While we shared the festival’s 2019 jazz schedule Monday, ComFest dominates this weekend’s Outdoor Jazz lineup, so here is our ComFest Jazz Guide (All performances at the “I Wish You Jazz Stage”)! Friday, June 28th gets off to a strong start with great Columbus musicians, but things really heat up for the late afternoon evening. Soul Eyz (The Michael Kahn Quartet) will feature keyboardist David Swank, bassist Roger Hines and drummer Reggie Jackson with saxophonist Kahn for some hearty soul jazz at 5:15pm. They’re followed by up-and-coming jazzy pop interpreters The Big Badd at 6:20pm and improvisational groove explorers Sonikora at 7:25pm. For the last jazz set of the evening, Columbus’ own 20+ years’ strong New Orleans-style funky brass outfit New Basics Brass Band takes the stage at 8:35pm. You can also see New Basics Saturday night at Dick’s Den for the only jazz “ComFest afterparty” we know of this year – details here. Keep reading for thoughts on Saturday and Sunday!
Saturday, June 29th: The schedule gets swingin’ early with hot trad jazz band RedHotBux at Noon, ComFest jazz and poetry tradition Circus of Cool at 1pm, and community-oriented NACHO Street Band at 2pm – NACHO is raising money to put a pinball machine in the Ronald McDonald House, so swing by and donate! Saturday evening features another strong jazz segment, starting with Cuban fusion project Waves de Aché (our album review) at 6:30pm and the notorious “jazz offensive” ChickenHawk BirdGetters at 7:40pm. Ending the night at 8:50pm is another ComFest tradition – keyboardist Jim Maneri’s Flypaper project, with an all-star lineup providing jazz dance grooves perfect for the festival vibe.
Sunday, June 30th: There’s no better way to start a ComFest Sunday than the traditional appearance by Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra at Noon! Veteran vocalist Anna Paolucci celebrates “Columbus Women in Jazz” with a talented lineup at 3:30pm. The festival ends on another high note – after the high-flying gypsy jazz of Django Jazz with guitarists Brett Burleson and Josh Hindmarsh at 5:50pm, the final ComFest jazz set at 6:55pm is courtesy of none other than the avant garde fun of longtime favorites Honk, Wail & Moan!
Have a great week and Happy ComFest!