All jazz and blues
Annual P.E.I. festival in Charlottetown moves to June
P.E.I. Jazz & Blues Festival is earlier this year, starting next Wednesday and featuring East Coast jazz, blues, soul, rock and alternative music performers.
The TD P.E.I. Jazz & Blues Festival moves to late June this summer featuring some of the best East Coast jazz, blues, soul, rock and alternative music performers.
Festival chairman, Jim Power, describes the change as a relaunch to support the long-term evolution of the festival as it transitions to the Canada Day weekend for 2018 and beyond.
In March, the P.E.I. Jazz & Blues Society announced a partnership with Huka Entertainment to support the development of the festival. Due to several challenges in the partnership, the board of directors of the P.E.I. group voted to terminate the deal with Huka Entertainment.
The board decided to produce an event to re-launch the festival and produce a diverse genre program in Charlottetown featuring East Coast artists.
“Our plan is to invest in our East Coast music community,” noted Power.
The 2017 program celebrates the artistic talent on the East Coast beginning with an intimate
jazz show at the historic St. Paul’s Church in Charlottetown on Wednesday, June 21, with a presentation to honour this year’s Doug Riley Artist. The festivities continue with performances in the local clubs and bars to climax with a free concert series on Victoria Row on June 24.
The free performance on Victoria Row will be an all-age “street party.” The free performance will begin in the early afternoon with a community engagement program featuring students in music education programs from all scholastic levels co-ordinated by youth music director Andrew Waite. The free performances continue with Earle and Coffin, Andrew Waite & The Firm, Hillsburn and Reeny Smith as evening headliners June 24.
“This year, our plan is to reposition our event that will move towards developing a production for 2018 that will celebrate Canada Day in the cradle of Confederation,” added Power.