Free jazz for everyone at Toronto festival

TD Toronto Jazz Festival Invites You to Expand Your Musical Palate

Toronto – The TD Toronto Jazz Festival strives to make music available to as many listeners as possible, encouraging people to expand their musical horizons and try a taste of something new. This year, the Festival is proud to present more than 50 free concerts at four outdoor venues, where listeners can bask in the summer sun while listening to a world of jazz sounds.

The stages are spread throughout the city, with a north-end stage at the Shops at Don Mills, two stages in the Historic Distillery District, and daily Afterwork Concerts at Nathan Phillips Square. Though the artists all fall under the jazz umbrella, their individual sounds vary greatly, offering everything from stomping Klezmer beats (Lemon Bucket Orkestra) and lilting Latin rhythms (Eliana Cuevas Ensemble) to funky horn dance tunes (Get The Blessing) and crooning jazz vocals (Sophia Perlman / Adrean Farrugia Duo).

(See attached for free concert listings)

In addition to free live concerts to bring music to the masses, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival also offers music lovers a chance to get up close and personal with some of this year's performers at daily live interview sessions hosted at the Festival’s heart at Nathan Phillips Square. The hour-long sessions, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the outdoor stage, will be hosted by the Festival's former Artistic Director Jim Galloway and current Artistic Director Josh Grossman. Avid fans and curious concert-goers alike will have the opportunity to get up close and personal with a different performer each day and learn more about each artist’s career in jazz, their musical process, and what it is that drives them.

Date	Host	Artist
Saturday, June 23	Jim Galloway	Houston Person (Canadian Jazz Quartet with Houston Person)
Sunday, June 24	Jim Galloway	William Carn (Carn Davidson 9)
Monday, June 25	Jim Galloway	Roberta Gambarini
Tuesday, June 26	Jim Galloway	TBC
Wednesday, June 27	Jim Galloway	John Medeski (Spectrum Road)
Thursday, June 28	Josh Grossman	Gretchen Parlato
Friday, June 29	Josh Grossman	David Braid (David Braid Sextet)
Saturday, June 30	Josh Grossman	Gord Sheard (Gord Sheard’s Brazilian Jazz Experience)
Sunday, July 1	Josh Grossman	Norman Marshall Villeneuve (Norman Marshall Villeneuve’s Jazz Message Quartet)

The TD Toronto Jazz Festival has presented some of the biggest names in jazz. When the Festival kicks off this summer from June 22 – July 1, 2012, more than 500,000 music lovers will be entertained as 1,500 musicians take over the city, performing 350+ concerts in just 10 days. From the young lions to the legends to undiscovered gems, the Festival is yours to discover. Let the music be your playground this summer.

For more information, visit www.torontojazz.com