GRandJazzFest has Great Lineup for August Event

GRandJazzFest presented by DTE Energy Foundation announces the performance lineup for the fifth annual festival being held Saturday, Aug. 20, and Sunday, Aug. 21, at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids. Eleven diverse acts are on tap for West Michigan’s only free, weekend-long jazz festival.

It's an outstanding jazz lineup including:
• Saturday night headliner / main headline act: Cindy Bradley
• Sunday night headliner: Chris Standring
• Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra with Edye Evans Hyde
• Organissimo
• Tumbao Bravo
• Steve Hilger
• Tim Bowman
• Student Showcase band – Bierenga-Sullivan Quintet
• Lakeshore Big Band
• Urban Jazz Coalition
• Walter White

This year’s headline act – trumpet playing Cindy Bradley – is a first for GRandJazzFest – a woman headlining the popular festival. The New York City-based Bradley performs Saturday night, Aug. 20.

The Sunday-night headliner is Chris Standring, a guitarist from Los Angeles who brings high-energy contemporary jazz to the stage. Throughout the two-day weekend is an eclectic array of jazz performances for all audiences – from big band to straight-ahead, Latin-Cuban and more.
In addition to kicking off the festival as always with the acclaimed Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra and Edye Evans Hyde performing vocals, two acts make a return appearance at GRandJazzFest: Tim Bowman and Steve Hilger. Detroit-based guitarist Bowman headlined the inaugural GRandJazzFest in 2012. Grand Rapids-based Hilger, also a guitarist, performed in 2012 with The Steve Hilger Jazz Quintet.

The two-day GRandJazzFest festival will again be free thanks to presenting sponsor DTE Energy Foundation, the City of Grand Rapids, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) and other sponsoring organizations and individuals. The festival recently received Signature Event status from DGRI. People can get a taste of past GRandJazzFests by viewing the “recap” videos here: http://grandjazzfest.org/newsroom/video/. More information on the 5^th annual GRandJazzFest presented by DTE Energy Foundation can be found at www.grandjazzfest.org, and at the festival’s Facebook and Twitter sites – www.facebook.com/grandjazzfest and www.twitter.com/grandjazzfest.