2003 Greater Hartford Jazz Festival Features All Star Lineup

July 8, 2003

Pianist Billy Taylor, along with Sonny Fortune, Chuck Loeb, David Hazeltine & Eric Alexander and many more jazz stars are scheduled to perform at this summer’s Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz (GHFJ), which will “showcase the full color spectrum of jazz stylings from some of music’s greatest artists in the insurance city’s Bushnell Park this summer, July 18- 20.”

Sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services Group, the GHFJ is “the largest free festival of its kind in southern New England. In previous years, the festival attracted more than 50,000 music lovers to Bushnell Park,” said the announcement. “For 2003, organizers of the 12th annual festival have lined up three days of free music that celebrates the eclecticism of today’s jazz, from classic interpretations to sizzling Latin rhythms, from smooth, contemporary stylings to a little bit of funky soul.”

The festival, which in the past decade has showcased such jazz giants as Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, McCoy Tyner, Chuck Mangione and Nancy Wilson, has been hailed by The Hartford Courant as “a worthy role model for all major, free outdoor cultural events in the city of Hartford.” In addition to the music, the festival offers a food court, an arts-and-crafts marketplace and family-oriented activities during the weekend. On Saturday night, from 10:30 p.m. to midnight, Bushnell Park’s historic carousel will be transformed into the Jazz Carousel and be open for rides.

“In addition to presenting the country’s finest performers, the festival is dedicated to showcasing local artists and aspiring young performers from area schools and jazz programs. The Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, Inc. is a public, not-for-profit organization founded in the fall of 1991 by a group of Hartford-based jazz supporters to honor the anniversary of Paul Brown’s Monday Night Series. It can be found at www.hartfordjazz.com.” the announcement concluded.

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