Headline act has hit top of jazz charts.

Each year thousands of people flock to Suttons Bay for the annual JazzFest.

What began as a meeting of a few jazz enthusiasts 15 years ago has grown into one of the premiere jazz events in the state, and is known in jazz circles around the nation. Through no small effort by the festival organizers, Harry and Piper Goldson, the Suttons Bay JazzFest attracts at least one premiere act or group each year.

After taking the 2006 season off, Jazzfest will return Saturday under a tent at the Suttons Bay beach. Suttons Bay Chamber of Commerce members organized a replacement music festival last summer.

Marcus Roberts

Music will begin at 1 p.m. with the Interlochen Arts Summer Camp Big Band. Food and wine from Leelanau restaurants and wineries will be available for sale.

How has a small-town jazz festival been able to attract the likes of this year’s main event, Marcus Roberts, and other top-name jazz performers?

We asked Tom Knific, leader of the Western Jazz Quartet, another group that will be performing at 2:15 p.m.

“It all goes back to Harry and Piper. Harry is very well known and respected in jazz circles, and the setting couldn’t be better for a jazz concert,” Knific said.

The big act for this year’s event is Marcus Roberts. “It’s a real coup having Marcus Roberts come here,” Piper Goldson said.

Roberts is a Grammy-nominated pianist who in 1985 at the age of 21 toured with Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra for six years. Now 42, Roberts has had several recordings reach No. 1 spot on Billboard Magazine’s traditional jazz chart. With influences as diverse as Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and McCoy Turner, Roberts’ work mixes traditional jazz with other jazz influences to create a new sound in modern jazz.

Roberts will be performing with drummer Jason Marsalis, the youngest member of the Marsalis family, who left the highly successful Los Hombres Caliente of which he was founding member, to join Roberts’ trio.

Bassist, composer and arranger Roland Guerin is the other point on Robert’s triangle. Guerin has toured with jazz legends such as saxophonist George Benson, Alvin Batiste, Nicholas Payton and Gerry Mulligan
The Marcus Roberts Trio will take the stage at 7:30 p.m., the highlight of an afternoon and evening of jazz that started with the return of crowd favorite Interlochen Arts Summer Camp Big Band.

“There was an overwhelming response to this group of talented student musicians. The crowd just loves them,” she said. The 15-member band performs the music of Count Basie and other big band classics. Vernon Howard is the band director.

The Western Jazz Quartet will perform its musical stylings beginning at 2:15 p.m. The quartet is made up of four university music professors: Tom Knific, director of jazz studies and professor of bass at Western Michigan University; Trent Kynaston, saxophonist, is a professor of music at Western; Tim Froneck, drummer, is professor of jazz studies at Grand Valley State University and is a clinician for Yamaha Drums; and Steve Zegree, is a professor of jazz and classical piano at WMU.

The quartet was formed in 1974 and has consisted of different members over its 34 year history. Knific said being part of the Suttons Bay JazzFest is quite an honor.

“This is the first time for the quartet to perform at the JazzFest. The festival is quite well known in this state and around the nation,” he said.

While Knific and his family live in the Kalamazoo area, he was director of jazz studies at the Interlochen Arts Academy from 1983-88.

“Having lived in the northwest lower Michigan area, I’m very familiar with Suttons Bay and the natural beauty of the area. We are really looking forward to performing at JazzFest given the outdoor venue and the knowledgeable crowd,” he said.

The Western Quartet has released five CDs in the United States and three in Europe.

Knific said most songs the group will perform are from its CD Mayan Myths, which reflects the group’s interpretation of music of the Mayan culture before Europeans came to North America.

“I think these songs will fit in with the scenery and we will be playing in,” Knific said. Plus, the group will be performing songs from its Tango suite, including the tune “Siena”, a travelogue piece based on the group’s impression of the Italian city. “Piper said she liked it, so we’re going to dedicate it her,” he said.

The Western Jazz Quartet has just returned from a tour of Europe set up by the U.S. State Department.
At 3:45 p.m. the Merling Trio will take the stage. The trio is an ensemble-in-residence at WMU’s School of Music.

And at 5:30 p.m. the Harry Goldson Quintet will perform the music that has made Goldson a household name in jazz circles. Playing with the Northern Michigan Artist of the Year are Jim Cooper on vibes; pianist Dave Hay, drummer Mike Van Lente, and Michigan Musician of the Year Elgin Vines on bass.
Goldson is a one of the nation’s premiere jazz clarinetists. His experience runs to the golden age of big bands. Goldson and crew combine the energy and enthusiasm of straight-ahead jazz with new interpretations of musical icons such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Goldson will be coming fresh off of a performance with his Cafe Society Orchestra at an event for the 2007 National Governors Association on Saturday, July 21.

Tickets for the event are $25 before Saturday, and $35 at the door.

Proceeds from the event are used to fund scholarships for county students to music summer camps such as Interlochen and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

Tickets are available at the Tamarack Gallery in Omena, The Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, the Traverse City Visitors’ Center and by calling 271-4444.

Event sponsors are the Suttons Bay JazzFest Foundation; DTE Energy; TV 7&4; Fifth Third Bank; Blue Lake Public Radio with Lazaro Vega as MC; Bahle’s of Suttons Bay; and various professional and corporate underwriters.