Yellowjackets bring the buzz to the 2023 Wichita Jazz Festival
A pioneering fusion group is headlining this year’s Wichita Jazz Festival.
Yellowjackets, which began in Los Angeles more than 45 years ago, will be the featured act of the 51st annual festival, which begins Wednesday and continues through April 23.
“I’m rather proud of this,” Bill Harshbarger, vice president of the WJF, said of the booking.
“It’s just one of the real reliable names,” he added. “This group has been a stalwart and I love their compositions.”
Yellowjackets will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Crown Uptown Theatre, the only time the Crown will host a WJF event this year.
The band has won two Grammy Awards – one for R&B instrumental, one for jazz fusion performance – and nominated for six others, including last year for best large jazz ensemble album for its “Jackets XL.”
Harshbarger said he considers Yellowjackets sax player Bob Mintzer a friend and has used several of Mintzer’s arrangements with his own group, the 18-piece Delano Jazz Orchestra.
Most of the rest of the festival will take place at the Wichita Art Museum, a new location for the performances.
“We’ve kind of developed a pretty nice relationship with them. They can promote their various art shows and we can kind of work together,” Harshbarger said. “They do a good job of supporting us.
“It’s really good acoustics,” he added. “It’s a fairly good place to perform.”
Although the festival officially kicks off Wednesday, a two-hour concert will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Odd Fellow Hall, 930 W. Douglas, to open the fest. It will include Marcus Lewis on trombone, Beau Jarvis on piano, Bill Glenn on drums and Jeff Harshbarger (Bill’s son) on bass. It is a separate ticket apart from the festival.
Wednesday’s opening night at the art museum will include the same quartet from the pre-concert, along with the Delano Jazz Orchestra, directed by Bill Johnson.
The Thursday concert at WAM will be a centennial birthday tribute to guitarist Wes Montgomery. The “Night of Guitars” will feature William Flynn, area coordinator of jazz studies at Wichita State; Ken White, who has played with the Cherokee Maidens and Noveau Quintet; and Randy Zellers, who is on the jazz guitar faculty at Friends University. They will be backed up by percussionist Steve Hatfield and bassist Jeff Harshbarger.
Friday’s concert at the museum caps off the Wichita State University Jazz Invitational, and includes trumpeter Terrell Stafford, called “one of the great players of our time” by pianist McCoy Turner. Also performing will be the WSU Jazz Arts Ensemble 1, and the Mid-Kansas Jazz Ensemble, the latter consisting of elite high school students.
The Sunday, April 23, concert, 4-6 p.m., will be at the Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine. It will feature Shelby Eicher, a Tulsa-based fiddler who spent 15 years with Roy Clark’s band and performs in a variety of genres.
“This guy’s the bomb,” Harshbarger said. “He’s an incredible fiddle player, he plays everything.”
Also performing are Ken White, whose wife, Robin Macy, manages the arboretum; and Bill Harshbarger on clarinet for what he’s calling a “Gypsy jazz” concert.
More information on the festival and tickets are available at wichitajazzfestival.com.
