Lineup Announcement And...
… More links than you can shake a drumstick at.
2023 DELANEY CHEVROLET WESTSYLVANIA JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL BRINGS HOME ‘THE LATE SHOW’S COWBOY DRUMMER’ - AND MORE - MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
INDIANA, PA — Get ready to welcome summer with an annual kickoff party: the Delaney Chevrolet Westsylvania Jazz and Blues Festival (DCWJBF), returning May 27 to IRMC Park in downtown Indiana.
2023 delivers an exceptional lineup from beginning to end, including Indiana’s own, ‘late night cowboy drummer’ and an internationally acclaimed blues star.
Toronzo Cannon has been described by The Chicago Reader as one of that city’s “finest string-bending storytellers.” Cannon is a multiple Blues Music Award nominee who, until 2020, kept his day job as a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver, even as he toured internationally and led CNN on a tour of Windy City blues clubs. He is scheduled to take the DCWJBF stage at 7:30 p.m.
While the world knows him as “The Cowboy Drummer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jon Batiste and Stay Human,” Indiana knows Joe Saylor as a local native hailing from a deeply musical family.
Saylor has contributed to the Oscar-nominated Disney/Pixar film Soul, performed at The White House and during the Grammy Awards, and also continues another family tradition as an educator and clinician. He will perform a ticketed show Friday evening at the Indiana Theater before his DCWJBF performance Saturday.
Joining Saylor for the ‘Westsylvania Eve’ show are Grammy-nominated saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Patrick Bartley, bassist and multi-hyphenate musician Philip Kuehn and jazz pianist Emmet Cohen.
Cohen has been described as “a pivotal figure in today’s jazz” and a real treat for jazz fans, says DCWJBF steering committee chair Dr. David Ferguson. Tickets are available via Showclix.
Kuehn also has Indiana roots and performed with Saylor during their time at Indiana Area Senior High School. He has contributed to the Soul soundtrack, and was the bassist for Stay Human, among other career highlights.
Admission is always free to the day-long festival whose lineup runs the gamut from student performances to regional acts and rising stars to international touring artists. After-hours shows at local venues will keep the party going following the final performance.
For more information, visit the festival website: WestsylvaniaJazzAndBlues.org
For sponsorship and partnership opportunities, contact Dr. David Ferguson via email: dfergusn@iup.edu
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The 2023 schedule is as follows (subject to change):
11:00 a.m. Knoch High School
Noon Jazz In Your Face
Johnstown-based band performs Big Band era music, sometimes filtered through a contemporary lens. JIYF's repertoire also includes bebop, cool jazz, and jazz and Latin standards.
1:15 p.m. Blues Attack
Blues Attack is an award-winning keystone in the Pittsburgh blues scene. Gregg Krupa (guitar and vocals) has twice been named Best Blues Guitar Player by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania.
1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Student clinic with Joe Saylor and Philip Kuehn (Indiana Theater)
2:30 p.m. Norside Organ Trio
Guitarist Glenn Strother describes this Pittsburgh-based band’s sound as “Rust Belt Funk,” incorporating elements of blues, jazz, funk and rock & roll while honoring the tradition of the organ trio (a jazz ensemble that includes a Hammond organ).
3:45 p.m. Soulful Femme
Blues duo Soulful Femme is vocalist Stevee Wellons and guitarist Cheryl Rinovato. Each an award-winning artist in her own right, the pair have performed with Mavis Staples, Robert Cray, Samantha Fish, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ana Popovic, Tommy Castro, Shemekia Copeland, Bernard Allison, Jeremiah Johnson, and Mike Zito.
5:30 p.m. Joe Saylor
7:30 p.m. Toronzo Cannon