MAY 15-16, 2010

The mid-May Estes Park Jazz Fest event is one of the highlights of the spring season – a kind of musical kickoff for the busy summer. It’s deliberately planned to be the same weekend as Art Walk, so you can visit galleries, listen to some of the best musical talent in the region, have lunch, visit more galleries, and hear more music. Stop by just to listen briefly while you're out on the Art Walk, or bring your own blanket or lawn chairs and camp out for the afternoon to listen to the music.

Headlining Saturday is the Brazilian jazz group Mistura Bela with Barbara Ernst.  Sunday the festival headliner will be High Note Records recording artist Houston Person, a soul-jazz tenor sax player.

Canadian born vocalist and guitarist Barbara Ernst grew up listening to her parents’ collection of great swing and jazz classics of the 20s, 30s and 40s. As a young musician she made her way to the west coast of the U.S.; first the Bay Area and then Seattle. She was greatly influenced by and became an accomplished musician within these thriving music scenes. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Barbara sings romantic Spanish ballads and Bossa Novas with true authenticity and brings her own unique touch to some of our jazz standards. She has performed at festivals and in clubs in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico, has toured in Asia and Africa and twice performed at the Winter Music Festival in Sao Joao del Rei, Brazil.

Teamed with her highly accomplished six-piece Brazilian jazz group, Mistura Bela, Barbara delights audiences with performances encompassing the beauty, excitement and romance of Bossa Nova, Samba and Brazilian Jazz. Barbara’s latest album with Mistura Bela, April Child, is on the Circle 504 record label.

Jazz great legendary tenor saxophonist, Houston Person, grew up in Florence, South Carolina and remembers his parents listening to lots of jazz at home. First playing piano before switching to the tenor sax at age 17, he went on to study music at South Carolina State College (where he’s included in the school’s Hall of Fame), and later pursued advanced studies at Hart College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut.

As a member of The United States Air Force Band stationed in Germany, he played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Don Ellis. Houston later worked as tenor saxophonist for Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Horace Silver and organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith, among others. Global performer Houston Person has recorded more than 75 albums as a leader on the Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, and Muse (which became HighNote Records) record labels. In 1990 his recording with Ron Carter, Something in Common, won the Independent Jazz Record of the Year Award, and he received an Indie Award for his recording Why Not. Other awards have included the prestigious Eubie Blake Jazz Award and the Fred Hampton Scholarship Fund Image Award. His HighNote recordings as both tenor artist and producer were Grammy Award finalists in 1999 and 2000.

The full schedule of those performing:

Saturday, May 15

Noon-Estes Park Jazz Big Band playing swinging classic big band sounds
1:05 pm-Derek Banach Quintet showcasing cutting edge original modern jazz
2:30 pm-Barbara Ernst and Mistura Bela
3:55 pm-Convergence performing modern jazz

Sunday, May 16

Noon-Max Wagner Quartet playing modern mainstream jazz - tenor saxophone & jazz vocals
1:20 pm-Manuel Lopez and the Latin Jazz Project performing Latin jazz, salsa and sounds of Cuba
2:40 pm-Houston Person
4 pm-Pete Olstad and the Bob Montgomery Big Band with high energy modern big band jazz.