Okay, okay… bad puns aside, this is a bit of sad news for Arizona locals and return visitors alike.  Sedona Jazz on the Rocks – after 27 seasons of this annual September event – has decided not to hold a festival in the fall of 2009.

The key drivers of the decision to cancel this year, as reported on their website, were…

“…lower-than-projected revenues from the 2008 Festival, donations and sponsors — and the current economic environment that is challenging all of us.”

“But,” they promise, “we’re not going away.”

Sedona Jazz on the Rocks reports that they have “already taken significant steps to weather the financial storm, including reducing our administrative costs by nearly 80%.”

“We plan to hold a series of smaller events during the year to build our financial base. We will strategically use this time to rethink, regroup and reinvent Sedona Jazz on the Rocks, with plans to bring the Festival back in 2010.”

Source: prescottjazz.com Photo by Jim Haas

Prescott Jazz Summit is Covering the Basses

So what will local and visiting Jazz and music-lovers do in the absence of this legacy event?

Good news! The 2009 Prescott Arizona Jazz Summit is happening August 28 – 30.  In its 9th season, the Prescott Area Jazz Summit is being headlined by Grammy Award-winning Toni Tennille of the 70s sensation Captain & Tennille, performing on Saturday night, with more than a dozen other renowned musicians filling a variety of downtown Prescott venues with music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including Master of Ceremonies Blaize Lantana, Jazz Director and host of nightly jazz programming on Phoenix’s NPR station, KJZZ 91.5 FM,

Musicians scheduled to perform include Judy Roberts, Reggie Thomas, Carl Saunders, Mike Vax, Scott Whitfield, Gary Hobbs, Greg Fishman, Blaise Lantana, Ginger Berglund, Joel Robin, Tony Vacca, Jack Petersen, Steve Annibale, Ted Sistrunk, Cleve Huff, Denny Garr, Les Czimber, Tom Winker, Larry Kantor and several youth acts, including the Sedona Jazz on the Rocks Youth Band.

Come to Prescott where summer temperatures are mild; afternoon temperatures about 80 degrees and evening temps in the 60s. Perfect for kicking back on Courthouse Square, grabbing dinner and drinks in one of the happenin’ downtown Prescott restaurants and bars along “Whiskey Row” and beyond, and shopping in local boutique retail shops and art galleries that frame the downtown epicenter.

Tickets are affordable, with the best deal being the All Concert Pass for just $70. Individual concerts priced around $25 per person and specialty tickets like Meet the Musicians and a Sunday Jazz Brunch are also available.

Buy tickets online at www.prescottjazz.com or order by phone at 925-218-2336.

Tickets also on sale at the Hassayampa Inn and the Prescott Chamber of Commerce.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
Call 928-771-1268 or 925-872-1942

Download PDF

photo credit: kathycsus on flickr.com

The Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society announced that tickets are
now available for films and concerts during its first annual Festival of Native American
Culture to be held from June 5 through 13, 2009, at the Red Rock District Visitor Center, south
of the Village of Oak Creek and at the Sedona Visitor Center in Uptown.

In association with the Sedona International Film Festival, activities begin with a Native
American Film Festival featuring documentaries, fiction and music videos by Native
American filmmakers.

Here’s the line-up of events:

Friday, June 5: two Navajo films entitled Turquoise Rose and A Gift From Talking God: The Story
of the Navajo Churro.  At the Clarkdale Memorial Clubhouse. 7:00 pm.

Saturday, June 6: The Radisson Poco Diablo Resort will host a Dinner Theatre, with special guest Michael Blake, the Academy Award® winning screenwriter and author of Dances With Wolves, who will show and discuss his film The
American West: On The Road With Michael Blake. 6:00 pm.

Film Festival at the Harkins Theatre in Sedona
Sunday, June 7:

• 6:30 pm show – the Canadian Inuit film Before Tomorrow, which will be preceded by Sandpainting Healing with Walking Thunder.
• 9:00 pm show – brings back two highly popular films from the Sedona International Film Festival earlier this year, American Outrage and CHE AH CHI: The History of Boynton Canyon.

Film Festival at the Canyon Moon Theatre in The Village of Oak Creek (VOC) Two unique events never before held in Arizona.

Monday, June 8: Films by indigenous filmmakers from Latin America.

• 3:00 pm matinee – Films from Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador.
• 7:00 pm show – Films from Guatemala and Bolivia.

Tuesday, June 9 – The Film Festival concludes on  with a series of short
subjects by members of the Native American Producers Alliance. 7:00 pm.

The Festival ends with a Celebration of Native American Music and Dance.

Friday, June 12: Canyon Records recording artist Gabriel Ayala will perform in concert at St. John Vianney Church, Sedona, of Classical, Tango, Flamenco and Contemporary guitar. 7:00 pm.

Saturday, June 13: An Evening of Native Dance will close the Festival  in the Sedona
Hilton Tequa Ballroom. The Halau Hula Napuaokalei’ilima troupe will perform Hawaiian
dances as performed for the Heard Museum’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. They will be
followed by the internationally-known Dancing Earth, a collective of performance artists
representing the First Nations who create experimental yet elemental dances that reflect their
rich cultural heritage to explore their identity as contemporary Native peoples.  7:00 pm

Tickets can also be purchased online. Other ticket outlets are being added. Details of the Festival events are available at www.festivalofnativeamericanculture.org, or by
calling 928-284-4764.