The 18th annual Iowa City Jazz Festival was held this past Independence Day weekend in downtown Iowa City on the Pentacrest, the heart of the University of Iowa campus. This is one event I look forward to each summer – great music, great food, a great community of people. Cedar Rapids jazz radio station KCCK did a live broadcast of performances from the three day festival, simulcasted on Iowa Public Radio and Omaha Public Radio.
My father George works at KCCK so I have been attending the festival on and off for many years. Also in recent years my brother Daniel (of The Soundhole recording studio) has been doing production work for the broadcast. So between both of them I’ve gotten an interesting back stage look into the festival. But, honestly what I look forward to most is not the music or the vendors, but the gathering of people and the collective delight of community.
Check out all my photos on Flickr from the Iowa City Jazz Festival.
July 13, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I never have gone to the IC one. If it’s half as good as CR ones, it must be something to hear.
I’ve noticed that Iowa seems to have a strong and formidable blues/jazz community. There have been a few things in the Seattle area while I’ve been here, but too late or too far for me to enjoy so far. Considering the frequencies and relative populations, though, it seems there’s more per capita in the good ole corridor.
They completely skipped the jazz jam at VEISHEA this year and I nearly threw a fit. I’m going to try to talk to some folks to get another wave of local jazz bands in 2009. For community reasons, of course.