The Lead Sheet: Twin Cities Live Jazz, July 2017

Pharoah Sanders, coming to the Dakota July 25-26

© Andrea Canter

Ed. note:  The Lead Sheet transitions to a monthly post with frequent updates. Rather than posting a new "sheet" weekly, JazzINK will publish an overview of gigs for the coming month on or before the first of each month, with at least weekly updating as new gigs and concerts are announced. The Coming Soon listing, now dubbed Lead Sheet Calendar, will have ongoing updates, and the text of the Lead Sheet will periodically add more detailed information as well. Please note that the weekly KBEM broadcast of The Lead Sheet will continue through July only.

June certainly ended with a flurry of notes as the 2017 Twin Cities Jazz Festival wrapped up last weekend. But there isn't really any down time in local jazz, and just a few hours away, another fine weekend festival takes place at the start of July -- the Iowa City Jazz Festival. And it's a holiday weekend making for some festive jazz in area clubs and venues, including a visit from Geoffrey Keezer in the Dunsmore Room.  Other highlights coming in July-- Teri Roiger at the Dunsmore Room, Carmen Lunday at the Dakota, the return of the All Originals summer series at Studio Z... and more.

Big Gigs This Month

Iowa City Jazz Festival

Friday-Sunday, June 30-July 2. An easy five-hour drive south, the Iowa City Jazz Festival is one of the nation's finest small festivals. The 2017 line-up includes innovative pianist Kris Davis, sublime vocalist Stacy Kent, all-star band The Cookers, our own Laura Caviani and her trio, as well as  favorite son trumpeter John Raymond with his Real Feels trio, and the masterful saxophonist Donny McCaslin, among others. And we have some of our most promising youth in Iowa City as well, with the Dakota Combo on the Youth Stage and the Adam Astrup Quartet on the college stage-- note Adam and Simon Petrick are also in the Dakota Combo so they have a busy weekend. This is a totally free festival and we always have a solid contingent of Twin Citians there. (Festival exchange artists this year are Laura Caviani and the Dakota Combo going south; Chris Merz and his Christopher's Very Happy Band traveled north to the Twin Cities fest last weekend.)

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