PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

Jazz to Open the Princeton Festival June 7, 2014

(Princeton, New Jersey)  Jazz will open The Princeton Festival’s tenth season titled “The New World: Voices of the Americas.” A true American voice, jazz will launch the Festival on June 7 at 8pm when three top a cappella vocal jazz groups take the stage in Taplin Auditorium in Fine Hall, followed on June 8 with the acclaimed Martin Jazz Wind Quartet in Clark Music center in Lawrenceville at 4:30pm. Festival audiences will have to wait till June 22 for the opening of the American classic Porgy and Bess to hear more jazz, where George Gershwin melded jazz with Tin Pan Alley pop, spirituals, and traditional opera forms.  Cuban and classical chamber and piano programs come in between.

Round Midnight, Blue Jupiter, and West Side 5 are the three groups that will present the best in present day a cappella vocal jazz at The Princeton Festival. An outgrowth of barbershop, a cappella groups have burgeoned since the Whiffenpoofs, the Four Freshmen, and the Mills Brothers laid the groundwork many years ago. Almost every high school and college today proudly claims its own ensembles, and professional a cappella jazz is heard around the world with many competitions and awards proclaiming its popularity. The three appearing in the Festival are among those winners.  Round Midnight brought a cappella jazz to The Princeton Festival last year for the first time, scoring high praise and demand for a repeat performance. They sing largely in barbershop style, but barbershop applied to R&B, pop, jazz, and rock. Joining them will be the prize-winning Blue Jupiter, voted “audience favorite” many times at the Harmony Sweepstakes. Blue Jupiter is known for its high energy pop and rock, jazzy harmonies and funky beatbox.  Third on the program is West Side 5, the winner and audience favorite at the Mid-Atlantic Sweepstakes in its first year. Sophisticated is the word for West Side 5, with original arrangements and complex harmonies earning CARA nominations for Best Jazz album and Best Jazz Song.

Martin Wind is a native of Germany where he earned a classical music diploma in Cologne. He moved on to New York where he won a Master’s in jazz performance and composition in 1997. He became established as a sideman and studio musician working with classical and jazz artists alike, while a member of the faculties of NYU and Hostra. Several years ago he formed his own working band, a group with the multi talented Scott Robinson on trumpet and saxophone, L.A. professional Bill Cuniffe on piano, and New York jazz drummer Tim Horner, all with long careers with top jazz bands and artists. Martin Wind Quartet appears with the Festival in partnership with Jazz Nights.

Now in its 10th anniversary season, The Princeton Festival runs from June 7 to June 29 at venues throughout the Princeton area, offering a wide variety of musical performances.

 Full descriptions of all events are available on the Festival website. For more information and tickets, visit www.princetonfestival.org or call McCarter Theatre at 609-258-2787.