The lineup for the free, two-day festival taking place in mid-August in downtown Grand Rapids also features five highly acclaimed regional acts.
Saturday Headliner: Saxophonist Euge Groove will play GRandJazzFest in mid-August.
Smooth jazz saxophonist Euge Groove will headline the 2018 GRandJazzFest in downtown Grand Rapids, with Lin Rountree, Nelson Rangell & Steve Oliver, Oli Silk, Marcus Anderson and a handful of regional stars also jazzing up the free August affair.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Big Crowds: The free August festival always attracts a bevy of jazz fans to Rosa Parks Circle.
The seventh annual two-day celebration of jazz on Rosa Parks Circle will also feature sets by Kevin Jones & Tenth World, John Gist, Grupo Aye, Lushh and the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra with Edye Evans Hyde, which will kick off the festival on Aug. 18.
GRandJazzFest founder Audrey Sundstrom called Groove an “internationally known saxophonist” who’ll headline a lineup “loaded with talented, up-and-coming jazz artists.”
The lineup announcement on International Jazz Day – which came Monday night during a “Reveal Party” at H.O.M.E in The B.O.B. – noted that Euge Groove, whose real name is Steven Eugene Grove, has performed with the likes of Elton John, Huey Lewis, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville and many more. A Maryland native, he’s released 10 studio albums since 2000, with two of them – 2007’s “Born 2 Groove” and 2012’s “House of Groove” – soaring to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz chart.
John Gist
Euge Groove will close out the Saturday set of performances at 8 p.m. Aug. 18. As has become tradition, the GRJO with singer Edye Evans Hyde will kick things off at 12:30 p.m., followed by John Gist, Kevin Jones & Tenth World, Oli Silk (the United Kingdom’s “smooth jazz ambassador”) and Rountree (labeled “The Soul-Trumpeter”).
On Sunday, things get started at 1 p.m. with this year’s “student jazz band” performance featuring Kalamazoo’s Lushh, followed by Grupo Aye, Marcus Anderson (fusion jazz artist) and, at 5:30 p.m., Nelson Rangell & Steve Oliver, who both have earned accolades for their diverse contemporary jazz.
Get more information online at grandjazzfest.org.
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC
