Harvest Media Center
Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival Announces 2008 Line Up
July 15, 2008
Harvest Plays International Notes in 2008
With more big-name international acts, more intimate jazz offerings and an initiative to green Fredericton's biggest annual event, the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival launched its 18th edition today.
Headlining the September 9-14 non-profit Festival will be five-time Grammy Award Winner Buddy Guy from Chicago, million-selling Brit pop stars Bloc Party, Georgia guitar-wizard Derek Trucks, Vermont's hot prospect Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Amsterdam's Ana Popovic, France's Nano, and the United Kingdom's premier jazz vocalist Sarah Jane Morris performing with long-time Sting guitarist Dominic Miller.
Passes and tickets for the Festival go on sale Saturday, July 19th, at 8:30am. Tickets can be purchased online at www.harvestjazzandblues.com, over the phone at 1-888-NB BLUES or in the Festival store at 81 Regent Street.
"Our 2008 line up marks another big step for Harvest. With performers from Britain, France, the Netherlands, the U.S., and Israel, we've emerged as a truly international festival with an amazingly diverse line up that features artists with household names and hip, up-and-comers everyone else hears about next year," says 2008 Festival Chair, Patti Graham.
Organizers are billing the event as the best international festival experience on Canada's East Coast.
"Harvest is a unique festival experience. You get top international stars in intimate and high-energy settings that make for memorable, sometimes even historic, performances," says Festival Music Director, Brent Staeben.
"At Harvest, you get the chance to see Buddy Guy or The Derek Trucks Band with just hundreds of fans, not tens of thousands. That makes for a better experience for the audience and for the performers. It's something our Festival has developed an international reputation for," adds Staeben.
The Festival will feature more jazz performances this year, with additional shows in the Playhouse, the James Joyce Pub and the Grill on York. The jazz line up includes a series of shows celebrating the spirit of Canadian jazz great, Oscar Peterson, who passed away this year. In his honour, the Festival is presenting four diverse jazz piano trios, including the Hilario Durán Trio and The Judy Lewis Trio from Israel.
The Festival will also pay tribute to Jeff Healey who passed away this year. By featuring some of the finest international guitarists like Buddy Guy, along with the Jeff Healey's Blues Band, the Festival will celebrate the life and work this great Canadian artist.
Organizers of the Festival are continuing their long-standing commitment to local artists as well. This year, 35% of the Festivals features New Brunswick performers. Of particular note is a re-union of the well-known Fredericton 70's blues-rock band, Freightliner.
Following the lead of the City's Green Matters campaign, the Festival will also introduce an initiative to make Harvest more environmentally friendly, with an increased emphasis on recycling and waste reduction programs.
"Harvest is a community organization and our community is leading the way in the Green revolution. It's important for the Festival to be a part of that. Each of our committees are looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint. It's something we're committed to for the long run," says Festival Chair, Patti Graham.
The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival was founded in 1991 and is presented with the help of more than 700 volunteers.
Here is just a taste of some of the acts appearing at Harvest this September:
- Buddy Guy
- The Derek Trucks Band
- Bloc Party
- Emilie-Claire Barlow
- Hilario Durén Trio
- Sarah Jane Morris & Dominic Miller
- Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
- Charlie Hunter
- Ana Popovic
- Eric Bibb
- Nick Moss & the Flip Tops
- Jackie Richardson
- The Frequency
- Jeff Healey's Blues Band
- Apostle of Hustle
- Grand Theft Bus
- David Myles
- Matt Andersen
- Bonerama
- Jim Martinez
- Old Man Luedecke
- Hot Toddy Trio
- JP LeBlanc
- Tonic
- Nano
- Garrett Mason
- Judy Lewis Trio
- T.J. Wheeler
- The Homemade Jamz' Blues Band
- Hey Rosetta!
- Tom Fun Orchestra
