JazzLoop precedes fest

6/14/2007

The 2007 Art Tatum Jazz Festival opens Saturday in International Park, but jazz aficionados can get a head start at the JazzLoop in downtown Toledo tomorrow night.

From 8 p.m. to midnight, participants can board a bus and visit jazz hot spots, have dinner or a few drinks, and soak in some of the city's best musicians.

JazzLoop tickets are available through the Toledo Jazz Society, 419-241-5299, or the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, 419-254-2787. Regular priced $15 passes can be purchased at any loop stop the night of the event.

Here's the schedule, followed by the festival lineup:

Manhattan's, Damen Cook Quartet; Diva, Kelly Broadway; Jackson's Lounge & Grill, Jesse Coleman; Mickey Finn's, NOMO and Boston Afrobeat Society; Oliver House, Rumbata; Murphy's Place, The Murphys; Collingwood Arts Center, Cynthia Kaay Bennett; Wesley's, Big Blues Bob; Pub St. George, John Arnold & Jeremy Ellis with Soulsystem upstairs.

Tickets for the Jazz Festival are $25 each night and $45 for both days, and are available at www.toledojazzsociety.org.

Gates open Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The lineup is:

•2:30 p.m.: Ohio Music Educators Association Honors Jazz Ensemble

•3 p.m.: Lori LeFevre-Johnson

•4 p.m.: University of Toledo Summer Jazz Institute

•5 p.m.: Rumbata

•6 p.m.: Lizz Wright

•7 p.m.: Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Orleans Avenue

•8:15 p.m.: Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen

•10 p.m.: Boney James

•11:30 p.m.: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue jam session

Gates open Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The lineup is:

•2:30 p.m.: Toledo School for the Arts Jazz Band

•3 p.m.: The Rance Allen Group

•4 p.m.: Josh Boyd and the VIP Band

•5 p.m.: The Murphys

•6 p.m.: Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross Redux with Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks, and Kevin Burke

•7:15 p.m.: Clark Terry and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra

•8:30 p.m.: Roberta Flack