WMU News

Newport Jazz Festival brings 50th anniversary show to Miller

Feb. 10, 2004

KALAMAZOO--The Newport Jazz Festival's 50th anniversary tour stops at Miller Auditorium for one show only at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.

The world's first all-jazz festival was held at Newport, R.I., in 1954--the Newport Jazz Festival. Since then, the name Newport has become synonymous with the very best in jazz. To commemorate the festival's 50th anniversary, festival founder George Wein has hit the road with several great jazz artists as well as a multi-media presentation of highlights from the history of the festival.

In its long illustrious history, the Newport Jazz Festival has presented a virtual pantheon of jazz immortals alongside rising young stars. This list includes Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, B.B. King, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Diana Krall, Al Jarreau and thousands of other artists.

Among the artists appearing with the 50th anniversary tour are Randy Brecker, James Moody, James Carter, Cedar Walton, Howard Alden, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Terence Blanchard, Lew Tabackin, Ken Peplowski and Lea DeLaria. Not all of these artists appear in every show on the tour and artists scheduled to appear are subject to change.

Tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival range from $25 to $36 and are available by calling (269) 387-2300 or toll free (800) 228-9858, online at <www.millerauditorium.com>, or by visiting the Miller Auditorium Ticket Office or the Epic Center Box Office in Downtown Kalamazoo.

The Newport Jazz Festival at Miller Auditorium is sponsored by The Touch 1560 AM and Coca-Cola.

Media contact: Tracey Lawie, 269 387-2309, tracey.lawie@wmich.edu


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