Lakeland Community College will host the 34th Annual Jazz Festival featuring Bobby Sanabria (Drum! Magazine’s Percussionist of the year 2005) and Quarteto Aché on Thursday, February 23; Friday, February 24; and Saturday, February 25, 2006. All events will be held in The Lakeland Community College Performing Arts Center. This year’s Festival is made possible, in part, by a Grant from The Lake County Visitor’s Bureau.

Guest Artist, Bobby Sanabria and Quarteto Aché, is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy Rich and Louis Belson as well as fusion pioneer Billy Cobham. Sanabria – drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer and educator – has performed with a veritable Who’s Who in the world of Jazz and Latin Music, including legendary figures Dizzie Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaria and Mario Bauzá.

Bobby obtained a bachelor of music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he received their prestigious Faculty Association Award for his work as an instrumentalist. Since his graduation in 1979, he has become a leader in the Afro-Cuban and jazz fields as both drummer and percussionist and is recognized as one of the most articulate scholars of la tradición. He has been featured on numerous Grammy-nominated albums, movie soundtracks and numerous television and radio work.

All of Bobby’s CD’s have received worldwide acclaim. His 2000 release Afro-Cuban Dream…Live & In Clave!!! has been hailed by both the jazz and Latin music cognoscenti as a masterpiece, and was nominated for a mainstream Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2001. Mr. Sanabria has been the recipient of many awards and grants. He has co-produced and worked on award-winning nationally broadcast documentaries for the Bravo and PBS networks.

In addition to being Chair of the International Association of Jazz Educator’s (IAJE) Afro-Cuban Jazz Resource Team, Mr. Sanabria is rounding out his 12th year as an Associate Professor at the New School University’s Jazz and Contemporary Music Program and since 1999, Professor at Manhattan School of Music.

The “Tomorrows Stars” Concert on Thursday evening, February 23, starts at 7:00 p.m. Local Junior High School Jazz Ensembles will perform as well as Jazz Impact, directed by Festival Director, Ed Michaels. The concert’s closing composition will feature a selected soloist from each Junior High Ensemble along with the evening’s adjudicators and Ed Michaels.

From 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25, High School Jazz Ensembles from throughout Ohio will perform. Each group performs three jazz pieces and is then critiqued by adjudicators who are also prominent in the Jazz Scene throughout Northeast Ohio, including Dr. Kent Englehardt, Ed Michaels, Charles Frank (Founding Father of this Festival), Dr. Dave Morgan, Dr. Glenn Schaft, head clinician Dave Sterner and Jackie Warren. The whole ensemble is then escorted to a “Clinic Room” where one adjudicator gives them an in-depth seminar on how to improve their style, technique and over all musicianship during their performances.

The Lakeland Goes Latin Concert is at 8:00 p.m., Friday, February 24, 2006. Opening the first half of this years concert will be The Lakeland Civic Jazz Orchestra, directed by Larry A. Smith, and will feature guests artists, Jackie Warren, piano and Ed Michaels, saxophone. The second half of the concert will feature The Roberto Ocacio Latin Jazz Project.

At 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 25, 2006, Puerto Rican Bobby Sanabria and Quarteto Aché will take the stage, showcasing their unique blend of jazz, fusion and Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz in a small group setting.

Also, on both Friday and Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Tom Ross, guitarist and Larry A. Smith, percussionist will be hosting Instrumental Jam Sessions, free to the public. These sessions are geared toward the High School Jazz enthusiast who wants to utilize their talents in an informal setting and learn the protocol of a true Jazz “Jam Session.” Standard jazz charts from the Real Books are explored as each participant gets a chance to “play the head” and “improvise a solo.”

Ticket prices for events at the 34th Annual Lakeland Jazz Festival are as follows:

Thursday February 23, 2006
“Tomorrow’s Stars Concert” 7:00 p.m.
$7 adults; $4 non-performing students and senior citizens

Friday, February 24, 2006
The “Lakeland Goes Latin” Concert
Featuring “The Roberto Ocacio Latin Jazz Project” 8:00 p.m.
$18 ground floor; $15 balcony
$15 students and seniors – ground floor or balcony

Saturday, February 25, 2006
Bobby Sanabria And Quarteto Aché 8:00 p.m.
$20 ground floor; $17 balcony
$17 students and senior citizens – ground floor or balcony

Tickets are available in the Lakeland Bookstore, by calling 440.525.7261, or from members of the Lakeland Jazz Impact or the Lakeland Civic Jazz Orchestra.

All Concerts are held in the Lakeland College Performing Arts Center. Lakeland is located just south of I-90 on Route 306 in Kirtland, Ohio.

For additional information, call 440.525.7261, visit www.lakelandcc.edu/jazzfestival, or email tmyllykoski@lakelandcc.edu.