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Three Days of Jazz

At the Provincetown Jazz Festival

By Kahrin Deines
August 10th, 2008

Horns, saxophones, flutes, clarinets, drums and maybe rubber bands will be sending jazz sounds through Provincetown for three straight days during the fourth annual Provincetown Jazz Festival.

Featuring 12 different performances over one weekend, the Provincetown Jazz Festival is bringing to town a rich medley of jazz artists, including both favorites from its first few years and newcomers for 2008.

Starting off the weekend, the inimitable Zoë Lewis, who can make an instrument out of any object, will perform with her Rubber Band band. Also performing on the first night is the Afro Bop Alliance, a Maryland-based Latin jazz group that is making its debut at the festival.

Next up, on August 16, Greg Abate and Dane Vannatter will take the stage.

Abate, a jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer, has released thirteen recordings, one of which, “Evolution,” was nominated for a Grammy award in 2004. A self-described “post hard-bop” soloist, he spends almost half the year performing in locations throughout the world.

Vannatter, meanwhile, is a vocalist who brings elements of cabaret and jazz together. He was awarded the 2006 Bistro Award by BackStage critics in New York, and has released three albums.

To close the weekend with a big finale, there will be an afternoon showcase on August 17. The day will bring eight different jazz artists to the stage. Joe Muranyi, a clarinetist who performed for five years with Louis Armstrong, is set to perform, as is the vocalist Mercedes Hall, who just released an album titled “Pure Emotion” to ringing reviews.

Also in the lineup are Marcelle Gauvin, Charlie Harris, Steve Ahern, John Harrison III, Chris Rathbun and, of course, Bart Weisman.

Weisman, a jazz drummer, organized the first Provincetown Jazz Festival in 2005, and it has been a hit event every summer since. This year all of the festival performances will take place at the Provincetown High School. On August 15 and 16, the show will start at 8 p.m., while on August 17 the performances will begin at 1 p.m.