Carson City hosting Jazz & Beyond festival Aug. 7-23

It’s beyond jazz, beyond just music, and well beyond any single Carson City venue. It’s also beyond easy on the pocketbook, ranging from free to reasonable.

That provides a thumbnail sketch of Carson City’s Jazz & Beyond festival upcoming from Aug. 7-23. It’s another extravaganza put on by the Mile High Jazz Band Association and backed by various sponsors. Most of the more than 60 events already scheduled are free, according to Elinor Bugli of the organizing group, with just a few of them requiring tickets. One of the ticketed events is among the ones that take the festival beyond merely music.

It’s the Speakeasy Dance, which runs from 7:30-10 p.m. in the Black Box Theater of the Brewery Arts Center (BAC), 449 King St., featuring speakeasy swing dancing for participants to music of the Brass Knuckles Band. Bugli said both the eight-piece band and a required portable dance floor, plus event prizes for best costume and dancers, comprise reasons it’s a ticketed event.

Tickets cost $15 and are available through the Carson City Visitors Bureau or online at JazzCarsonCity.com.

The other main ticketed festival event is among those that go beyond just jazz. On Tuesday, Aug. 18 in the Bob Boldrick Theater of the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St., a Motown music concert is set for 7 p.m. with Lloyd (Otis Day and the Knights) Williams. Billed as “You Know You Make Me Wanna Shout!”, it will reprise Motown sounds and feature the work of Williams, the man whose singing voice carried the sound track of the hit movie “Animal House.”

General admission tickets are $18. Tickets for students, seniors and Mile High Jazz Band Association members are discounted to $15, and those for kids, aged 6-12, go are $10. Children 5 or under get in free.

The evening before, at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall, 511 W. King St., John Shipley presents a free Motown lecture and demonstration leading into the next night’s concert. That Monday, Aug. 17, lecture and demonstration also has a 7 p.m. start time.

But those are just three of the many highlights and don’t scratch the surface.

“There’s just so much,” Bugli said as she described the opening gala and spotlighted various other events in her comments.

The festival officially starts with an afternoon art show and sale followed by an evening jazz performance on Friday, Aug. 7, at Bliss Mansion, 608 Elizabeth St.

The Carson City Arts Initiative (CCAI) is handling the former, from 3 to 6:30 p.m., followed by Cherie and John Shipley with Take This offering up music from 7-9 p.m.

“It should be pretty wonderful if the weather cooperates, and I think it will,” Bugli said.

Bugli and her husband, David, combine to serve as the driving force behind both the Mile High Jazz Band and the Carson City Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Jazz & Beyond festival each August.

Other festival events listed for that opening day include Drinking with Clowns at the Firkin & Fox 3rd Street venue, at 7:30 p.m., and Groove Session from 8-11 p.m. at Sassafras, 1500 Old Hot Springs Road.

But wait, there’s much more, said Bugli. as she focused like a laser on the major finale on Sunday, Aug. 23. The multitude and more than two weeks of events will conclude that evening with an appearance by the Reno Jazz Orchestra, with Kenn Pettiford, performing at the Capitol Amphitheater downtown from 6-8 p.m. Bugli said Pettiford’s performance is expected to include Frank Sinatra stylings.

An additional event set that same last day is a 2 p.m. Drum Summit. Included will be Liz Broscoe with West African drum work and Reno Taiko, featuring Japanese drumming.

Other highlights during the more than two weeks of the festival include “Pocketful of Soul: The Harmonica Documentary Film” & Tom Stryker Trio; Carl Sonny Leyland, Boogie Woogie pianist; The Mile High Jazz Band’s Count Basie 111th Birthday Bash, and the Mic Gillette Band.

The harmonica documentary is at the BAC Performance Hall Saturday, Aug. 8, from 7-9 p.m. Leyland and his boogie woogie piano work are at the BAC Black Box Theater from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. The jazz band’s Basie bash is on Friday, Aug. 21, from 8-10 p.m. on 3rd Street. The Gillette band appears at the same venue the next night, Aug. 22, also from 8-10 p.m.

Other events not listed above, with Bugli noting more are possible as the start date approaches, include:

Aug. 8 — Carolyn Dolan from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the downtown Farmer’s Market; Back Forty bluegrass from 1-3 p.m. at Carson Mall; We Rock Kidz, from 4-5 p.m. at the BAC; the BAC Film Competition winners from 6:30-7 p.m. at the BAC Performance Hall.

Aug. 9 — The Champagne Singers, directed by Leslie Fudge, and the Champagne Singers Trio with Bill Hecht from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at the Legislative Plaza; RVGS (Reno Video Game Symphony) Bigger Band from 6-8 p.m. at the Capitol Amphitheater.

Aug. 10 — CW Bayer from 11:30 a,m,-1:30 p.m. at Comma Coffee, 312 S. Carson St.; RoseBud’s Dance Band from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at Comma (Coffee) Courtyard.

Aug. 11 — Millennium Bugs jazz group, also at Comma Courtyard from 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Aug. 12 — Dave Leather at Comma Coffee at noon; Red Tango in the same venue from 5:30-8 p.m.; at Sassafras from 7 p.m. there is a jam session as well as Three Olives and a Twist with Ron Newton.

Aug. 13 — Jazz van Gogh appears from 5-7 p.m. at Tahoe Ridge Bistro, 1105 S. Carson St.; from 6-8 p.m. Mike Beck, cowboy singer, perform at Cafe at Adele’s, 1112 N. Carson St., and Brent Johnson & the Call appear at Comma Courtyard from 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Aug. 14 — New West Guitar Group is at the BAC from 7:30-9:30 p.m. and beginning at 7:30 p.m. Stereo Galaxy is at the Firkin & Fox 3rd Street venue.

Aug. 15 — CW Bayer 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the downtown Farmers Market; Jakki Ford Duo from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Greenhouse Garden Center, 2450 S. Curry St.; Lucky Diamond & the Gents of Jive from 1-3 p.m. at the Carson Mall; an ice cream social with the Millennium Bugs at Foreman-Roberts House Park, 1207 N. Carson St., and Niall McGuinness & New World Jazz Project at Tahoe Ridge Bistro.

Aug. 16 — To Be Announced is penciled in at the Legislative Plaza from 4:30-5:30 p.m., and Carolyn Dolan appears at the Capitol Amphitheater from 6-8 p.m.

Aug. 17 — CW Bayer is at Comma Coffee from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Aug. 18 — A CCAI (local arts initiative) art sale precedes the Motown event at the Community Center beginning at 5 p.m.

Aug. 19 — Dave Leather again appears at Comma Coffee from noon-1 p.m.; Sassafras beginning at 7 p.m. has a jam session and Judith, Rocky, Peter, Bill.

Aug. 20 — Barbara Baxter is at Adele’s from 6-9 p.m.; Jazz Guys perform at Sierra Place, 1111 W. College Parkway, from 7-8 p.m., and Eric Hansen is at Comma Courtyard from 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Aug. 21 — Impromptu plays on 3rd Street from 5:30-7 p.m.; STRAZZ is at Comma Courtyard from 7:30-8 p.m., followed by World Dance Open Floor at Comma Coffee.

Aug. 22 — Barbara Baxter, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the downtown Farmers Market; Carson Dreamers at Carson Mall from 1-3 p.m.; Under the Radar appears from 3-4 p.m. at 3rd Street; the Fantods appear at Comma Courtyard from 4:15-5:15 p.m.; No Comprende is at 3rd Street from 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Graham Marshall is at Comma Courtyard from 6:45-7:45 p.m., and Dust in My Coffee is a BAC ticketed event in the performance hall there from 7-9 p.m.

Aug. 23 — Along with the Drum Summit and Reno Jazz/Kenn Pettiford events on the concluding day, a Jazz brunch, Carson Rascals Dixieland, and more are set from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Sassafras; Cece & Corky appear from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at the Legislative Plaza.