Get out your dancing shoes for festival
Glacier Jazz Stampede
<p>Clint Baker of the Yerba Buena Stompers takes a break from playing the tuba during the opening ceremony of the Glacier Jazz Stampede at the Kalispell Center Mall on Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Carol Beddes dances during the opening ceremony of the Glacier Jazz Stampede at the Kalispell Center Mall on Friday afternoon.</p>
Brad Boardman claps as the band finishes a song after dancing with his wife Kaylene.
The 20th annual Glacier Jazz Stampede will be held Oct. 3 through 6 in downtown Kalispell.
Bands from across the country will take over five venues, two at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell and three at the Kalispell Eagles Club.
The festival specifically promotes traditional jazz and Dixieland, America's original art form, but also presents numerous other styles of jazz.
The stampede kicks off with an opening party Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Eagles Club ballroom and its crowd-pleasing dance floor.
The general format of the festival schedules the bands to perform one-hour sets with a 15-minute break between sets. The Eagles Club and Red Lion are just one block apart, so jazz fans will find it convenient to walk the short distance in order to hear their favorite bands perform throughout the day and evening.
Following are the various jazz styles and bands that will perform in this year’s stampede:
Traditional/Dixieland (aka “hot jazz”)
• Yerba Buena Stompers, New York
• Uptown Lowdown, Seattle
• High Sierra Jazz Band, Three Rivers, Calif.
• Grand Dominion, Camano Island, Wash.
• Reynolds Brothers Rhythm Rascals, Disneyland, Calif.
Swing and jazz
• Titan Hot Seven, Mystic, Conn.
• Blue Street, Fresno, Calif.
• Company Brass, Kalispell
• Swingin’ Light, Kalispell
Cool jazz (contemporary)
• Rex Rieke Trio, Garrison,
• La Nota Blues and Jazz, Kalispell
• Jack Waller Quintet, Kalispell
Ragtime and stride piano
• Flathead Ragtime Orchestra, Kalispell
• Jeff Barnhart, Mystic, Conn.
• Conal Fowkes, New York City
• Jason Wanner, San Diego
• Ray Templin, Tucson, Ariz.
Big band/society orchestra
• The Columbians, Columbia Falls
• Don Lawrence Orchestra, Columbia Falls
• Flathead Society Orchestra, Kalispell
Eclectic jazz
• Ivory & Gold Trio, Mystic, Conn.
Jamming opportunities
• Dick Williams will head up the JazzSea Jammers, a group made up of musicians who want to play. Just show up with an instrument and jam.
Dancing
• Free dance lessons will be offered Friday and Saturday by local dance instructors.
• The Hot Jazz Dancers from Vancouver, British Columbia, give demonstrations and exhibitions of dance styles from the hot jazz era of the 1920s.
All-event tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 892-2115. Cost is $80 if purchased by Monday; the price goes up to $90 Tuesday.
Individual day tickets can be purchased at the festival headquarters, the Red Lion Hotel.
More information is available at www.glacierjazzstampede.com or by calling 862-3814.