KNOX ROCKS! Check out a few shots from the winter concert put on by the Knox College Music Department 🎤 🎷 �...

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Andrew Crawford
Managing Director, Jazz and Instrumental Programs
2 East South Street
Box K-207
Galesburg, IL 61401-4999
309-341-7265
May 9-13, 2023 The Rootabaga Jazz Festival features the Bill Frisell Trio, the John Tate Trio and Lenard Simpson along with the Knox Alumni Big Band, the Faculty and Friends Combo, the Knox Jazz Ensemble, and area junior high and high school big bands.
Buy Tickets or Donate to Rootabaga
Pictures from the first 40+ years of Rootabagas
Lenard Simpson and the John Tate Trio School Tour group
Knoxville High School
7:00pm
Free and open to the public
Saxophonist Lenard Simpson and the John Tate Trio will perform a concert as part of the Rootabaga Jazz School Tour. On Tuesday, May 9rd and Wednesday, May 10th, the group will tour seven area schools performing for elementary, junior high, and high school students.
Galesburg Junior High Big Band
ROWVA High School Big Band
Canton High School Big Band
John Tate Solo Set
Cherry St Combo
Galesburg Community Arts Center
6:00pm-10:00pm
Admission: $3, Knox Students free with ID
Faculty and Friends Combo
Galesburg Community Arts Center
7:00pm-10:00pm
Admission: $5, Knox Students free with ID
The Faculty and Friends performance features Knox's accomplished jazz faculty and local jazz musicians from the vibrant live music community of central Illinois.
Galesburg High School Big Band
6:00 p.m.- 7:30 p.m.
Knox Alumni Big Band
7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
John Tate Trio ft. Lenard Simpson
8:30 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Galesburg Community Arts Center
Admission: $10/Knox Students free with ID
Rootabaga Kids: John Tate Trio ft Lenard Simpson
Galesburg Public Library
10:00am
Free and open to the public
This free family friendly event promises to be a very engaging and entertaining experience for the whole family.
The Bill Frisell Trio
and the Knox Jazz Ensemble
Orpheum Theatre, 57 S. Kellogg St., Galesburg
7:00 p.m.
Free floor & balcony seats • $20 reserved mezzanine
Buy Tickets or Donate to Rootabaga
Arguable the greatest living jazz guitarist, Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as "the best recorded output of the decade."
"Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana." - New York Times
Reviews of Bill Frisell Trio's most recent album "Valentine"
Valentine showcases the limitless creativity, the artful spontaneity, and the intuition and trust with which Frisell, Morgan, and Royston perform their tunes. The album delivers a love letter to the tunes, to the listeners, and to the trio itself.”
—No Depression
“On Valentine, they consistently and strikingly play as one, voices intertwined, completing phrases as if sharing a single thought… Even though the selections on Valentine hail from a range of styles the performances represent jazz playing at its most sublime.
—DownBeat (5-star “Masterpiece” rating)
“The trio is the most mysterious and clarifying format in jazz... a great jazz trio perfectly balances foreground and background. It is at once intimate and communal. Leading a trio with force and grace requires both a sturdy identity and the open-mindedness of a true collaborator. Guitarist Bill Frisell... [possesses] these qualities... Mr. Frisell as an auteur, his trio mates the perfect ensemble cast... three musicians in lockstep, moving as one.”
—Wall Street Journal
“a Frisellian mix of down-home and moody, abstract and endearingly direct… the album draws to a spirited close with touching renditions of ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’ and ‘We Shall Overcome’.”
—JazzTimes