Topeka 2005 Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival, June 3-5, 2005
The Topeka 2005 Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival, Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday, June 3-5, 2005
Harley-Davidson New Town Complex, Topeka, Kansas
21 St. and Topeka Blvd near the ExpoCentre
Background Information:
The Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival embarks on a new era and a new mission in this, its tenth annual season. “Hawkfest” is dedicated to the great Coleman Hawkins, who spent his high school years and musical education in Topeka and who would have recently turned 100 years old. This festival first took place in the neighborhood where Coleman Hawkins lived at Seventh and Polk, which is now The Friends House. For this reason, it was named the Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival. Its new home is the fabulous New Town Complex at Harley-Davidson, the major sponsor of the event. This festival is ascendant and has become established as a major event in this region.
The festival is free to the public and paid for by donations, corporate sponsors, and grants. In addition to honoring the creative genius of Coleman Hawkins and providing free jazz entertainment to the public, the festival is now dedicated to featuring and supporting the excellent University Jazz Programs in this region and will showcase the top Faculty-Student Jazz Combos from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Washburn University, and the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music, plus top professional groups from the region and a national headliner. This year, the festival will also feature Latin Jazz to acknowledge its immense and integral role in jazz from its inception until the present day. The headliner group this year will be the acclaimed rising star on soprano sax, Jane Bunnett, a master of Cuban music and Latin jazz, and her pianist, Elio Villafranca, from Toronto and New York, respectively. Her duo had rave reviews at last year’s Montreal Jazz Festival. Other groups will include the fabulous Sons of Brazil, David Basse and City Light Orchestra, Rich Hill and the Riffs, Makuza (Latin jazz), Irving Curtis, The Harry Miller Quartet, Gospel Jazz, the amazing Stan Kessler’s Television, our own Topeka Jazz Workshop Big Band, and a lead off and closer by the original founder of the festival, Dan Kozak. There will be twenty-five vendors, great food, the coolest Harley-Davidson road machines on display, and ample parking. The stage will be situated to provide open air performance and protected seating in case of rain. There will be a wheelchair accessible trolley shuttle between Hawkfest and Mulvane Art Fair on Sat. June 4.
Contact Information: Bill Leifer, 2005 Artistic Director, 785-478-4249 (H). 785-633-5262 (Cell), [email protected]
Harley-Davidson New Town Complex, Topeka, Kansas
21 St. and Topeka Blvd near the ExpoCentre
Background Information:
The Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival embarks on a new era and a new mission in this, its tenth annual season. “Hawkfest” is dedicated to the great Coleman Hawkins, who spent his high school years and musical education in Topeka and who would have recently turned 100 years old. This festival first took place in the neighborhood where Coleman Hawkins lived at Seventh and Polk, which is now The Friends House. For this reason, it was named the Coleman Hawkins Neighborhood Festival. Its new home is the fabulous New Town Complex at Harley-Davidson, the major sponsor of the event. This festival is ascendant and has become established as a major event in this region.
The festival is free to the public and paid for by donations, corporate sponsors, and grants. In addition to honoring the creative genius of Coleman Hawkins and providing free jazz entertainment to the public, the festival is now dedicated to featuring and supporting the excellent University Jazz Programs in this region and will showcase the top Faculty-Student Jazz Combos from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Washburn University, and the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music, plus top professional groups from the region and a national headliner. This year, the festival will also feature Latin Jazz to acknowledge its immense and integral role in jazz from its inception until the present day. The headliner group this year will be the acclaimed rising star on soprano sax, Jane Bunnett, a master of Cuban music and Latin jazz, and her pianist, Elio Villafranca, from Toronto and New York, respectively. Her duo had rave reviews at last year’s Montreal Jazz Festival. Other groups will include the fabulous Sons of Brazil, David Basse and City Light Orchestra, Rich Hill and the Riffs, Makuza (Latin jazz), Irving Curtis, The Harry Miller Quartet, Gospel Jazz, the amazing Stan Kessler’s Television, our own Topeka Jazz Workshop Big Band, and a lead off and closer by the original founder of the festival, Dan Kozak. There will be twenty-five vendors, great food, the coolest Harley-Davidson road machines on display, and ample parking. The stage will be situated to provide open air performance and protected seating in case of rain. There will be a wheelchair accessible trolley shuttle between Hawkfest and Mulvane Art Fair on Sat. June 4.
Contact Information: Bill Leifer, 2005 Artistic Director, 785-478-4249 (H). 785-633-5262 (Cell), [email protected]
For more information contact All About Jazz.
