Glacier Jazz Stampede features free shows
For the last 18 years, jazz musicians from across the country have flocked to Kalispell in the fall, bringing the genre’s diverse sounds — from Dixieland to ragtime to contemporary jazz — to town during the Glacier Jazz Stampede.
This year’s event, which takes place Thursday evening through Sunday, promises to be bigger than ever, with music at five venues in downtown Kalispell. And for the first time, some of those shows will be free and open to the public.
“So many people in the valley don’t know about the festival,” event organizer Karla West said in a recent interview.
The organizers assumed that the community would embrace the festival from day one, she added. When that didn’t happen, West began to wonder if people didn’t understand how varied the event really is.
“They may think that it’s all Dixieland, but it’s not,” she said.
With opportunities to hear a variety of bands for free, “maybe that way people will come and see a little bit about it, what kind of music is played,” West added.
The music ranges from traditional, or Dixieland, jazz to “swingin’ jazz” to cool, or contemporary, jazz. Ragtime, big band and eclectic jazz also will be represented at the four-day festival.
“Jazz is America’s original art form,” West said. “This is a celebration of American music.”
The free concerts take place Saturday between 10 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. in the Red Lion Hotel ballroom.
Free performances also will be held Sunday, with gospel jazz concerts at the Epworth Methodist, Calvary Lutheran and First Presbyterian churches and at an interdenominational gospel service at the Red Lion Hotel ballroom.
West, who plays the piano, helped found the Glacier Jazz Stampede in 1994.
At the time, there were several big-time jazz festivals around the country, she said. Kalispell seemed like the perfect place to start another one.
“There are a lot of hotels, and it’s a destination place,” she explained. “People like to come here.”
Local hotels favored holding the festival in October, when tourism had slowed from the summer heyday and hadn’t yet picked up from destination skiers, she added.
The first festival wasn’t very big, West said. But it has grown over the years to include more bands and more venues.
This year, bands will perform at five venues: the ballroom and Fireside Lodge at the Red Lion, and upstairs, downstairs and in the ballroom at the Eagles Lodge.
The event kicks off at 8 p.m. Thursday with an opening party at the Eagles ballroom.
On Friday, bands also will perform at the Kalispell Center Mall. The Rocky Mountain Rhythm Kings will perform a free concert at noon, and opening ceremonies featuring the St. Louis Rivermen, a Dixieland jazz band, start at 3 p.m.
Children and high-schoolers can attend for free, although children younger than 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
Tickets for the entire event are $80.
Individual tickets are available at festival headquarters, the Red Lion Hotel, 20 N. Main St., Kalispell. Day badges are $15 for Thursday night, $30 for Friday all day, $35 each for Saturday and Sunday all day, and $10 for Sunday night at the Fireside Lodge in the Red Lion Hotel.
For additional information, including a schedule of events, visit glacierjazzstampede.com.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.