OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL 2008 

June 20-July 01, 2008
Confederation Park, NAC Fourth Stage and other downtown venues ....
Call (613) 241-2633 or 1-888-226-4495 for more info.
Ottawa Jazz Festival
61A York Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 5T2

WYNTON MARSALIS
Friday, June 20, 2008
8:30 PM
Confederation Park: Main Stage
Tickets On Sale Now
Ticket Price: $30.00

American trumpeter and composer Wynton Learson Marsalis is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era and is also a well-known instrumentalist in classical music. Born into the first family of jazz (Ellis, Branford, etc.) in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, Marsalis emerged as a leader of the "Young Lions" of the 1980s, reclaiming the music's acoustic roots. He is also the Musical Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. As of 2006, he has made sixteen classical and more than thirty jazz recordings, has been awarded nine Grammys between the genres. In 1997 his epic composition, Blood On The Fields, became the first jazz piece to win the Pulitzer Prize. Marsalis emerged as one of the most notable New Orleans civic leaders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a number of public speeches and television ads, he tried to increase public awareness of the importance of rebuilding New Orleans. Marsalis also urged people to visit Louisiana as soon as possible. Marsalis organized a large benefit at Jazz at Lincoln Center for musicians and other New Orleaneans affected by Hurricane Katrina. The benefit, called Higher Ground, featured many famous musicians, both traditional and contemporary, such as Cassandra Wilson, Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Norah Jones, Victor Goines, Herbie Hancock, and McCoy Tyner and in 2007 R&B star, Fantasia. Marsalis was one of the participants in Movie Director Spike Lee's documentary When The Levees Broke: A Requiem In Four Acts. Under Marsalis' leadership the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra has become today's most dynamic big band, exploring the legacies of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and the entire spectrum of a century of jazz.
Official website: http://www.wyntonmarsalis.org/

HERBIE HANCOCK
Herbie Hancock Quartet
Sunday, June 22, 2008
8:30 PM
Confederation Park: Main Stage
Tickets On Sale Now
Ticket Price: $30.00

Herbie Hancock is an Academy Award and Grammy award-winning American jazz pianist and composer who embraces elements of rock and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. As part of Miles Davis's 'second great quintet', Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section, and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. Later, he was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk. Yet for all his restless experimentalism, Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man" (later performed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaria), "Maiden Voyage", "Chameleon", and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit". His 2007 tribute album, "River: The Joni Letters" won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album to win the award. Among his many recent distinctions, Hancock was named one of The 2008 TIME 100 World's Most Influential People. Herbie Hancock and his band will perform pieces from his hit album "River: The Joni Letters".
Source: Wikipedia
Official website: http://www.herbiehancock.com/

OLIVER JONES
Oliver Jones Trio
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 8:30 PM
Confederation Park: Main Stage
Tickets On Sale Now
Ticket Price: $20.00

Oliver Jones is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger. One of Canada's finest musicians, his career also intertwines with the proud history of jazz in his native Montreal, the thriving city that in its heyday also produced Oscar Peterson, Oliver's lifelong friend and continuing inspiration. He began his career as a pianist at the age of five, studying with Mme Bonner in Little Burgundy's Union United Church, made famous by Trevor W. Payne's Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir. However, for the most part, he developed his talent through his studies with Oscar Peterson's sister Daisy Peterson Sweeney. In late 1980 he teamed up with Montreal's Charlie Biddle, working in and around local clubs and hotel lounges in Montreal. In fact he worked in and was resident pianist at Charlie Biddle's Jazz club, appropriately called Biddle's from 1981 to 1986. During the 1980s he was one of Canada's most successful jazz, musicians travelling throughout Canada, appearing at festivals, concerts and clubs, either as a solo artist or with a trio: Skip Bey, Bernard Primeau, and Archie Alleyne. His travels also took him to Europe during this period. In 1986 he won a Juno Award for his album titled Lights of Burgundy and in 1989 he won the Félix Award for his album Just Friends. He taught music at Laurentian University in 1987, and in 1988 he taught music at McGill University in Montreal. Oliver Jones is also the proud recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. award, celebrating his contributions to the Black Community in Canada and in his native Montreal. In 1993 he received the Order of Québec, the province's highest honour, and the next year he was awarded the Order of Canada, for "outstanding achievement in the arts."
Source: Wikipedia and Justin Time website http://www.justin-time.com/authors/oliverjones/  

SALIF KEITA
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
8:30 PM
Confederation Park: Main Stage
Tickets On Sale Now
Ticket Price: $25.00

Salif Keita - the Golden Voice of Africa -is an internationally recognized afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali who is a
direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. His music combines traditional West African music styles with influences from both Europe and the Americas, while maintaining an overall Islamic style. Musical instruments that are commonly featured in Keita's work include balafons, djembes, guitars, koras, organs, saxophones, and synthesizers. Keita was born in the city of Djoliba, which he left for Bamako in 1967, where he joined the government sponsored Super Rail Band de Bamako. In 1973 Keita joined the group, Les Ambassadeurs. Keita and Les Ambassadeurs fled political unrest in Mali during the mid-1970s for Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and subsequently changed the group's name to Les Ambassadeurs Internationales. The reputation of Les Ambassadeurs Internationales rose to the international level in the 1970s and in 1977 Keita received a National Order award from the president of Guinea, Sékou Touré. Keita moved to Paris in 1984 to reach a larger audience. Keita found success in Europe as one of the African stars of world music. However, shortly after the turn of the Millennium he returned to Bamako in Mali to live and record. His first work after going home, 2002's Moffou, was hailed as his best album in many years, and Keita was inspired to build a recording studio in Bamako, which he used for his latest album, M'Bemba, released in October 2005.
Source: Wikipedia
Official website: http://salifkeita.artistes.universalmusic.fr/  

GLADYS KNIGHT
Monday, June 30, 2008
9:00 PM
Confederation Park: Main Stage
Ticket Price: $30.00

Gladys Knight is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B/soul singer, actress and author. She is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest. For over 40 years, Gladys Knight has been entertaining audiences around the world as an R&B artist, a jazz artist, a soul singer, and everything in between. She has crossed genres and has been successful in every one of them. Very
few singers over the last fifty years have matched her unique artistry. In Ottawa with a full big band ensemble, in jazz
arrangements, this international music icon will pay tribute to the Great American songbook, as well as perform the signature tunes that have made her a legend in the industry. Official website: http://www.gladysknight.com/

GOLD CIRCLE PASS - $190.00
BRONZE PASS - $105.00
CONNOISSEUR SERIES PASS- $80.00
STUDENT PASS - $40.00
CONFEDERATION PARK SINGLE TICKETS – prices vary
All Tickets & Passes available at: TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival Office – 61A York Street, 1-888-226-4495 or (613) 241-2633;
Rideau Centre Kiosk (After April 21) – Located at 2nd Level near Roots;
Ticketmaster (613) 755-1111
or www.ticketmaster.ca;
Confederation Park Sales Centre
June 21 – June 30.
Confederation Park Tickets, Bronze and Student Passes available at:
Compact Music – 785.5 Bank Street, 134 Bank Street;
CD Warehouse – 499 Terry Fox Drive, 1383 Clyde Ave., 1717 St. Laurent Blvd.;
Metro Music – 695 Bank Street.
Bronze & Student Passes available at: The Ottawa Folklore Centre – 1111 Bank Street Single Improv, Studio, Bronze, Student Passes, & Single Confederation Park tickets available at Sounds Unlikely Record Shop - 5 Arlington Avenue (Off Bank St.)