Minnesota Festival Support

The 2013 Twin Cities Jazz Festival featured 308 Minnesota jazz artists representing a range of jazz from straight-ahead, to big band, to be-bop, to ragtime and to fusion. The number of artists increased 20%, from last year's 250. The 2013 Twin Cities Jazz Festival program documents the names and number of Minnesota artists performing in 2013, as well as their instruments and jazz genres. The Grand Rapids band Clearwater Hot Club performs a unique style of jazz that represents many cultural influences and is a good example of the Festival's range of jazz genres. 2: Based on police estimates, the 2013 Twin Cities Jazz Festival attracted audiences of more than 40,000 over its three day run in Mears Park. This meets and surpasses our goal of 40,000 and is an increase of 14% over last year's 35,000. In addition to the 308 Minnesota jazz artists, international headliners were featured: Kenny Werner, world-class pianist and prolific composer; Cyrus Chestnut, award-winning pianist who inflects his jazz improvisations with classical music; Walter Smith III—saxophone player since the age of seven, his 2010 release III was one of the top ten best sellers on iTunes; Matt Slocum—drummer and composer/arranger who, at age 31, is emerging as one of his generation’s best jazz artist (performed with Smith). Festival headliners presented jazz clinics, open to the public, at McNally Smith College of Music.