25th Annual Pensacola JazzFest April 5-6, 2008

Fans enjoy a wonderful time and great music at JazzFest in Pensacola Florida's historic Seville Square

Saturday & Sunday April 5 and 6, 2008
Pensacola JazzFest, now in its 25th year, is a FREE all-jazz festival held in downtown, historic Seville Square. The event is administered by the Jazz Society of Pensacola with able assistance from WUWF-FM and the Arts Council of Pensacola. The two-day festival, held in early spring each year, celebrates America's Unique Musical Art Form--Jazz. The Jazz Society of Pensacola works all year to present this festival as its annual gift to the community. Appreciation is expressed to our individual and corporate donors as well as the Arts Council of Northwest Florida and the Florida Arts Council.

The 25th Annual Pensacola JazzFest will feature:

Butch Thompson’s Big Three
Thompson, an acclaimed pianist and Jelly Roll Morton scholar heard regularly as part of the Prairie Home Companion broadcasts, will be joined by vocalist/banjoist Jimmy Mazzy of Boston and trumpeter Duke Heitger of New Orleans. This trio has recorded and toured nationally and internationally. From Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” to W. C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin,” this unique jazz trio led by pianist Butch Thompson plays an exciting program of American classics—jazz from the beginning. Trumpeter Duke Heitger and banjoist/vocalist Jimmy Mazzy join Butch in a show that ranges from Dixieland to lowdown blues—or as New Orleans pianist Jelly Roll Morton put it, “everything from blues to opera.”

Shelly Berg Trio.
Shelly Berg is an accomplished pianist who plays jazz styles from ragtime to modern. He is frequently requested as accompanist for Monica Mancini, Patti Austin and other vocalists and jazz legends including trombonist Bill Watrous. He was previously Professor of Jazz Studies at University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. In April 2007, he was named Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Berg has served previously as President of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE).

The Jazz Guardians,
an 18-member big band stationed at Army Ft. McPherson, GA, can perform in the style of big bands of yesteryear paying tribute to Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and Count Basie as well as contemporary big band jazz.

Saxophonist Dayve Stewart.
Known as “Soul Man,” Dayve will entertain with the smooth sounds of contemporary jazz. He has a Caribbean background with a Cuban mother and Jamaican father. At the young age of 12, he performed with trumpeter Sonny LaRosa’s “Youngest Jazz Band.” Stewart’s latest CD is entitled “Feel Me.” Stewart attended FSU with a major in Commercial Music and a minor in Business and is now touring worldwide.

Pensacola’s clarinetist/saxophonist Bob Maksymkow.
Bob will perform with backing from the Shelly Berg Trio. As a teenager, he took clarinet lessons at Juilliard School of Music from Augustin Duques, who was also musical coach for Benny Goodman. Bob has degrees from Juilliard and the University of West Florida (UWF) and is a member of UWF’s adjunct music faculty.

Headliners above will perform both days at the Pensacola JazzFest. Additionally, the winner of the UWF/Phillips Jazz Piano Competition will perform on Sunday. JazzFest pianists Butch Thompson and Shelly Berg will be judges for the UWF/Phillips Jazz Piano Competition held at the UWF Theater Main Stage on Saturday night.

The festival’s Youth Stage will feature local area middle school and high school jazz bands on both days. One high school jazz band and one middle school jazz band, yet to be named, will also perform on the main JazzFest stage.