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Let the Beats, Scats and Wails Begin

Three Days of Jazz in Provincetown

August 12th, 2009

Jazz will reign in Provincetown for three full days starting August 14 as the Provincetown Jazz Festival brings more than 30 musicians to town.

Now in its fifth year, the festival will start off for 2009 with performances by the trio String of Pearls and Beat Kaestli at 8 p.m. on August 14. String of Pearls is made up of vocalists Sue Halloran, Jeanne O’Connor and Holli Ross. The New York City trio combines a wide range of “girl group” harmonies, from the Andrews Sisters to songs from the 60s, within jazz, swing and Latin arrangements.

Kaestli is an internationally acclaimed Swiss vocalist and songwriter. He has performed at clubs and festivals throughout the world with jazz stars such as Esperanza Spalding, Joel Frahm and Billy Drummond. His 2006 CD “Happy, Sad and Satisfied” was nominated as one of the top 25 albums for that year by Indie-Music Magazine.

For the second night of the Jazz Festival, vocalist Shawnn Monteiro will take the stage, along with John Harrison III on piano, Jim Robitaille on guitar, Bill Miele on bass and Bart Weisman on drums. Monteiro is known for her lyrical phrasing and scat improvisations, and has performed with Red Holloway, Ray Brown, Lionel Hampton and many others.

On August 15, New York’s Finest Jazz Ensemble from New York City is also making its Cape Cod debut. The big band is composed of 18 full-time New York City police officers. They have performed together at jazz festivals and shows throughout the world with well-known artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Bette Midler and Cyndi Lauper.

The final concert in the series will take place at 1 p.m. on August 16, with the Boston-based vocalist Krisanthi Pappas. She will be performing with Andy Solberg on guitar and Bryan Rizzuto on bass.

John Harrison III, Jim Robitaille, Bill Miele and Bart Weisman will also share their music for the final concert.

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 14 and 15, the show will start at 8 p.m., while on August 16 the performances begin at 1 p.m.

To find out more about the Provincetown Jazz Festival or to buy tickets to the performances, go to www.provincetownjazzfestival.org Tickets for each concert cost $25, with a portion of the proceeds going to worthy Provincetown organizations.