Main Street JazzFest, the annual spring celebration held the first weekend of May on the Murfreesboro Public Square, has announced performers for its 2022 concert.
Held Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7, the free outdoor event remains one of the most popular annual activities for all ages in Rutherford County.
Encompassing a broad range and definition of American jazz, the 2022 installment features tinges of blues, gospel, jug band, funk and big-band sounds from Higher Ground, Jake Leg Stompers, The Establishment, the Judson Jazz Orchestra, Thane Shearon and Friends and Ben Tankard.
JazzFest also traditionally includes a wealth of local student ensembles, giving area youth musicians an opportunity to share a concert bill with professional players.
Music kicks off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and again at 10 a.m. on Saturday, for a jam-packed second day on the Murfreesboro Square.
In addition to all of the talented musicians, JazzFest offers lots of food vendors and a Kids’ Alley with free hands-on activities for children. A smaller children’s stage will also host performances, while local percussion collective Everybody Drum Some will give attendees a chance to participate in some group rhythm sessions.
In a JazzFest first, the Mid-State Brew Crew will bring beer vendors to an onsite craft beer garden. Attendees can purchase an armband for $20 on Saturday for access to the craft beer garden.
Main Street JazzFest 2022 Schedule:
Friday, May 6
5:30–9:30 p.m. (order to be determined)
La Vergne High School
Oakland High School
Riverdale High School
Rockvale High School
Blackman High School
Central Magnet School
Siegel High School
Smyrna High School
___
9:30–10:30 p.m.
Judson Jazz Orchestra
___
Saturday, May 7
10 a.m.–1 p.m. (order to be determined)
Blackman Middle School
Oakland Middle School
Rockvale Middle School
Rocky Fork Middle School
St. Rose Middle School
___
1:30 p.m.
MTSU Jazz Ensemble I
___
3 p.m.
Jake Leg Stompers
___
4:30 p.m.
Thane Shearon with the Stan Lassiter Trio
___
5:30 p.m.
A New Orleans-style marching band will perform while parading through the event
___
6 p.m.
Ben Tankard
___
7 p.m.
New Orleans band parade
___
7:30 p.m.
The Establishment
___
8:30 p.m.
New Orleans band parade
___
9 p.m.
Higher Ground
___
Recently inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the talented Ben Tankard—the Godfather of Gospel-jazz—is also a former professional basketball player, a pastor, motivational speaker, record company CEO and TV star with the hit family reality TV show Thicker Than Water: The Tankards.
Tankard’s newest instrumental CD release, Shine!, provides a follow-up to his chart-topping Rise! He wants it to provide a musical backdrop for the listener to dream, meditate and spiritually shine, he says. Key moments from the release include Tankard’s take on Kirk Franklin’s “Melodies from Heaven” and “How Deep Is Your Love,” a remake of the Bee Gees’ pop hit from the late 1970s.
___
The Tennessee-based Higher Ground Band has been influenced by funk, hip-hop, R&B, soul, neo-soul and jazz music. The hard-hitting group plays music from the ’60s to today at weddings and other events around the region. Van Bradshaw, formerly with touring group Sisqo, put Higher Ground together in 2000.
___
Over a span of 18 years, Murfreesboro’s Jake Leg Stompers recorded and released four albums, performed on street corners, small clubs and venues, and played festivals across the mid-South, including the National Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville, Kentucky, the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival in Franklin, Tennessee.
The band—consisting of Bill Steber (vocals, harmonica, guitar, banjo, ukulele, saw), Ron Bombardi (guitar, vocals, fiddle, mandolin), Lisa Law Fatzinger (vocals), Sammy Baker (bass, vocals, jug) and Sam Rorex (percussion, guitar, vocals, washboard)—recreate the jug band and early blues sounds from the early decades of the 1900s.
___
Growing up in Murfreesboro, Thane Shearon went on to perform and record with Southern-rock music legends such as Ed King, Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Greg Martin (Kentucky Headhunters) and Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie), as well as with his own band, Cold Truth. He now joins forces with legendary jazz guitarist Stan Lassiter and his power trio, consisting of veteran musicians Larry Goad on drums and Bill Francis on bass guitar.
While classically trained, Lassiter is considered by many to be one of Nashville’s premier jazz guitarists. In addition to being a veteran drummer, Goad has also produced numerous albums, while Francis, an accomplished bass scholar, has studied at the Bass Collective with John Pattituci in New York.
This soulful power-blues-meets-jazz ensemble Thane Shearon and Friends should catch the attention of listeners from many musical genres.
___
Under the direction of Camp Kirkland, Judson Jazz channels the classic depth and style of the big bands of the 1940s. The band plays many American big band standards like “Jump Jive and Wail,” “It’s Time to Move,” “Blue Skies” and “Jumpin’ East of Java,” plus some new unexpected versions of hymns and classic gospel songs.
Kirkland’s more than 40 years in the music business include the creation of thousands of arrangements and recordings, heard often in venues from Carnegie Hall to widely varied houses of worship.
___
In 1970, a diverse group of Nashville musicians who loved big-band music came together to form The Establishment, an ensemble devoted to performing a wide array of jazz orchestra music. Today, this skilled 20-piece band with an extensive repertoire plays throughout the mid-South, including at the Opryland Hotel’s New Year’s Eve Gala and aboard the showboat General Jackson.
Del Sawyer, dean emeritus of Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, founded the group. In 1998, Sawyer handed over the baton to Blair educator and seasoned session player Billy Adair, and Cole Burgess became the director in 2014.
A nonprofit organization, The Establishment generates scholarships for musically talented children to receive individualized instruction at Blair School of Music and at the W.O. Smith Nashville Community Music School.
