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The Purdue Jazz Festival offers a week of steamy jazz to dispel winter’s chill starting Jan. 14 with the Chicago-based “Ryan Cohan Quartet Live at Duncan Hall.”Sponsored by Purdue University Bands, the 13th annual festival offers the public, as well as its student participants, the chance to rub shoulders with performers of national renown during its three major concerts plus competitions, clinics and special events.
In 2003, the festival expands in new directions with the Ryan Cohan Quartet in residence at Purdue throughout the week, visiting various high schools in Tippecanoe and surrounding counties and offering a public concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Duncan Hall, 619 Ferry St., Lafayette. WBAA Radio assists Purdue Bands in sponsoring this special event, with treats offered by Snowbear. Tickets are $8 in advance at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Weast Music and Von’s Records, $10 at the door.
Musical action continues on Friday, Jan. 17, when Matt Wilson’s “Arts & Crafts” Quartet performs in concert at 8 p.m. in Loeb Playhouse courtesy of Purdue Convocations, and there’s live jazz in the West Lafayette Village with Purdue musicians jamming at Vienna Espresso, 209 South St., from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m.
With more than 90 big bands and combos from 60 schools in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio competing on campus on Saturday, Jan. 19, there’ll be more jazz to the square foot at Purdue than in the jazz mecca of New Orleans. Bands will vie for top honors in seven different performance venues in the Purdue Memorial Union, Stewart Center and University Church. Admission to these venues, which also play host to a variety of jazz clinics throughout the day, is free. The day concludes with a Festival Finale Concert featuring trumpeter Michael Philip Mossman, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and the Purdue Jazz Band at 8:30 p.m. in Loeb Playhouse.
Sunday, Jan. 19, offers its own unique opportunities with a Jazz Church Service featuring the Riverboat Ramblers slated for 11 a.m. at University Church, 320 North St., WL, and a gourmet Jazz Brunch at Maize Catering on Columbia. Combos of Purdue jazz musicians provide entertainment during the buffet which runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the restaurant, 625 Columbia St. Cost is $19.95; reservations are preferred but not essential, call 420-7022.
Tickets for the two Loeb Playhouse concerts can be obtained by call 494-3933. For more information and a Festival brochure call 496-6785.
The Purdue Jazz Festival is presented by Purdue University Bands in collaboration with Purdue Convocations. Major financial support comes from the Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union, the Lafayette Journal and Courier, and the Indiana Arts Commission/Tippecanoe Arts Federation.