The 2014 Steel City Jazz Festival! September 23 – 26 (At The Pearl)
The 2014 Steel City Jazz Festival! September 23, 2014: The Steel City Jazz Festival is a Hamilton-based music festival celebrating the city’s talented and diverse jazz 
community. Now in its second year, the Festival kicks off on October 15 and runs until October 26 at two of Hamilton’s premiere jazz venues, Artword Artbar (15 Colbourne Street, James North area) and The Pearl.
Performances at Artword Artbar: Oct 15: The Hamilton Dixieland All-Stars. Oct 16: Chris Platt and Bob Shields; the Jason Jones Unit. Oct 17: The Aaron Zukewich Trio; The Sean Dowhaniuk Group. Oct 18: A Night of Latin Jazz. Oct 19: Adrean Farrugia and Sophia Perlman.
Performances: @The Pearl Company:
Thursday October 23, at 8 pm, $20. The Brad Cheeseman Group: Brad Cheeseman’s first release as leader, Mixed Messages, offers all the twists, turns and subtleties of the best modern jazz music, so it’s no surprise that it was awarded the 2013 Hamilton Music Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year. Plus The Blank Quintet: a group of young Toronto musicians creating their own adventurous take on modern jazz. Max Forster trumpet & flugelhorn, Nick Marshal trombone, Sean Clary guitar, Nick Arseneau bass, Alejandro Luna drums.
Friday October 24, at 8 pm, $20. The Jazz Connection Big Band: a well-established 17-piece jazz ensemble delivering high energy, uncompromising and straight ahead jazz, funk, and Latin combining the highest level of musicianship and great charts in an entertaining show that equally engages both the jazz enthusiast and the casual listener.
Saturday October 25, at 8 pm, $20. Spanjazz: An evening of original jazz compositions inspired by world beat rhythms and composed by Gary Santucci: with Chris Bruder on keyboards; Steve Wilson drums; Brandon Walker multi-reeds; Ian McGillivary trumpet; Jillian McKenna bass; Gary Santucci guitar.
Sunday October 26, at 7:30 pm, $20. The Steel City Jazz Festival Closing Concert at The Pearl Company. Quarter to Nine: a musical act with Shari Vandermolen on vocals with a 5-piece band. Influences include Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Etta James, Billie Holiday and “big-band sound” bringing you Jazz Standards, risqué blues and torch songs peppered with just the right amount of showtunes for good measure. plus the Messore-Palka Quintet: featuring Thomas Messore vocals, Amber-Leigh Palka vocals, Scott Taplay guitar, Matthew Pullicino drums, Hope Bozzo bass.
Full concert listings, can be found at www.steelcityjazzfestival.com/schedule. Tickets to all performances can be purchased at the door, and reservations can be placed by emailing steelcityjazzfestival@gmail.com or by contacting the host venues: Artword Artbar, 905-543-8512, http://www.artword.net/artbar or The Pearl Company.
The Steel City Jazz Festival is a grassroots festival made possible through donations from community members and our sponsor NLP Canada Training.
For more information please contact: Chris Ferguson, Festival Director 905-616-5960 chris.ferguson5@gmail.com
