Blues & Jazz Festival 2006

Erie Art Museum’s 14th Annual Blues & Jazz Festival

The community's favorite festival returns to Frontier Park on August 5 and 6, 2006. The Erie Art Museum Blues & Jazz Festival celebrates its 14th year with another great lineup of outstanding performers.

Click here for driving directions...

Rosie Ledet
Rosie Ledet has been called "the most prolific zydeco artist on the scene today." She has worked her way through the ranks of zydeco music from her start as a member of her husband's band to the front person of Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys. It's a rare feat for a woman to have success in the genre, but Ledet's soulful voice, exciting accordion styling and inspired songwriting ability are her keys to success.

Ledet recently released her seventh album, titled "Pick It Up." Featuring original work such as "I Love Louisiana," the CD has been a critical and commercial success. Most recently, this Louisiana native performed during the first weekend of the 2006 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival where her upbeat sound had the crowds dancing.

Either/Orchestra
The 10-piece jazz ensemble Either/Orchestra found success with its original, free-flowing spark that sets it apart from many other modern jazz ensembles. Inspired by the diverse history of jazz and enamored of the power of popular music and dance rhythms, the E/O is not a tribute band or a neo-classical museum piece, but a living, breathing jazz orchestra making new music that pleases audiences of all ages.

Now in its twelfth year, E/O today consists of two trumpets, trombone, three saxophones, piano, acoustic bass, drums and congas. The unique sound of the E/O comes from the classic jazz sound combined with the power of orchestra and the rich flavor of an afro-latino edge. The orchestra is based in Cambridge, MA, but they have performed in music halls and at festivals across the country and overseas in Italy, Portugal, Holland, Finland, Russia, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Travis “Moonchild” Haddix

Travis Haddix began playing the piano at the age of seven in his hometown of Walnut, Mississippi, located thirty miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. He took up the guitar under the influence of B.B. King, who played daily on Memphis radio. The original "Moonchild", he earned the nickname from his beaming presence on stage and his always broad smile and energetic, sexy performances. In 1959, Travis moved to Cleveland, Ohio and where he quickly achieved regional recognition with the D.L. Rocco group. This led to a prominent spot with the Little Johnnie Taylor band, where he developed his chops in front of rowdy audiences at juke joints and blues festivals throughout the '70s. Travis is a prolific songwriter. In addition to his own recordings, he is a major contributor to five albums by soul blues veteran Artie "Bluesboy" White. Among the many other artists who have recorded his compositions are Dickie Williams, Michael Burks, and Jimmy Dawkins. As blues singer, guitarist and bandleader, Travis has received rave reviews, recording fifteen albums with his own bands and performing all over the country. Since 1992 he has toured regularly in Europe and Japan. His style evokes the great Stax-Volt days, when the likes of Sam & Dave ruled the urban blues roost, but his sound is timeless with an original and soulful touch.

Soul Clap

Bassist Steve Trohoske has made himself a regular fixture in Erie jazz circles as a leader and performer. This year, he is joined by an eclectic group of five other musicians active in shaping the local music scene, players who will be familiar to fans of One World Tribe, Dave Stevens Big Band, Chocolate Starfish and other popular local ensembles. Joining Trohoske to form Soul Clap are Scotty Cravener on guitar, Brad Amidon on drums, Charlie Mayers on keyboard, GG Tomporowski on percussion and Preach Freedom on vocals, to make up what they think of as “a latter day version of the Duke Ellington Band.” Latin rhythms, funk grooves and blues intonations shape the music of Soul Clap. The band mixes jazzy originals with jam-laden covers ranging over the musical landscape from Marvin Gaye to William Parker.

Dave Ruch

Dave Ruch is a special musician and performer widely noted for his ability to engage audiences of all kinds. He travels regionally from his home base in Buffalo NY, giving over 325 concerts and workshops each year for schools, music festivals, libraries, historical societies, professional conferences, folk music organizations, museums and community events across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Dave specializes in folk music and finds much of his song material in archives, diaries, old recordings, scholarly journals and even his own children. He writes songs of real people that have settled in our country including farmers, immigrants, Native Americans, lake sailors and more. Dave performs not only for adults, but has comprised special programs just for young audiences that also include music education.

Whether singing in the old unaccompanied style, or backing himself with great skill on 5-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, lap dulcimer, washtub bass or jaw harp, his joyful songs combine with stories and humor to captivate audiences young and old. 

Lindsey Horner Group

Bassist Lindsey Horner is one of the more versatile musicians in jazz and modern music. He has most often been heard with musicians on the cutting edge, recording and performing with artists such as Greg Osby, Bill Frisell, Bobby Previte, Dave Douglas and Muhal Richard Abrams.

His latest CD, Don't Count on Glory, has been hailed by many sources including The New York Times and All About Jazz as one of the best new releases of the year.

The New York based musician will be performing his lyrically rhythmic original music at the Festival with three of his long time collaborators, guitarist Pete McCann, pianist Neal Kirkwood and drummer Allison Miller, all of whom are first rate players, improvisers and leaders in their own right.

Lindsey has previously performed in Erie as a sideman with drummer Bobby Previte and with pianist Myra Melford. He is thrilled to be back sharing the exhilaration and creativity of music as leader of his own group.

Mary Alice Brown

Mary Alice Brown is Erie’s very own Queen of Jazz. Mary has spent a lifetime delighting thousands with her supple piano style, magnetic personality, and joyous enthusiasm. Born and raised in Erie, she has traveled the world, performing with greats such as Bob Hope, Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Smith and Dexter Gordon. She also had a long and successful career in Hollywood as a studio musician and spent ten years playing the lush resort circuit in the Hawaiian Islands. She returned to Erie in 1992 to "keep jazz alive" where she continues to enliven audiences and inspire students throughout the region. In addition to her great repertoire of concerts, Brown has established a community music school at the John F. Kennedy Community Center and currently works with students both at the Center and at Mercyhurst College.

Ron Yarosz and the Vehicle

Ron Yarosz and the Vehicle play music grounded in the blues—blues from Chicago, blues from the Delta, and jump blues, seasoned with swing, funk, and rock. Performing a combination of originals and covers, Yarosz splits his time between the Hammond B3 organ and fronting the stage playing high energy electric harmonica. The Vehicle's lineup currently includes Rodger Montgomery and Scott Cravener on guitars, Jason Lewis on bass and Ron Sutton on drums.

Ron Yarosz made Erie his base of blues operations in 1991, and has performed with numerous bands, including Jake’s Blues, Big Jack Johnson, and Rick Magee and the Roadhouse Rockers. Winner of the recent Western Pennsylvania Blues Challenge competition, Ron and the band will be competing in the Blues Foundation’s 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

The band has recorded two CDs— 2003's "The Vehicle" and their recent effort entitled, "Blues Album."

The Dixie Doodlers

The Dixie Doodlers have been enchanting audiences with their unique brand of feel-good music for over half a century. Their performances have taken them across Pennsylvania and beyond, playing at parades and festivals, political rallies and paddleboat cruises, county fairs and tent parties. They've found the Dixieland brand of jazz, born in New Orleans in the early years of the 20th century and revived by bands all over the country at mid-century, has timeless appeal—and after 53 years, they should know. The band started in Meadville and its members hail from Oil City, Erie, Corry, and Bradford, and most of them are retired teachers. Personnel include Doug Dinberg on sax and clarinet, John Kytic on piano, Bill Beggs on drums), Bill Reese on tuba and banjo. Don Haener, an Erieite and a 22-year veteran of the group, is the band leader and plays trumpet.

East Side Edition

It has been 25 years since the original incarnation of East Side Edition came together and ten since they took on a name that is synonymous with Rhythm & Blues in Erie. East Side Edition has made a name for itself locally, with regular gigs at a number of bars and clubs, but the additional shows in Mississippi and Ohio attest to the band’s universal appeal and popularity.

Appearing at the Blues & Jazz Festival with East Side Edition are Barry King on the guitar, Maurice Troop on the drums, John Gavin on the sax, James Tate on bass and Chicken Tate providing the vocals. With influences ranging from Z.Z. Hill and B.B. King to the Temptations and other Motown and soul artists, East Side Edition’s roots in classic R&B are easy to find in their soulful, bluesy ballads. The group’s renditions of “Just My Imagination,” “My Girl” and other R&B classics are not to be missed.

Schedule of Performances

August 5, 2006

Noon - Dave Ruch (Kid's Act)
2 p.m. - Ron Yarosz and the Vehicle
4 p.m. - East Side Edition
6 p.m. - Rosie Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys
8 p.m. - Travis "Moonchild" Haddix & the THB Band

August 6, 2006

Noon - Dixie Doodlers
2 p.m. - Mary Alice Brown
4 p.m. - Lindsey Horner Group
6 p.m. - Soul Clap
8 p.m. - Either/Orchestra

	The Avalon Hotel is the official Festival hotel. For more information click here...

Driving Directions to the Festival at Frontier Park:
--Take I-90 to I-79 North toward Erie, Pa
--Pass the last exit (12th Street), I-79 now becomes the Bayfront Parkway.
--Pass first traffic light at Lincoln Ave.
--Turn LEFT at the second light onto Greengarden.
--Parking is about one block down on your right. There are signs.
--If that lot is full continue down Greengarden and make the next RIGHT onto West 8th Street. (On your left is the park and the festival.)
--Make the next LEFT onto the Bayfront Parkway.
--Park and Ride lot will be on your left. Shuttle buses run back and forth during the entire festival.

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