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Five Headliners Announced for Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival 10th Edition

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Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Natalie Cole, Béla Fleck and The Fab Faux—Tickets on Sale Friday January 21!

Rochester, NY—Producers John Nugent and Marc Iacona today announced five headliners for the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival 10th Edition, which will be held June 10-18, 2011.

  • Grammy Award winner Natalie Cole will perform on opening night, Friday June 10.

  • The Fab Faux, the most musically satisfying Beatles tribute band on the scene today plays Saturday June 11.

  • Premier banjo player Bela Fleck & The Original Fleckstones performs Tuesday June 14.

  • k.d. lang, called “the best singer in her generation" by Tony Bennett takes the stage on Thursday June 16.

* And Elvis Costello & The Imposters, one who has followed his musical curiosity in a career spanning more than 30 years, plays on Friday June 17.

All performances will be at 8 p.m. at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre.

Tickets for headliners go on sale Friday January 21 at 10 a.m. Prices range from $35 to $125 plus Ticketmaster service charges. (Online service charges vary. Only $1 service charge at The RBTL Box Office at The Auditorium Theatre, East Main St.) Tickets may be purchased at rochesterjazz.com, Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 800-745-3000 and all Ticketmaster locations and in person at the Auditorium Theater Box Office, 885 East Main Street Rochester, NY 14605. Subscribers to rochesterjazz.com email news can purchase tickets Wednesday January 19 at 12 noon EST.

“I've learned over the past nine years producing our festival with Marc Iacona that our Rochester audiences are wonderful listeners," said Festival Producer and Artistic Director John Nugent. “When an audience's ears and hearts are wide open, the process of delivering talent here for our annual artistic feast becomes a rite of passion. Our amazing headliners this year are all Grammy winners, trailblazers in so many ways! We've received more than 1,300 artist submissions to consider for very limited space in this year"s 10th Anniversary Edition. It's a testament to our fantastic patrons that artists from around the globe have such a strong desire to perform at our jazz festival. This June will be a music celebration like no other!"

“While achieving personal milestones is always wonderful, being part of an event that delivers a milestone for a community is even more rewarding for me," said Producer and Executive Director Marc Iacona. “John and I are honored and blessed to be involved in an international collaboration of music that provides memories lasting months after each festival."

“"Jazz in June" and “It"s not who you know...its who you don't know," are now synonymous with Rochester, NY," added Iacona. “For the past nine years attendees have come to enjoy high quality programming, a growth in the number of concerts, venues and series, and music from around the world. We are grateful to our corporate and government sponsors, attendees, talented musicians, volunteers and our dedicated festival team for driving this success during our 10-year journey.

Club Pass Also on Sale

The ever-popular Club Pass, providing entry to the festival"s Club Pass Series, went on sale in October selling briskly. Less than 20% of passes remain available for sale. Passes are $150 Advance + $4 service charge until March 22 at 11:30AM; $175 Advance + $4 service charge from 11:30AM Tuesday March 22 until the festival begins or passes are sold out. Club Passes may be purchased at rochesterjazz.com, Ticketmaster.com, charge by phone at 800-745-3000 and all Ticketmaster locations and in person at the Auditorium Theater Box Office, 885 East Main Street Rochester, NY 14605.

The Pass is an exceptional value pass, provides access on a first-come first-served seating basis to approximately 185 Club Pass shows during the entire Festival. Individual tickets are available at the door for all Club Pass shows.

The remaining lineup for Club Series and free shows will be announced on March 22. About the Headliner Artists:

NATALIE COLE

The daughter of jazz and pop legend Nat King Cole, Grammy Award winner Natalie Cole has forged her amazing career in two phases, via R&B/urban contemporary and jazz-based pop. She made her stage debut at age 11 and sang in college. Cole met the writing and producing team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancey in 1973. The next year they collaborated on some sessions that were recorded at Curtis Mayfield's Curtom studios in Chicago. These helped her land a deal with Capitol, and she teamed with Jackson/Yancey for a string of hit albums and singles from 1975 until 1983. Such LPs as Inseparable, Natalie, Thankful, Unpredictable, and I Love You So yielded five number one R&B hits between 1975 and 1977. These included “This Will Be, “Inseparable," “Our Love," and “I've Got Love on My Mind."

She stayed with Capitol until 1983, then switched to Epic for her final album with the Jackson/Yancey tandem. Cole made duets with Peabo Bryson in 1979 and 1980 and Ray Parker, Jr., in 1987. She scored more hits with “Jump Start," “I Live for Your Love," and “Over You" in 1987, and “Pink Cadillac," a cover of a Bruce Springsteen tune, in 1988, and then made her stylistic shift. Cole eased into the transition with “When I Fall in Love," a number her father recorded in 1957. It was included on her 1987 LP Everlasting. She fully embraced the move with the 1991 LP Unforgettable: With Love, earning Grammy Awards and landing a number one pop album that eventually sold over five million copies. The title track featured her doing a duet with her father via electronic elaboration.

She continued the jazzy trend with Take a Look in 1993, and she toured and did television specials working with a large orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle. Holly & Ivy (1994) and Stardust (1996) both continued Cole's exploration of American pop standards. Snowfall on the Sahara was released in 1999, as was The Magic of Christmas, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. Ask a Woman Who Knows (2002) and Leavin' (2006) followed for Verve. Cole switched to Rhino for 2008"s Still Unforgettable, an acclaimed collection of pop standards that won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal album. ~ Ron Wynn, Rovi

THE FAB FAUX

The Fab Faux is without a doubt the most musically satisfying Beatles tribute band on the scene today. Performing a wide variety of Beatles classics in “The Glorious Hodpodge Show" the Fab Faux boasts the high visibility of TV star/musicians Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Vivino from Late Night with Conan O'Brien; five strong lead vocalists (including Rich Pagano, Frank Agnello, Jack Petruzzelli) and a commitment to the accurate reproduction of The Beatles' repertoire; this is the band to see if you want to know what it might have been like if The Beatles toured behind their later albums (with a healthy portion of the early guitar-based stuff that most tribute bands play.) Imagine hearing complex material like “Strawberry Fields Forever," “I Am the Walrus," and “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite," performed in complete part-perfect renditions; or such harmony- driven songs as “Because," “Nowhere Man," and “Paperback Writer," reproduced not only! note-for-note, but with extra vocalists available to achieve a double-tracked effect!

Since their formation in the spring of '98, the Fab Faux have created a buzz among Beatles fans in the New York City area; packing The Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall, Irving Plaza, The Bottom Line, and The China Club with high energy shows; for an audience liberally sprinkled with fellow musicians, celebrities, and fans alike. Apparently, people have taken notice, as the group was featured in a full-length profile on CNN that was broadcast all over the world on several of that network's programs; and participated in a CD of original material by Beatles tribute bands, recorded in London at Abbey Road Studios! Since August '99, the group has performed multiple times in Liverpool, England, where they play three shows each year for that city's annual Beatle Week festivities, including outdoor concerts for over 35,000 people on the Apple-sponsored Yellow Submarine and Let It Be stages.

So, for Beatles fans (and music fans), the choice is clear: If you want to hear songs recreated that were written, arranged, and performed with a genius and talent sadly missing from today's music scene; if you're too young to remember what all the fuss was about; or if you just want to see one of the best live rock bands performing today, look no further than The Fab Faux!

BELA FLECK

Premier banjo player Bela Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. Fleck always had diverse musical interests, and his own style was influenced by Tony Trischka, Earl Scruggs, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, the Byrds, and Little Feat. After graduation, he joined the Tasty Licks, a group from Boston.

At this year"s Xerox Rochester international Jazz Festival, Fleck brings his original members together, Howard Levy on piano, harmonica, and ocarina, among other instruments; bass guitarist Victor Lemonte Wooten, and his brother Roy “Future Man" Wooten on the drumitar, an electronic drum shaped like a guitar. The “Original Flecktones" recorded their eponymous debut album in 1990 and followed it up with Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991). In 1993, they released their third album, UFO Tofu, which featured music blending different genres ranging from bluegrass to R&B to worldbeat. In 1995, they released Tales from the Acoustic Planet; Left of Cool followed in 1998, and Tales from the Acoustic Planet 2: The Bluegrass Sessions was released a year later. Outbound followed in mid-2000. Busy and prolific, Fleck tours non- stop bringing his unique virtuosity to avid fans around d the world. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide

k.d. lang

k.d. lang is that rare performer who, over 25 years as a major-label artist, has matured before our very ears. The Western Canada native launched her career with a blend of country-rock stylings and playfully punk-like attitude, by turns whimsical and subversive; back then, she practically put the alternative in alt-country. But from the very beginning, her bravura singing belied her kitschy cowgirl outfits and spiky hair; anyone lucky enough to attend very first appearance in the United States, on a triple bill of unsigned artists at New York City's Bottom Line, could hear that she was marked for greatness.

Her 1989 Grammy Award-winning Absolute Torch and Twang (Best Female Country Vocal Performance) combined her love of country with increasingly sophisticated, emotive torch singing typified by “Pullin' Back the Reins." With the 1992, platinum-selling Ingenue she had fashioned a sound—if not a genre—all her own: an elegant and impassioned adult contemporary approach. That yielded her biggest hit, “Constant Craving," as well as another Grammy, this time for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

lang has collaborated, in the studio and on stage, with many pop and country performers, including Bonnie Raitt and Elton John. But her best-known collaboration has been with veteran crooner Tony Bennett, with whom she recorded the 2002 Wonderful World duets album and continues to tour regularly, often in symphonic settings. Bennett may, in fact, be her biggest fan and he declared to the press what so many fans have come to believe over the last two and a half decades: “She's one of the most innovative pickers in the world."

ELVIS COSTELLO

Elvis Costello has followed his musical curiosity in a career spanning more than 30 years. He is perhaps best known for his performances with The Attractions, The Imposters and for concert appearances with pianist Steve Nieve. However, he has also entered into acclaimed collaborations with Burt Bacharach, The Brodsky Quartet, Paul McCartney, Swedish mezzo- soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, guitarist Bill Frisell, composer Roy Nathanson, The Charles Mingus Orchestra, record producer and songwriter T Bone Burnett and Allen Toussaint. Costello"s songs have been recorded by a great number of artists. The list of performers reflects his interest in a wide range of musical styles: George Jones, Chet Baker, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Robert Wyatt, Charles Brown, No Doubt, Solomon Burke, June Tabor, Howard Tate, the gospel vocal group The Fairfield Four and the viol consort Fretwork with the countertenor Michael Chance. In 2003, he began a songwriting partnership wi! th his wife, the jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall, resulting in six songs included in her highly successful album “The Girl In The Other Room."

During his career Costello has received several prestigious honors, including two Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, a Dutch Edison Award with The Brodsky Quartet for “The Juliet Letters," the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Award, a BAFTA for the music written with Richard Harvey for Alan Bleasdale"s television drama series “G.B.H." and a Grammy for “I Still Have That Other Girl" from his 1998 collaboration with Burt Bacharach, “Painted From Memory."

About XRIJF

The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival presented by M&T Bank was founded in 2002 and is produced by John Nugent, Artistic Director and Marc Iacona, Executive Director. The 2010 Festival drew more than 162,000 music lovers to hear some of the finest artists in the world perform. It is sponsored by Xerox, the City of Rochester, M&T Bank, Monroe County, the Democrat and Chronicle, Eastman School of Music, Rochester Plaza Hotel, Brooklyn Brewery, Michelob, Spaten Beer, Verizon Wireless, The Community Foundation, 13WHAM TV, Rochester General Health System, Visit Rochester, Mercury Print Productions, Constellation Brands, SUNY College at Brockport, Admar, Presentation Source, AirTran, DownBeat Magazine, Max of Eastman Place, and House of Guitars.

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