Contact:  Mia Vlaar, Executive Director, vjf@vailjazz.org, 970.479.6146

Vail, CO  -- January 2, 2008 -- The Vail Jazz Foundation has announced its sizzling summer lineup of  events, which brings live jazz music to Vail venues ranging from the Farmers’ Market on Meadow Drive to the brand new Arrabelle at Vail  Square,  and finishes with the traditional ‘Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party’ at Vail Cascade.

“We are really excited to present this outstanding lineup of jazz talent in and around Vail this summer”, said Mia Vlaar, executive director of the Vail Jazz Foundation.  “Our work over the past 13 years has helped us create a tremendous network of contacts with top talent from the world of jazz.  These relationships continue to pay off locally with outstanding jazz performances in Vail”.

The Summer of Jazz consists of several  key programs.  On June 25, the Columbus Jazz Orchestra will play the Gerald Ford Amphitheater in Vail in an event co-presented with Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.  ‘Jammin’ Jazz Nights’ will find its home at the Arrabelle at Vail Square, filling the heart of the New Lionshead with cool jazz sounds on Thursday evenings from July 28 through the end of August.  The summer of jazz culminates with the traditional ‘Labor Day Weekend Jazz Party’ – a five day celebration of jazz music at the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa -- which attracts some of the greatest Jazz talent of the 21st century. ‘Jazz at the Market’ rounds out the summer, bringing live jazz  to the Vail Farmers’ Market on select Sundays throughout the summer. 

The 2008 Summer of Jazz in Vail offers internationally acclaimed jazz ensembles and soloists as well as local and regional favorites.   Audiences will enjoy The Clayton Brothers Quintet, Hendrik Meurkens Samba Jazz Quintet, and the legendary Jimmy Bruno trio.  Solo performers include saxophonist Joel Frahm, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, pianists Benny Green and Don ‘Papadon’ Washington, Ann Hampton Callaway, and B-3 player Tony Monaco.  Bill Cunliffe will present a multi-media salute to jazz great Horace Silver.  Local favorites Tony Gulizia, Kathy Morrow Trio, Max Wagner Quartet, and the Mile High Chapel Choir will complete the summer of jazz in Vail.

While performing jazz is a key focus of the Foundation, its programs also aim to perpetuate jazz music and education ‘with a special emphasis on young musicians and young audiences’.   “Our programming is supported and completed by our education programs” said Howard Stone, chair of the Vail Jazz Foundation.  The annual Vail Jazz Workshop provides full scholarships to 12 promising jazz students, who are selected from hundreds of high school musicians for a week of intensive jazz study with industry masters.  The workshop students stay with local families in order to get a close up experience of the Vail Valley, and at the end of the week they perform together in and around Vail.  ‘Jazz Goes to School’ is a local, grassroots program that educates Eagle County 4th and 5th graders about America’s original music form:  Jazz.   “From the ground up, we build jazz awareness and appreciation and support those who will help perpetuate the art form -- we take our mission very seriously”, said John Clayton, director of education for the Foundation.

The Vail Jazz Foundation is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization in its 13th year of providing outstanding jazz music and jazz education programs in the Vail Valley.  For more information, visit www.vailjazz.org.