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North Shore gets jazzed this weekend

Merry Thomas
Provided to the Tahoe Daily Tribune The Z Band, shown here in Sacramento, will perform this weekend on the North Shore at the inaugural Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival.
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INCLINE VILLAGE – This weekend the North Shore will be filled with the sound of music. Jazz from a dozen bands at five venues will lure residents and visitors to the inaugural Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival, Friday through Sunday.

The festival will provide stages at the Ponderosa Ranch, the Hyatt, the Cal-Neva and the Tahoe Biltmore for concert-goers to get their groove on.

The Saloon at the Ponderosa Ranch will become a dance hall, and a tent in the food area will host another band, said Dave Geddes, spokesman for the Ponderosa.



“We’ll be staying open late just for the jazz participants,” he said.

The Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival and the sounds of traditional jazz, Dixieland, blues and zydeco are turning the North Shore to Jazz Central.



The inaugural jazz festival, a sister event to the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, features more than 80 performances over three days. The lineup includes: Coronet Chop Suey, Hot Jazz Band, Shelly Burns and Avalon Swing, Big Tiny Little and the Show Band, Fulton Street Jazz Band, Gator Band, Z Band, The Hucklebucks, Juggernaut Jug Band, Dick Johnson’s Mardi Gras Band, Stompy Jones formerly known as Swing Session, Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers, Stan Mark and the Rogue Valley Stompers and special guest clarinet soloist Bob Draga.

The hotel will be featuring two of the four performance sites.

“We’re fully focused as Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival Central,” said Lee Koch, director of sales and marketing at the Cal-Neva Resort.

She said hosting the jazz festival is part of carrying on the tradition of music from the early 1960s, just after the Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom was built.

The showroom will be the most acoustically tailored venue, according to Koch.

“We expect to be sold out,” she said.

The Lake Tahoe Jazz Festival begins today at 4 p.m., with performances going until 10 p.m. Saturday offers a full day of performances, from 10 a.m. through 10 p.m., and on Sunday, performances run from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m.

Organizers of the festival say they have been collaborating with longtime Sacramento Jazz Jubilee experts in organizing the event.

Locals may attend for $22 for a one-day pass, good for Friday or Sunday, and $32 for Saturday. A three-day pass costs $60 and provides access to all of the official performance venues.


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