Jazzin’ Up The Island

Jazzin’ Up The Island

The weather may be cooling off but Fernandina Beach, Florida, will be heating up to the sounds of the 2008 Les DeMerle Amelia Island Jazz Festival.

From October 5th through the 12th, 2008 the Amelia Island Jazz Festival will once again light up the island with a week-long series of events celebrating the diverse all-American art form, jazz.

Under the creative direction of renowned jazz drummer and bandleader, Les DeMerle, the festival will kick-off on Sunday, October 5 with a free jazz concert.

The Amelia Island Jazz Festival provides a rich, diverse cultural offering to the Amelia Island area by exposing thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds to the sounds, excitement and vitality of great jazz.

The Festival presents world-class jazz in many styles, including swing, bebop, Dixieland, big band, Latin, and contemporary. During the week-long festival, held in October each year, music is performed by jazz greats as well as fresh, up-and-coming young talent. Performances are staged in several venues around Amelia Island, including the beautiful courtyard of St. Peter's Episcopal Church. The Amelia Island Jazz Festival helps preserve the American art form Jazz by increasing the exposure and awareness of the music genre to the general public.

Les DeMerle

A Brief but Rich Festival History

Founded in 2001, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival is very young as far as music festivals go. But this Festival has come a long way in a very short time, and shows strong potential to become a world- renowned musical event. In fact, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival seems to be following the footsteps of such festivals as the Monterey and Newport Jazz Festivals. Like the renowned jazz festivals, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival benefits from the vision and energy of a veteran jazz professional who instantly gives the Festival a rich heritage:

Featured Headliners

Harry Allen:

Harry has performed at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe and Asia. To quote C. Michael Bailey "...a practitioner of such dense talent he sounds as if he invented tenor saxophone performance instead of Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. Allen is the Sinatra of the tenor saxophone: a master interpreter of standards""

Jeff Rupert + Dirty Martini
with vocalist Michelle Amato:

Together, this group creates music full of rhythm and passion with a sensuous lyrical quality.

The Bill Allred Classic Jazz Band

The Bill Allred Classic Jazz Band:

Led by renowned trombonist Bill Allred, this "monster octet" plays everything from Jelly Roll Morton to Count Basie and all stops in between.

19-Piece US Navy Big Band Southeast:

Simply put this band is terrific.

The Dynamic Les DeMerle Band
featuring vocalist Bonnie Eisele:

Renowned drummer, bandleader and Jazz Festival Artistic Director, Les has played with Harry James and The Manhattan Transfer. In the words of Downbeat magazine, Les and his vocalist wife, Bonnie Eisele, are: "Upbeat from the downbeat, one of the most exciting acts on the jazz scene today".

Jazz festival concert tickets are available online at www.ameliaislandjazzfestival.com, and at the following vendors: The UPS Store - Island Walk Shopping Center, 1417 Sadler Road, 277-0820; Intercoastal Wine Company, 10 N. Second St., 321-1300; or at the door if not sold out in advance.