Here are 5 performances not to miss during the Iowa City Jazz Festival, including Kurt Elling

Just over three decades ago, the first Iowa City Jazz Festival featured six performances.

In 2022, that number has nearly tripled across three days, complete with artist vendors, food and a fireworks display.

The Iowa City Jazz Festival returns Friday, featuring performances by Grammy award-winning artists, respected music educators and popular local artists, all to bring the improv-heavy genre of music to downtown streets.

Singer-songwriter Kurt Elling will take the stage with guitarist and composer Charlie Hunter on Saturday night, while a locally formed quintet will bring Latin American tunes to the crowd Sunday afternoon.

Here are five performances to check out during the three-day festival.

Camille Thurman with the Darrell Green Quartet

New York City native Camille Thurman is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who became the first woman in 30 years to tour and perform full time with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.

The musician has shared the stage with Buster Williams, Patti LaBelle, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu and more.

The tenor saxophonist told the Press-Citizen in an email that she previously visited Iowa to perform at the Hancher Auditorium with Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Thurman plays the bass clarinet, flute and piccolo. She credits composer and saxophonist Dexter Gordon as being the “biggest” inspiration for playing the instrument.

Thurman said she had tried playing the alto saxophone and loved it, but was asked to play tenor sax at a neighborhood jazz camp. She’d receive a scholarship to the program if she agreed, something her mother encouraged.

“I was mortified because I was a petite person and the image of me carrying a big tenor saxophone case was a bit scary,” she said. “I knew I was going to be made fun of by students. All I could think of was the instrument being big, bulky, loud and low, everything opposite of what I loved about the alto. I also never saw a woman play the instrument. I didn’t know or see any artists that I could identify myself with at that young age.”

Thurman attended a listening class and was introduced to Gordon. She said his “imagination and improvisation” rid her of her insecurities about playing the instrument.

She said when she heard Gordon, she heard someone with "confidence, wit, sophistication (and) freedom.

“I wanted to figure out what that sound was and be 10 feet tall with my horn like Dexter," she said.

Thurman went on to be a two-time winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award, a recipient of a Fulbright Scholars Cultural Ambassador Grant and has released multiple full-length albums.

When: Sunday at 1 p.m.

Where: Main stage

The Mina Jazz Quintet

The Mina Jazz Quintet has one goal in mind. The five-piece group wants to show audiences that there’s more styles of music from Brazil than just the popular genre of Bossa Nova.

“We said, ‘Oh, there's so much more interesting music from Brazil that people would really like to listen and learn a little bit more about the culture and all the styles that we have,” Rayne Dias told the Press-Citizen.

At the time, the quintet was just a duo that sought two others to explore more genres of music from Brazil. Dias, who plays the piano and accordion, said they decided for their repertoire to represent a bit from each region of the country.

The previous bass player exited the group. Now, the Mina Jazz Quintet is comprised of Gabriel Sánchez Porras on saxophone, multi-instrumentalist Robert Espe, Askar Khaetov on bass and Ryan Smith on drums and percussion.

They were all acquainted through their ties to the University of Iowa.

The Mina Jazz Quintet is a reference to Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil that Dias is from.

At the Iowa City Jazz Festival, Dias said the quintet would like to see audiences dancing.

“The most important thing about Brazilian music is that it's not just music to listen (to), it's music that is for dancing most of the time,” he said.

When: Sunday at noon

Where: Local stage

The Molly Miller Trio

Guitarist Molly Miller’s first band was with her five siblings, her parents forming a family band and assigning her the instrument she’d go on to make a career out of.

The Los Angeles musician has toured with Jason Mraz and the Black Eyed Peas, and worked as the chair of the guitar program at the Los Angeles College of Music.

Miller told the Press-Citizen that for seven years, her family would get together and rehearse a few hours a day and play music from top 40 hits to Jimi Hendrix, performing at local street fairs and private parties.

At age 14, when the family band was no more, Miller sought her own opportunities to play, including jazz and garage bands.

At 16, she began getting serious about being a musician, she said.

The trio, typically consisting of Jennifer Condos on bass and Jay Bellerose on drums, will feature Steve Hass on drums instead this weekend. Bellerose will be on the road performing.

The trio formed about eight years ago when Miller had a gig and needed a bassist. She called upon Condos for assistance, and the duo were rehearsing music when Bellerose joined in.

Miller said the three were all on the same page, and Condos encouraged them to pursue making a record.

“I feel like during that period, it was like, ‘We're a band,’ and we just shared a vision of music and friendship,” she said.

Though she’s performed at famous venues like Royal Albert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, Miller said some of the most powerful moments in her career have been smaller shows, recalling an outdoor performance with her brother amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel like I've been very fortunate to have so many incredible opportunities,” she said. “And I always say, if I'm playing music that inspires me with musicians that inspire me, I'm happy and I feel really fortunate that I get to do that.”

Miller described the trio’s sound as “melody-driven and storytelling.” While they take their musicianship seriously, they also have fun.

“I played a gig the other night with a few of my friends and my cheeks hurt at the end of the night because I was smiling so much,” she said. “That's really the goal for me and of course for the audience to feel some of that joy that I feel when I play.”

When: Saturday at 6 p.m.

Where: Main stage

The Dan Padley Quartet

If you’ve seen live music in the Iowa City area, you’ve probably heard Dan Padley on guitar.

That’s because the guitarist and composer is a frequent collaborator and performer within the eastern Iowa music scene.

Padley has worked with Elizabeth Moen, Blake Shaw, Jarrett Purdy and many more while also taking the stage as a soloist.

He and Purdy are working on a full ambient-jazz record partly funded by the Iowa Arts Council that is set to release July 8.

Padley picked up the guitar at age 12. He told the Press-Citizen his best friend’s father and his uncle in Cedar Rapids both played the guitar. Padley's uncle provided him informal lessons and answered his questions as he began to learn.

Padley attended UI more than a decade ago and studied music. It was there he met Shaw, a bassist, who also performs in the quartet alongside Nolan Schroeder on saxophone and Christopher Jensen on drums.

The guitarist put out the four-track EP "B&W" earlier this year and the album "Sleep" last year. Padley said his tastes in music have shifted over the years.

“I've been playing with more songwriters over the last several years, too. I think that it's opened my ears for just appreciating that kind of music in a different way that I maybe didn't appreciate before,” he said.

When: Sunday at 2 p.m.

Where: Local stage

Kurt Elling featuring Charlie Hunter

Kurt Elling is a two-time Grammy award-winner and jazz vocalist whose career has spanned more than two decades and has led him to perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Carnegie Hall's national youth jazz orchestra and more.

The Chicago-born singer and songwriter collaborated with guitarist and former Blue Note labelmate Charlie Hunter to release "SuperBlue."

Elling told KNKX Public Radio in January that the album is different from projects past, and a long-awaited collaboration between the two.

The result is a groovy, funky 10-track album that still captures Elling’s four-octave range and rich baritone.

When: Saturday at 8 p.m.

Where: Main stage

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Five Iowa City Jazz Festival performances to see this weekend