For the second time in three years, the Purdue Jazz Festival offers a free Community Showcase Concert with a military jazz band. The Marine Corps All Star Jazz Band begins its annual tour with a Festival performance at the Long Center on Thursday, Jan. 19.

The concert, co-sponsored by Purdue Bands & Orchestras and the Lafayette Journal and Courier, also features performances by Harrison, Jefferson, and West Lafayette High School Jazz Bands with vibraphonist Dick Sisto from Louisville, Ky. It begins at 7 p.m.  Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Long Center, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette.

Tickets are required but can be obtained free at the Journal and Courier, 217 N. Sixth St., or at the Purdue Bands office in Elliott Hall at Purdue.

Other headliners for the Festival include Danilo Perez & Friends, celebrating the music of Dizzy Gillespie, at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, in Loeb Playhouse of the Purdue Stewart Center. Saxophonist Denis DiBlasio and trumpeter Carl Saunders will perform with the Purdue Jazz Band at the Festival Finale concert at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, in Loeb Playhouse.

Funded by a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission through its Regional Arts Partners program, Dick Sisto serves as the Festival’s Artist In Residence and will conduct workshops with area high school jazz bands prior to the Jan. 19 concert. He will also be featured at a free public concert in Loeb Playhouse at noon Saturday, Jan. 21.

For all of the Festival’s 22 years, the heart of the event has been the high school and middle school competition which draws instrumental jazz ensembles from four states. On Saturday, Jan. 21, 90 big bands and combos will compete throughout the day in various locations throughout the Purdue Stewart Center, Purdue Memorial Union and Pao Hall on Purdue’s campus. The music starts at 8 a.m. and continues through 5 p.m. It’s all free. All the festival guest artists will give clinics which are also free and open to the public on Saturday.

Related festival events include a jazz jam led by Purdue musicians at Greyhouse Coffee in the West Lafayette Village, at 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. There is no cover charge.  

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