Greetings from the Jass Festival...

the Jass Festival

The Jass Festival is an annual jazz festival held in Fargo, North Dakota each August at Island Park. The main goal and purpose of the festival is to promote and showcase the immensely talented young jazz musicians in the Red River Valley area. Each August, the Jass musicians form together for two days of intense rehearsals, and on the third day of the festival, present a concert in the park that is free and open to the public. Each musician and director is put into a real-time professional situation and expected to use their skills and musicianship to produce a professional product during the concert.

the Jass Festival
The Mission:
The Jass Festival has four simple objectives:
  • to provide young musicians a stage to perform and showcase their talents to the community
  • to further jazz awareness in the Fargo-Moorhead area
  • to empower young musical leaders to lead and direct
  • and to provide young musicians the opportunity to be put into a true-life professional musical situation similar to other professional situations in the music business.

Jass Festival News...

Another Festival in the Books

August 13, 2008
The fourteenth presentation of the Jass Festival went down this past Sunday and you couldn't ask for a better day for a concert in the park. About 200 people converged upon Island Park to hear some of the finest young jazz musicians in the area. The weather was perfect- 80 degrees, partly sunny, and a light wind.

I wish to thank everyone who was involved in making the Jass Festival a success. Special thanks goes out to the following: Fargo Parks, Eddie Schwind, NDSU, Erbert and Gerbert's of Moorhead, YWCA Cass Clay, Skip Spoerke, The FM Jazz Arts Group, Living Hope Baptist Church of West Fargo, the Green Mill, WDAY, KFGO, The High Plains Reader, The Fargo Forum, the City of Fargo, Cable One, the North Dakota Army National Guard, the 188th Army Band, Justen Reed, DeAnn Fylling, Tanya Beseler, Aaron Beseler, Robin Fried, Jessy Klimpel, Alex Berg, and Tim Johnson. A great debt of thanks must also be sent out to the crowd who came to support the show. Support for young musicians is important, and your showing of support will only elevate their drive to perform. Finally, the largest chunk of gratitude must go to the musicians who performed. Thank you for taking time out of your summer to perform with the Jass Festival. Without good musicians, the festival would not be possible.

Keep your eyes peeled- more Jass events will be organized throughout the upcoming year. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you again whether it be at a show, a concert, or a recital!

Promotional Work Has Begun

July 24, 2008
Promotional work has begun as we inch closer and closer to the upcomig Jass Festival. A 3,000 postcard mailing will go out at the end of the month advertising the performance. Also, color posters will be going out sometime next week- we're in search of volunteers to help with the distrobution of those posters, by the way! The first round of press releases will go out this weekend, and hopefully we'll be able to get the word out through our local media outlets. The excitement continues to build as we near August 10th!

Jass to Collect Items for the YWCA Cass Clay

July 14, 2008
Jass will conduct another outreach program this festival as they have teamed up with the YWCA Cass Clay. During the festival performance, we will be accepting donations of essential items that will be donated to the YWCA. Items that are in critical need include any and all types of food, deodorant, and baby formula. For a complete listing of items that the YWCA is in need of, please to go http://www.ywcacassclay.org/donations/current_needs.html.

Work Continues

July 10, 2008
The work continues as the fourteenth Jass Festvial approaches. Press work will begin within the next week with posters, media releases, and the processing and mailing of 3,000 postcards to jazz lovers in the FM area. Also, the Green Mill has signed on to support the festival by providing a meal free of charge on Sunday of the festival to all performers and staff. Last, but most certainly not least, the big band now has a director. Tim Johnson has signed on to take on the duty. Mr. Johnson is the band director at DGF Middle School in Dilworth, Minnesota and has been an active trombone and bass guitar performer in the Fargo-Moorhead area for some years. He is also active with the Fargo-Moorhead Jazz Arts Group. We look forward to seeing what he can do with the big band during the Jass weekend!

More Jass Progress

June 26, 2008
Progress continues as the Jass Festival is on line to yet another successful presentation in Fargo. As of this week, the venue has been secured, rehearsal space has been booked, and one meal has been donated. Other meals are being lined up as well and promotional support is being gathered. The Jazz Arts Group is providing much needed support to the festival and is aiding in searching out the best ways to bring more people to the show. Four season tickets for the Jazz Arts Group Big Band will be given away during the show- all donated by JAG. Erbert and Gerbert's will be donating the Friday night meal. The Fargo Park District has once again agreed to allow Island Park to be used for the concert, and NDSU has agreed to host all rehearsal activities free of charge. The combos are fully booked and the big band is nearly fully booked, and all is looking good at this point. Keep visiting to see more news as the festival planning timeline continues.

The Christopher Hanson Jazz Quintet Added to the Lineup

June 10, 2008
In an effort to fill up performance slots for the Jass Festival, the Christopher Hanson Jazz Quintet was created to put together a portion of the show in August. It will feature some of the best kept secrets in Fargo as far as the FM jazz community is concerned. Eddie Schwind will perform along with Craig Hillig and Tom Christianson. Hanson and Chris Gould will fill out the group. They will play a variety of jazz styles from traditional to new-age fusion.

Jazzerama Cancelled

May 15, 2008
After some review with the Jazz Arts Group and the JAG Education Committee, we regret to put out the news that the Jazzerama program will not be a part of the Jass Festival this summer. Due to a lack of interest and low numbers, the Jazz Arts Group has chosen to cancel their portion for the time being. We regret that we won't be able to involve them this year, but we hope to find a way to make this endeavor more feasible in the future.

Rehearsal Locations and Venue Sites Being Researched

March 31, 2008
Plans have gone forward for the Jass Festival and Jazzerama as practice facilities have been booked and the performance venues are being negotiated. North Dakota State University has agreed to host all rehearsals and clinics for the festival while the Fargo Park District is looking into Island Park as the site for the final performance. A rain site is also being negotiated. Stay tuned for more information as it is confirmed concerning the Jass Festival and Jazzerma!

Jass Festival and Jazzerama Partership Proposed

February 21, 2008
The Jass Festival is currently working on a partership with the Fargo-Moorhead Jazz Arts Group to produce a full fledged jazz festival in the park this coming August. Utilizing the Jazzerama education project (organized and run by the Jazz Arts Group) and the Jass Festival concept, the two organizations are drafting plans to showcase six-eight jazz groups at an all-day festival during the regular Jass Festival timeline in August. Look here for more information as it comes in.