While we have entered the last full month of summer, the area Outdoor Jazz schedule shows no signs of slowing down! On Friday, August 3rd, the final monthly installment of the Jazz Academy Summer Jam Sessions gets the weekend started for young musicians at State Auto’s Pike Park at noon (more details here), and another Friday afternoon event is detailed below. After a week off, Columbus Jazz Orchestra’s JazZoo returns to the Columbus Zoo for their “Sinatra & Friends” performance featuring esteemed vocalists Phil Clark and Helen Welch at 8pm, with the Winchester Steel Company opening at 6:45pm (series details here). Keep reading for much more outdoor jazz and other shows to enjoy this week!
Saturday, August 4th: The crown jewel of the week’s docket is the season finale of the Westerville Jazz at the Amp Concert Series at the Alum Creek Park North Amphitheater. Running from 11am to 9pm, this FREE all day event features a spectacular lineup of Columbus and international jazz talents: Greg Bandy & The Jazz Alliance at 11am, Copacetic at 12:15pm (I really enjoyed these first two bands at a recent Jazz Brew Concert), fo/mo/deep at 1:30pm, Four 80 East with NexLevel at 3pm, Jackiem Joyner at 4:30pm, Brian Simpson at 6pm, and Paul Taylor at 7:30pm. Wow! More details are available here. Also Saturday, the varied lineup of the London Rib & Jazz Fest, which runs Friday and Saturday, features the Chip Willis Group with Linda Dachtyl at 3:45pm in Downtown London, Ohio (festival website).
For midweek fun, the weekly Speakeasy Jazz on the Patio at the Granville Inn in Granville presents guitarist Tom Carroll on Wednesday, August 8th at 6pm. And the Thursday, August 9th lineup boasts two fun events of different stripes, both at 6pm. The Beer Garden Music Series at Land-Grant Brewing Company features the salsa-infused jazz of Waves de Aché (details here), the long-running Swings the Thing Big Band makes their annual appearance at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church Parish Festival in Whitehall (details here). Hope for sunny good times!
Shows To See This Week
Friday, August 3rd (4 to 7:30pm): 1st Annual Women&Girls’ Fest Songstress Concert at MPACC Box Park, 925 Mt. Vernon Avenue, King-Lincoln Bronzeville. Created by local non-profit Education Foundation for Freedom, the Women&Girls’ Fest is an all-day event featuring women and girl identified performers, vendors, speakers, live music, children’s activities, and family friendly entertainment. After workshops and a noon to 3pm lineup that includes poet Barbara Fant, dancers, Divine Step and Dance step team, motivational speaker Barbara Freeman, and hip-hop DJ Krate Digga, the headlining festival event is the Songstress Concert. Starting at 4pm, the concert presents an intergenerational group of professional female jazz, soul and R&B vocalists for powerful inspirational performances: Caroline Bennett, Adria Shahid, Mary McClendon, Pia Monagan, and CeCe Beckham. This event is free to the public and highly recommended to the community at large! More details are available here.
Monday, August 6th (6 to 9pm): Columbus Video Game Ensemble at Woodlands Tavern. Presented by Great Lakes Brewing, which means $2 pints of a variety of the Cleveland brewer’s beers, this free happy hour event is also a great chance to catch the Ensemble. This project features Danny Bauer, Zakk Jones and some of their frequent collaborators on entertaining and inventive jazz and funk arrangements of video game tunes. Grab a pint and have some very reasonably-timed fun! And if you’re more interested in jazz later on, some of these musicians have two hits coming up at Dick’s Den this week: Rhythm Section of Doom on Friday, August 3rd at 10pm and the Video Game Ensemble itself, with Cincinnati’s Brandon Coleman subbing on guitar, on Thursday, August 9th at 10pm.
Tuesday, August 7th (8 to 10:30pm): John’s Jazz Trio at Blind Lady Tavern, Downtown. Unfortunately, the Blind Lady recently announced that it is closing for business on Saturday the 11th after almost three years in business (Columbus Underground article). This sad news also means the end of a fun weekly jazz gig, where pianist John Householder (aka Chief Johnny Lonesome) has entertained with bassist Roger Hines and drummer Joe Nelson in recent months. My parents and I luckily got the chance to see the band again on July 31st and had a great time with tasty food and drink and the well-oiled trio. Stop by Tuesday to help Householder and the band end the gig in style – No cover!
Have a great week! Prepare with a couple teaser videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiU501tyTPI