Bonnaroo Festival | Adds Blue Note Jazz

Huge Tennessee music festival inks deal with famed jazz label for nightclub-style venue featuring the likes of Lou Donaldson and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
 
Started as a jam band-centric event, Bonnaroo has consistently broadened its sound over the years, having added the likes of Elvis Costello and Radiohead over the years to stalwarts like Widespread Panic and String Cheese Incident.

For the 2007 edition, set for June 14-17 on a 700-acre farm 60 miles southeast of Nashville, Bonnaroo is taking that expansion even further, inking a deal with Blue Note to host a jazz tent that will feature performances from legends like saxophonist Lou Donaldson and Hammond B3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, as well as a slew of jazz vets and up-and-comers.

The tent, dubbed Somethin’ Else, will be designed like a jazz club, with air-conditioning and table seating and bar service for patrons. The tent will be decorated with the classic Blue Note Records photography of Francis Wolff and album artwork of Reid Miles. The tent will be curated by Blue Note Records.

Also featured on the roster of jazz performers are Don Byron, Stefon Harris, Ravi Coltrane, Robert Glapser, and Jacky Terrasson.

DownBeat magazine will present panel discussions on jazz June 15-16 with jazz musicians and others who will discuss legends such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane.

The 2007 Bonnaroo lineup includes the newly reunited Police, the White Stripes, Tool, Wilco, Widespread Panic, the Roots, Manu Chao, Franz Ferdinand, the Flaming Lips, Ziggy Marley, Ornette Coleman, Ween, and Dierks Bentley.

Source: MP3.com