Sunday, July 18, 2010

Halifax Jazz Festival: July 9-17, 2010


The Halifax Jazz Festival is an 8 day party on Spring Garden Road, that features free outdoor concerts with local bands, as well as more high profile international talent in various venues around the city. Last year the festival drew over 65 000 visitors, and this year more than 500 volunteers signed up to help at least that many or more enjoy another year of great Jazz music.


When the Atlantic Jazz Festival was first held in Halifax 24 years ago, it was the only Jazz Festival in Atlantic Canada. However, Newbrunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland have all recently developed jazz festivals of their own, and so this year JazzEast - the organization responsible for the Atlantic Jazz Festival - decided to change the name of the festival to Halifax Jazz Festival to more accurately reflect reality.


I attempted to see at least one free concert every day, and the artists and bands I watched perform spanned the jazz spectrum from gospel to bossa nova, from dixieland to gypsy-jazz (whatever that is). There were many memorable performances, and a great number of songs I wish I could have recorded for you, but in the interest of preserving my limited bandwidth I will post just one song (below). Bonus points if you can guess the name of the tune (hint: if you hear this song it usually means the Washington Generals are in for a long night.)

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