roots stylists of the century. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Benoit barely remembers how he learned to play the guitar, "I had a book that showed you how to play chords, after I learned the first three; I got rid of the book," Benoit says. Since that time, the music has seemed to come naturally to him. |
 | TAJ MAHAL Taj has been playing his own distinctive brand of music- he has been described as Afro-Caribbean blues, folk-world-blues, hula blues, folk-funk, and a host of other hypehnations- for more than 40 years. Caribbean, Hawaiian, African, Latin, and Cuban sounds and rhythms mix with folk, jazz, zydeco, gospel, rock, pop, soul, and R&B, all layers on top of a solid country blues foundation. A self-taught musician, Taj plays more than 20 instruments including the National Steel and Dobro guitars. His remarkable voice ranges from gruff and gravelly to smooth and sultry. |
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 | BLUES BASHERS |
 | SLIM MAN 1:30pm Saturday Slim Man's first gig? He was in fifth grade, and he played guitar and sang a few Beatles songs for the sixth grade graduation. While in middle school he took up bass, and Slim Man's band 'Momma's Max' opened up for Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Raspberries, and others. Slim Man went back into the studio in the early 90s, re-sang the songs he'd written for Brian Jack, added a few new songs, and End of the Rainbow, the very first Slim Man CD, was born. The CD yielded a Top Ten Hit, "Faith in Us", and the CD went on to be included in over a dozen Top Ten lists for the year (1995). |
 | JONAH SMITH
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 | SIMONE |
 | ROBBEN FORD |
 | IVAN NEVILLE'S |
 | JONNY LANG 10:00pm Saturday The Grammy winning, former prodigy instrumentalist, who topped the Billboard New Artist chart with his first album at age 15, stands now as a mature creative force, made more sensitive yet also toughened by life's adventures. He's learned what it means to rise above hard times and to find meaning where chaos seemed to rule. A professional musician since age 12, Lang rocketed from his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, to international renown in his mid teens. While kids his age were still playing high school gigs, he was touring with giants like the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, trading licks with mentors like B.B. King and Buddy Guy, and being lauded by U.S. News and World Report for having "the voice of a grizzled blues veteran... and guitar skills to match." |
JazzFest 2nd Stage Performers Friday, July 18, 2008 Saturday, July 19, 2008 |