Today and Sunday: Jazz Fest beside Lake George

LAKE GEORGE | The acclaimed Lake George Jazz Weekend, considered one of the leading festivals of its kind in the U.S., continues today and tomorrow in Lake George's Shepard Park. This year's lineup of jazz artists features acclaimed iconoclastic musicians — as has been traditional for the festival since its origin in the early 1980s — with performers curated by noted jazz artist Dan Kelly, who followed the late Paul Pines — the owner of a Manhattan Jazz Club — as artistic director. The festival has no entry fee. This year's headline jazz concerts in Shepard Park feature seven jazz groups. On Saturday, Sept. 17, the performances begin at 1 p.m. with the acclaimed jazz guitarist Gilad Hekselman and his Far Star Trio. Since his emergence in 2004, he has been performing at all the major jazz clubs in New York City, and touring worldwide, playing at nearly all the top international jazz festivals. Following at 3 p.m. is jazz vocalist Samara Joy, considered at age 21 as a rising star in the jazz world. Winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at the age of 18, she has recently released her debut recording, and jazz critics consider her to be destined for greatness. Despite her youth, she has performed in many of the leading jazz venues in Manhattan and has appeared onstage with top jazz musicians. Samara's family has formidable roots in jazz, as her paternal grandparents Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon were leaders of the well-known Philadelphia-based gospel group The Savettes. Attending Fordham High School, she often performed with the school's jazz band, and she won various awards, which propelled her performing career forward. Saturday's lineup continues at 5 p.m. with a performance by bassist/composer Ike Sturm and his group Heart, which includes a female vocalist, vibraphone, guitar and special guest vocalist Michael Mayo. Sturm has played on four Downbeat award-winning recordings, as well as with many other leading jazz greats. He is the composer of Jazz Mass, a work that "merged diverse musical languages" into a "powerfully unified aesthetic," according to reviews. The piece was released on a recording to critical acclaim nationally, and named one of Downbeat's "Best Albums of the Year." Saturday's 2022 roster of artists extends into the evening with a performance beginning at 7 p.m. by Camille Thurman and the Darrell Green Quartet. Thurman is both a jazz saxophonist and vocal artist, and she is accompanied by an ensemble featuring trumpet, guitar, bass and drums. Thurman produces fluid and powerful jazz strains on the tenor saxophone and is considered highly inventive as a vocalist. She has not only won numerous awards, but has performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra alongside Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, to name a few renowned jazz, blues and soul artists. SUNDAY'S ROSTER OF JAZZ PERFORMANCES Sunday's lineup starts off at 1 p.m. with the Zach Brock Quartet, featuring Brock on violin, Yasushi Nakamura on Bass and Clarence Penn on drums. Acclaimed by critics as the pre-eminent improvising violinist of his generation, Zach Brock has won multiple Grammy awards with the group Snarky Puppy. Brock has released seven solo albums and toured with jazz greats including Stanley Clarke. Following at 3 p.m. Sunday is Vanderlei Pereira & Blindfold Test, a six-person ensemble with tenor sax, piano, electric bass, flute and a vocalist — led by Pereira on drums. From Brazil, Pereira's career spans jazz, popular and classical music. Progressively becoming blind midway in his career, Pereira now focuses on jazz. After moving to New York City in 1988, Pereira became a leading drummer in the Brazilian jazz idiom. He has performed with about a dozen leading jazz and world music musicians including Paul Winter. Jazz Weekend 2022 concludes with a performance beginning at 5 p.m. by Elio Villafranca and the Jass Syncopators. Nominated for a Grammy and many other awards, Villafranca is well known for his recordings and performances, including at the Chick Corea Jazz Festival at Lincoln Center. He has led Latin jazz ensembles featuring such artists as Paquito D'Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, Pat Martino and Terell Stafford. Jazz at the Lake is supported by Kenneth and Susan Gruskin, the Town and Village of Lake George, and the New York State Council on the Arts and other individual donors.

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Today and Sunday: Jazz Fest beside Lake George

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