Organizers are announcing four days of nine free Jazz Concerts in six venues throughout the village of Cazenovia, Sept. 11 through 14, when Jazz N’ Caz Festival returns for the 22nd year. Here’s the lineup:
- Wednesday, Sept. 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Cazenovia Public Library: Mountain Army Division Jazz Combo
- Wednesday, Sept. 11, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Owera Vineyards: Melissa Gardener – MG3. Trombonist Melissa Gardiner has performed with several legendary musicians including Aretha Franklin, The Temptations and Dave Matthews Band. Gardiner has won several awards as a bandleader including two Syracuse Area Music Awards for Best Jazz Album, and grand prize winner at the International Jazz Competition in Bucharest, Romania (2018).
- Thursday, Sept. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the the Lincklaen House’s Seven Stone Steps: Ronnie France Bass on Top with Dave Donley. Bass, a recording artist, is a native of Central New York. His father, Harold France was a former lead trumpet on Stan Kenton’s band. Ron went on to become the touring bassist for Doc Severinsen of the Tonight show with Johnny Carson.
- Thursday, Sept. 12, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brae Loch Inn: Chuck Shiele’s Quatro. Quatro’s unique musical identity lies in their commitment to genre-bending original music, along with their ability to breathe new life into covers, giving a fresh twist to familiar classics. With equal parts energy, weirdness, and elegance, their performance becomes less of a set of music and more of a ride.
- Friday, Sept. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Brewster Inn: Loren & LJ Barrigar. Loren began playing guitar at the age of four and by the time he was six, became the youngest instrumentalist to perform at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. As a songwriter his melodies have been featured on TV shows such as “ER” and “The Young and The Restless” as well as receiving an International Acoustic Music Award for best instrumental.
- Friday, Sept. 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Brae Loch Inn: Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers with Wendy Sassafras Ramsay, Josh Dekaney & John Dancks. Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, is a grand prize winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine, and a 2024 inductee into the Sammy Hall of Fame. Wendy Sassafras Ramsay, songwriter and harmonizer extraordinaire, adds flute, clarinet, and accordion to the mix. Josh Dekaney, drummer for Mary Fahl and a wide range of Americana, jazz, and world music artists, performs on a one-of-a-kind hybrid percussion kit, anchoring the rhythm along with Sammy Hall of Famer John Dancks on upright bass.
- Saturday, Sept. 14, from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. at the Caz Library: BBQ Jazz Consort.
- Saturday, Sept. 14, from 5:15 to 7 p.m. at the Brewster Inn. Pianist Barry Blumenthal, bassist Mike Solazzo, drummer Tom Killian and special guest saxophonist Frank Grosso. These musicians have played with pretty much everybody who plays or sings jazz in the area, not to mention most of the national and international jazz greats who’ve come to town. Frank’s incredible sound and feel adds to the joy of playing great music with close friends. The BBQ is open.
- Saturday, Sept. 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. at McCarthy’s: Dave Liddy & Steve Quenneville SAMMY Award-winning guitar/piano/vocal duo playing both authentic and original songs in the style of Americana, blues, boogie-woogie, ragtime and Tin Pan Alley.