Jazz and Art Festival debuts in Gardnerville May 22

The Carson Valley Arts Council and Main Street Gardnerville are partnering with local jazz enthusiasts to sponsor the first “Jazz and Art Festival” 1-6 p.m. May 22.

This free event will showcase local jazz performers like the Mile High Jazz Band, Jazzettes, Gardnervillains, the Douglas High School Jazz Band and Sagebrush Swingers. 

Event producer, Shorty Garcia is a jazz and blues guitarist, band leader, impresario and live event producer with years of experience in California. 

“He was overjoyed to be able to catalyze this celebration of jazz in his new hometown of Gardnerville,” organizers said. “Supposedly retired he is currently playing in four different ensembles in the Carson Valley.” 

Local artists will be displaying their work, plus nonprofit organizations will have information at the festival. Artist applications closed May 5. Bring your lawn chairs, snacks and sunscreen and enjoy an afternoon of music and art to kick off our summer.

 “We are thrilled to partner with local jazz enthusiasts, Jen Nadler at Main Street Gardnerville and the Town of Gardnerville to make the “Jazz and Art Festival” a reality in our community,” said Arts Council board member Sharon Hoelscher Day.

Sagebrush Swingers will perform Dixieland band music throughout the day. 

The Douglas High School Jazz Band with director, Mark Porter, will kick off the afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Heritage Park band stand.

Jazzettes is a trio featuring Cami Thompson on percussion, Erika Paul on piano and Julie Machado on bass. 

The Gardnervillains are a small-format jazz combo led by guitarist Shorty Garcia who trained with masters including Mimi Fox, Steve Freund and Frank Vignola.  

His jazz repertoire goes all the way back to the ’20s and ’30s (Duke Ellington, Count Basie) but his particular interest is in the “soul jazz” era of the late fifties and sixties and includes the work of artists such as Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. 

Keyboardist Travis Palmer hails from California and now lives in Carson City. He studied music at UC Santa Cruz, Cabrillo Community College and San Jose State University where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies. Travis will be joining the UNR Jazz Program pursuing an advanced degree in jazz piano.  He plays and teaches piano and guitar locally. 

Bassist Tim Goldsmith performs solo and in multiple area groups including Mo’s Motley Blues and Ken Davidson Trio. Drummer John Crosby is well known to Northern Nevada regularly appears with The Boomcats and The Snakeboy Johnson Band in Carson Valley and Reno/Sparks venues.

Mile High Jazz Band, a 17-piece big band music led by David Bugli will headline the afternoon at 4:30 pm.  The Mile High Jazz Band Association is a nonprofit corporation founded in 2001. It supports the Mile High Jazz Band —”big band,” associated combos, Jazz and Beyond Music and Art Festival, and educational programs.

For more information, visit the Carson Valley Arts Council website at https://www.cvartscoun
 cil.com.