Iowa City Jazz Fest

[frichter]

Hey all,

This is a belated post, but I just wanted to let everyone know about a nice little festival in the midwest that I kind of stumbled upon this year. Even though I grew up in Iowa, I did not know that Iowa City even had a jazz festival until this year when I had the pleasure of playing it with a Chicago quartet (Radio Improved -- Mitch Paliga, Tim AuBuchon, Ryan Bennett, and this time -- myself). I really enjoyed this festival . . . I felt that it was well run, there was an opportunity to see a lot of "top billing" groups -- Ben Allison Quartet, Don Byron, Airto Moreira, Stanton Moore Trio, etc., and you could check out local music, student music, and local shops/food stands. Steve Grismore (director of jazz at U of I) runs a great show and I recommend it to anyone next year. And Iowa City is a pretty hip town, despite its state (j/k . . . I love Iowa). I had a great time both playing and hangin. Just thought I would drop this in for anyone in the midwest. Oh yeah . . . its free.

Peace.

[Marcus Johnson]

Nice lineup! As an ex-Midwesterner, I know how great it can be to have the cats come through town. And free!

I like Iowa, too...

[Chrix]

I agree that it's a great little festival. And Iowa City is a super hip town. The thing I like the most about the festival is that they tend to book bands that are a little left of center. Cuong Vu's Trio was amazing, as was Ben Allison's group. Nice stuff that doesn't necessarily cohere to convention...