Tad Robinson will be a part of The Blue Side performing on Fourth Street in Columbus on July 17, the first of three free outdoor jazz concerts scheduled downtown.
Jazz is growing in Columbus.
As if sold-out, ticketed shows with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s Jazz at Helen’s aren’t quite enough, the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation and The Columbus Museum of Art & Design are sponsoring the free JazzIN Columbus Concert Series beginning with The Blue Side at 5:30 p.m. July 17 outdoors on the east segment of Fourth Street in downtown Columbus.
Swine & Dine will provide bar service, according to organizers.
All three dates slated here feature musicians well known to Columbus audiences, and those who know local audiences fairly well. The other two dates are Aug. 14 with the Steve Allee Magic Hour Band and Sept. 18 with Pavel and Direct Contact, which recently sold out a show at Jazz at Helen’s.
“All of these performers are major artists,” said Jan Banister, president of the Columbus Museum of Art & Design.
Allee, who has played concerts in Columbus since 1975 at the original Commons, is one of the reasons that jazz is flourishing here. He encouraged Warren Ward, producer of Jazz at Helen’s, to launch that series, which organizers have called a substantial success.
The series is supported by The Office of Downtown Development.
The Blue Side, featuring Tad Robinson, Gordon Bonham, and Sadie Johnson will be joined by Kevin Anker, Rob Dixon, Reggie Bishop & Kenny Phelps. Robinson has played here as early as the 2015 Uncommon Cause arts fundraiser. Bonham has played here for years for Neighborfests and other Columbus Area Arts Council events. Dixon and Phelps both played here in recent months as a part of Jazz at Helen’s.
Here’s an overview of the scheduled group leaders:
- Tad Robinson — The Severn Records recording artist is one of the leading voices of modern soul-blues music. From his New York City roots and his Indiana and Chicago musical upbringing, Robinson has received 10 Blues Music Award nominations (the Grammys of blues music) and his recordings for the Severn label as well as his earlier work on Delmark Records.
- Steve Allee — Music writers may well have run dry of superlatives for the piano man whom many younger people became familiar with years ago through the nationally syndicated Indianapolis-based radio program “The Bob and Tom Show.” He has earned Grammy nomination, written for television shows such as “Friends,” “Martha Stewart,” and “Mad About You,” and even scored films.
- Pavel & Direct Contact — Leah Crane, the lead singer, recently offered some perspective on Pavel Polanco-Safadit, the group’s charismatic leader: “He just has so much energy that we can’t keep up with him. He’s always happy, always bringing joy. Doing jumps. Feet on the piano. He’s like the Jerry Lee Lewis of Latin jazz.”
