With a leviathan headliner – the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra presented by Driscoll’s Wharf and Heritage Oaks Bank – the small fishing village of Morro Bay will be whalin’ during the weekend of January 11-13.
The second annual Morro Bay Jazzuary Festival will toast the new year with a three-day, nearly nonstop celebration of an utterly American art form. The event, showcasing jazz from the 1900s through the 1940s, features 12 bands and 60 hours of swing, Big Band, Dixieland, standards and gospel music.
Encompassing five venues throughout the waterfront and downtown of Morro Bay, the music festival spans the eras and genres of Scott Joplin, Irving Berlin and Louis Armstrong to Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Gershwin.
A free trolley will shuttle festival-goers among the sites, including the Morro Bay Community Center, St. Timothy’s Parish Hall, HJ’s Saloon, the Vets Hall and the Tiger’s Folly II showboat.
Harbor cruises aboard the Tiger’s Folly II showboat – the event’s newest venue – are included in the cost of admission, said Gary Ryan, president of the Jazzuary Committee.
A special adjunct event – a jazz brunch cruise, featuring Ryan’s Raiders – is scheduled for Sunday morning. Brunch cruise tickets will be sold separately, Ryan said
In addition to the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra, featured performers include the North Carolina School of the Arts Jazz Ensemble presented by Duke Energy, Tommy Catanzaro & the Tomcatz, Mike Vax’s Great American Jazz Band, the Royal Garden Swing Orchestra, Cal Poly University Jazz Bands, the Creole Syncopators with Valerie Johnson, Blue Street, the Morro Bay High School Jazz Ensemble, Ryan’s Raiders and Band “X.”
Friday hours are 6 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Advance tickets are available at Heritage Oaks Bank in Morro Bay, Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo and Grover Beach, or may be ordered online at www.Morro-Bay.net/Jazz. Cost is $40 for a three-day, all-event badge, or $45 at the door. One-day badges are available for Friday ($20), Saturday ($30) and Sunday ($10). Student badges are $5 each day.
Cost for the Jazz Brunch Cruise on Sunday is $25 for festival-goers; $30 for the general public.
Net proceeds from the event will benefit youth music scholarship programs.
Major sponsors of the event include Charter Communications, Duke Energy, Driscoll’s Wharf, Heritage Oaks Bank, New Times, AGP Media, KOTR, Inn at Morro Bay, Days Inn/Morro Bay, ASAP Reprographics and Boo Boo Records.
For more information, call 805-772-8086 or email garyan@[remove]fix.net.