Driftless Jazz Festival 2008
In 2008, drummers ruled at the Driftless Jazz Festival! The lineup of Persuasive Percussion was thrilling. Drummers Ernie Adams, Davu Seru and Rich MacDonald were featured in several groups across the weekend. The festival also featured some of the best regional musicians such as Tim Whalen, David Cooper, Mark Urness, Geoff Lowe and the Jfar Coretet.
The Driftless Jazz Festival grew tremendously in 2008. We are extremely grateful for all the support we received from area businesses (see the sidebar for complete list of sponsors). The support from our sponsors and our fans enabled us to put on a four-day festival combining free and ticketed events. Across our various events, we amassed almost 500 people in our audiences.
Events
There were two educational events. Tom Gullion Jazz 101 – Understanding Improvised Music presented a look into the mechanics of improvised music. Davu Seru gave an extremely well-received talk Becoming-listener (again!) in Ghana touching on percussion, music and culture.
Viroqua Food Coop hosted a free, outdoor blues and comedy event which attracted a large number of listeners of all ages. Jfar Coretet provided the backbone for an engaging poetry slam. Local favorite, jazz vocalist Christie Knapp played during a jazz brunch at the Driftless Cafe.
Saturday evening featured drummer Ernie Adams with saxophonist Tom Gullion’s Quintet. This set also featured pianist Tim Whalen, bassist Mark Urness and Dane Richeson. Sunday evening featured Project Fourthstream with percussionist Davu Seru. Monday afternoon featured the blues of Ted Parrish, sublime jazz vocal stylings of Christie Knapp and Tom Gullion’s quartet to wrap things up.
Featured Artists
| Ernie Adams is featured and will bring his artistry that he has displayed over the years with some of the greatest names in jazz, including Al Dimeola, Ramsey Lewis, Nancy Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie and Clark Terry |
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Davu Seru is an ultra-creative percussionist in the many ways he orchestrates music using varied percussion instruments and even found objects. He’s as much fun to watch as he is to listen to. |
| Creative musician, saxophonist and composer Tom Gullion is a very strong, emotional and melodic player. His music is profoundly emotional and beautifully lyrical.A signature trait of Gullion’s performances, as noted by many jazz critics, is his communication with the ensemble and the audience. Intuition reigns supreme. To him, it’s all about connection – between the musicians and with the audience. |
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David Cooper is widely recognized as one of the most versatile trumpets players in the Midwest. His performing affiliations include the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the New Breed Jazz Quintet, The Art Blakey Tribute Band, and The Tim Whalen Nonet. |
| Geoffrey Lowe is an eclectic modern bassist who spent his formative years in Colorado playing Violin, Guitar, Piano and Basses. He relocated to Chicago in order to play a wide variety of music with a wide variety of players & composers. |
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Rich MacDonald joined the music faculty at Winona State University in the fall of 1996. Some of his performance credits include: Milt Hinton, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, George Benson, Eddie Daniels, and three years touring experience with Ice Capades. |
| Christie Knapp always brings lush beauty to the great American songbook. She often brings songs made famous by crooners such as Rosemary Clooney, Keely Smith, June Cristy and Blossom Dearie. |
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Project FourthStream is a talented duo lead by composer Bill Neil. In this group, the structure of compositions meld seamlessly with the flow of improvisations. Indeed, it is impossible to tell where one stops and the other begins. The result is engaging and thought-provoking music. |
