The sixth annual East Hawaii Jazz & Blues Festival is slated from 1-7 p.m. Sunday (Oct. 28) at Nani Mau Gardens in Hilo.
The festival — proceeds from which benefit the nonprofit Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial Inc. — is one of the most popular music events on the Big Island, drawing sellout crowds of local and out-of-state guests.
What started out eight years ago as an intimate Sunday afternoon wine and pupu fundraiser at the former Nihon Restaurant in Hilo has evolved into the largest ongoing jazz festival in Hawaii, featuring 11 acts on three stages.
The program features a lavish pupu buffet, dessert station, wine and beer tasting, no-host bar and nonstop music featuring some of Hawaii’s finest jazz and blues musicians, along with highly acclaimed artists from the mainland.
Tickets are $60 general admission, $75 VIP and $75 at the door and are online at www.hawaiiislandveterans.org.
The following artists will be headlining the East Hawaii Jazz & Blues Festival:
• Doug Mac Donald (Los Angeles guitarist) and Allison Adams Tucker (vocalist), featuring Dean Taba (bass), Ethan Capone (piano) and Darryl Pelegrini (drums).
Mac Donald tours and records nationally. Considered one of L.A.s top jazz session players. World jazz artist Tucker tours internationally and sings in six different languages, including Japanese and French. Her 2016 album, “WANDERlust,” on Origin Records was critically acclaimed. The rhythm section of Taba, Capone and Pelligrini is comprised of Hawaii’s finest jazz musicians.
• Deems Tsutakawa (soul jazz pianist, Seattle) with special guest Bradley Leighton (flutist, San Diego), featuring Dave Yamasaki (guitarist, Oahu), Fred Li (sax, Oahu), Owen Matsui (bass, Hilo) and Steve Bader (drums, Hilo).
Tsutakawa is a festival favorite, making his sixth appearance. The Seattle-based artist has put out 17 albums in his career, and his latest release, “Deems Tsutakawa and Friends; Live in Hawaii,” received a Na Hoku nomination for album of the year. Leighton is a Pacific Coast Jazz Records artist based in San Diego. He has an endorsement with Yamaha Music and has worked with Greg Adams of Tower of Power and legendary saxophonist Tom Scott.
• Pacific Music Experiment (East Hawaii jazz fusion ensemble) and Jessie Lane Powell (contemporary jazz vocalist, Kentucky), featuring Michael Surprenant (drums, Hilo), Sarah Bethany (vocals, keyboards, Hilo), Wes Matsuda (guitar, Hilo) and Matt Spencer (bass, Hilo).
Powell makes her fourth festival appearance, and has developed an audience statewide for her contemporary and classic jazz singing and her gospel jazz work. The Pacific Music Experiment stages regular performances in Kona and Hilo that focus on various genres of jazz ranging from Latin to funk. The rhythm section features the Big Island’s finest musicians in Surprenant, Spencer and Hilo native Matsuda, a respected veteran guitarist.
• Keahi Conjugacion (vocals, Oahu) and Larry Dupio (guitar, Hilo), featuring Jeannine Guillory-Kane (vocals, Kona), Starr Kalahiki (vocals, Oahu), Spencer (bass, Hilo), Capone (piano, Oahu), Bader (drums, Hilo) and Li (sax, Oahu).
Fresh off a successful Blue Note Hawaii performance earlier in October, Conjugacion and Dupio will do a blues-infused set to close out the festival. Dupio won the Na Hoku award this year for best rock/blues album and Conjugacion received a Na Hoku nomination for single of the year.
For more information about the festival, visit www.hawaiiislandveterans.org.
Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to building a complex for veterans in East Hawaii on its property in Hilo. Upon completion, the project will house a community based outpatient clinic, combined veterans center and 90 affordable housing units. The housing component of the project is moving forward, with a developer selected and construction projected to begin in late 2019.
For more information about Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial Inc. and the complex, contact Bob Williams at 238-8498 or visit www.hawaiiislandveterans.org.
