With one of the best lineups yet, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival is entering its final weekend, but there’s still time to check out some of the acts.
“The festival has been going great,” said festival spokeswoman Suzan Zilahi. “We had a record-breaking attendance on Canada Day — we had more than 80,000 people throughout the day — and two stages that were continually attended,” Zilahi said Thursday.
So far, SMV (Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten), Trombone Shorty and Al Green have been very popular, said Zilahi. Between the SMV concert and Al Green show, a record number of individual concert tickets were sold, Zilahi said.
“They were absolutely awesome,” she said. “People are still talking about it.”
And earlier this week, it rained during the Chris Botti concert, but people still stayed, she said.
“We still have some great acts,” said Zilahi.
On Friday, Claudia Acuna and Chucho Valdes comprise the “Latin extravaganza” and “will have people dancing the night away,” Zilahi said. “It’s going to be an amazing night for Latin music.”
Al Di Meola is the big name for Saturday night, Zilahi said.
“It’s a legendary, prolific guitarist,” she said.
On Sunday, Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band, and Charles Lloyd New Quartet are just some of the acts wrapping up the festival.
Between the shows at Confederation Park and the National Arts Centre and the late night jam sessions at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, “this year’s lineup is considered to be incredibly rich and having a depth to it,” said Zilahi. “People have been telling us that they’re blown away by the lineup. We have a very broad range of artists covering different genres within jazz and we’ve received tremendous feedback about the lineup.
“We definitely do have something for everyone.”
