The Lansing JazzFest is a free music festival that takes place each year in the summer in Lansing, Michigan. It showcases nationally, regionally, and locally known

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

artists such as Marcus Belgrave, the Professors of Jazz at MSU ( Rodney Whitaker,

Randy Gelispie Randle Gelispie, "Randy" or "Uncle G", is an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and educator. Born in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, Randy Gelispie began playing drums at a young age. He played clubs while still in his teens, technically illegal for him ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, Derrick Gardner, Sunny Wilkinson, and Rick Roe), Eric Reed,

Michael Kaeshammer Michael Kaeshammer (born 7 January 1977) is a Canadian jazz and boogie-woogie pianist. Early life and education Kaeshammer grew up in Offenburg, Germany, where he studied classical piano for seven years. At age thirteen, he became interested i ...

, Straight Ahead, Don Phillips, Lisa Smith and Mike Skory, Sunrise II, Jazz Doggs, Tyrone Johnson, the Claudia Schmidt Quartet, Dick Fizzell & the Dixieland Express,

Tim Cunningham Tim Cunningham is an American actor and baseball coach. He is known for playing the recurring role of "Chuck" and " Tim" on 38 episodes of the American sitcom television series ''Cheers''. Cunningham guest-starred in television programs includin ...

, Francis Kofi, Betty Joplin, Sheila Landis, Ritmo, Patti Richards,

Los Gatos Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of th ...

, and more. The festival welcomes nearly 15,000 attendees over the weekend.

History

The Lansing JazzFest began in 1995 when the Old Town Business and Art Development Association, having successfully produced OctoberFest (now the Old Town BluesFest), discovered that

music festivals A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or hol ...

are an excellent way to encourage people to visit and enjoy Old Town

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

. The local jazz radio station, 89.7 WLNZ, signed on as a founding media sponsor, and Message Makers, a local media company, became its founding business sponsor. In the festival's early days, local musicians donated their time to play at JazzFest, and volunteers from the local community pitched in to see that the 4,000-5,000 people in attendance had a good time. The Lansing JazzFest is the only mid-Michigan festival to increase consistently in attendance every year since its beginning. A virtual show is planned in September 2020 as live shows were cancelled caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.jazzlansing.com/ Jazz festivals in the United States Music festivals in Michigan Tourist attractions in Lansing, Michigan Economy of Lansing, Michigan

History

See also

External links