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Old Events

[click "Play" to hear WPA interview]

Wpa Flashback: Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2000. Sugar Hill Records had several oldies but goodies in the lineup. John Cowan was appearing with his new group, Lonesome River Band. Also on the scene were Seldom Scene, Jesse Winchester and Sam Bush. With Nickel Creek, the label also featured strong Gen Zeta talent.

Nickel Creek proved that the youth brigade was not all about skin-flashing and razzmatazz.  Two of the musical whiz kids in the new group were a  brother and sister act, Sean Watkins (2/18/77), guitar, mandolin, and vocals, and Sara Watkins (6/8/81), fiddle and vocals. Sean and Sara are back in town 10 years later for their encore at the 36th annual Bluegrass Festival, June 18 – June 21.  (Star fiddler Luke Bulla was also in town that year with Ricky Skaggs, another-wet-behind- the-ears superstar in the making.)

12 June, 2009 /

by Jennifer Nyman-Julia

WWF Eric England 401 Telluride can be a scrappy town, but just as quickly, it is a place that wears its heart on its sleeve.

It's Day One of Sheridan Arts Foundation's Wild West Fest, a program that brings 50 inner city children from Boys and Girls Clubs all over the country to town every spring for a week of exciting learning programs under the guidance of talented local mentors. My name is Jennifer Nyman-Julia. This is my 11th year as the Mentorship Program Director, and I really love my job.

10 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" for Todd Snider interview]

Telluride Bluegrass, June 18-21

Pressphoto2 Telluride favorite, singer-songwriter Todd Snider, is returning to town for an encore after his sold-out show at the historic Sheridan Opera House, where the troubadour charmed the crowd with his barefoot brand of social satire and the way he managed to blow raspberries at our foibles without giving offense.This round, Todd is appearing on the Fred Shellman Stage at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Turns out folk hero Woody Guthrie came from an extremely prosperous upper middle-class family: dad speculated in real estate and mom owned about 30 rental properties. Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in the Midwest in Hibbing, Minneapolis, and also had solid middle class underpinnings. His father Abe, ran a sort of successful electric-appliance shop. All the stories about the young Robert being orphaned, running away from home annually starting at age 10, performing in a carnival were attempts by Bob Dylan to become Dylan.

10 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Bill Frisell]

2009 Telluride Jazz Celebration, June 5-7

Frisell08_hires1 No doubt about it. Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado is really good at his job. His choice of Bill Frisell as the 2009 Guest of Honor was inspired, perfect for a time when the chips are down, when substance trumps style every day.

Soft spoken – literally, I had to ask him to speak up more than once in our interview –  and self-effacing and shy, Frisell is a man you might miss at a party; that is until he straps on his ax. Ax in hand, this "Clark Kent" quickly morphs into a Superman, arguably, quietly, the most brilliant and distinct voice to come down the pike in jazz guitar since Wes Montgomery, not coincidently one of Bill's idols. Ax in hand, the man is on fire. Bill claims performance is his drug of choice. It transforms him, allowing him to do things he would not do in real life. Performance brings out his inner Woody Allen. 

05 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan talk with Lizz Wright]

C98c6988-06ac-47ae-bcb1-dfc65967b87e Chanteuse/songwriter Lizz Wright was only 25 when she first visited town, a guest of the 29th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration. At the time, the soulful young charmer was already brushing shoulders with song stylists such as Cassandra Wilson and Anita Baker, Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln. The buzz among critics was that stars such as Norah Jones and Diana Krall had better get a firm grip on their crowns: Lizz was waiting in the wings.

The sheer beauty and quiet serenity of the lady, the full-bodied texture and musky warmth of her gospel-trained contralto, the conversational way she phrased her lyrics, had the crowd eating out of her hand. This was no aural window dressing. Lizz was – and is –  the real deal.

05 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Paul Machado]

Paul, Flora and Airto Paul Machado took over the helm of the Telluride Jazz Celebration in 1991 reconfiguring the event with aplomb and extending the venue to include local clubs and the Mountain Village. The depth and breadth of his stellar programming and the mountain setting add up to a musical weekend second to none in the world.

For Paul, "jazz" is not just any four letter word, nor does the handle refer to any one specific thing. If Lawrence Welk plays a song John Coltrane wrote, that's not jazz. If John Coltrane plays Lawrence Welk, it is. Jazz for Paul is contextual. For him, the label refers to a certain kind of spontaneous interaction on stage and off. It is an opportunity to enjoy internationally in a unique setting. At its center, Paul believes his Jazz Celebration is an aural elixir that makes a person's ears smile.

04 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Ozomatli's Ulises Bella]

OZObyJonCoulthard268 Telluride Jazz Celebration's impresario Paul Machado programs for cultural diversity, including everything from mainstream to mariachi. This year, booking one act alone, he could have covered all his bases.

Ozomatli plays a notorious mash of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East L.A. r&b and New Orleans second line, Jamaican reggae, Indian raga and rock.

Ozomatli. The name comes from the Nahuatl word for the Aztec astrological symbol of the monkey, also a god of dance, fire, the new harvest – and music.

03 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to listen to Judy Kohin]

Daniel_Judy_bw The Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride was founded in 1990 by professional book artist Daniel Tucker to provide the community with arts and crafts enrichment education – only art was just part of a larger vision.

Out of the gate, Daniel saw Ah Haa as a "beacon of light" in our community, a place that both inspires and unifies. From Day One, the school's current director, Tracee Hennigar, has had her eyes firmly fixed on that prize: building a community center with a capital "C."
03 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to listen to Susan's conversation with Daniel Tucker]

Daniel_new On Thursday, June 4, 5 – 7 p.m., Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts celebrates its founder, naming its new gallery at the old Depot after the visionary Daniel Tucker.

Daniel is intuitive and a book artist, whose work is assured a place in history. The company he founded with partner Claire Owen in 1975, Turtle Island Press, has titles in the collections of major museums/ institutions including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art; The New York Public Library; The Library of Congress; The Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany; and London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

02 June, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Christian Scott]

996418782_l At the 33rd annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, audiences get to come face to face with the future of the genre: young trumpeter Christian Scott. The past is a given.

At the turn of the 20th century, jazz  – or "jass" – referred to the kind of music created by obscure black musicians and played in brothels. The word itself was slang for making love.

At early light, jazz was simply a synthesis of Western harmonic language and forms combined with the rhythms and melodic inflections of Africa. In the 60s, the genre waxed emotional, screaming, moaning and piercing the ear with atonality. The 70s was schizophrenic: The decade witnessed a revival, a return to traditional concepts like Big Band. Newness came from a fusion with rock and the modal themes and drone effects of Eastern religion. In the 80s, the jazz train gained speed with a stronger emphasis on Afro-Latino sounds, especially Brazilian. And so on..

02 June, 2009 /