We have a lot of jazz and other musicians conveniently located right here in Rochester and they will be out in force again this year. The number of local artists (and artists who hail from around here) playing the festival has increased over the years.

This year, you'll find the following locals gracing the Club Pass and other stages, including (to save space, I'm listing them here alphabetically and the links will take you to their XRIJF artist page, providing times and venues):

• Bob Sneider Jazz Combo and Mike Kaupa RCSD Combo
• Brockport Community Big Band
• Fred Costello
• Harold Danko
• Bill Dobbins Plays the Music of Dave Brubeck
• Eastman Youth Jazz Orch + New Horizons Vintage Jazz Band + Music Educators Big Band
• ECMS Latin Jazz and Junior Jazz
• ECMS Mike Kaupa Combo and Paul Hofmann Combo
• ECMS Saxology I and Saxology II
• ESM-XRIJF Gerry Niewood Jazz Scholarships Performance
• ESM-XRIJF Jazz Scholarships Alumni
• 5Head
• Greater Rochester Jazz Orchestra
• Greece Jazz Band
• Grupo Calle Uno
• Jack Allen Big Band
• Joe Beard Band
• MCC Jazz Band
• Mike Kaupa & Friends
• Lou Gramm Band
• The Lustre Kings
• Gap Mangione
• The Moho Collective
• MVT
• New Energy Jazz Orchestra
• New Horizons Big Band
• Penfield Rotary Big Band
• Prime Time Funk
• Prime Time Brass
• Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra
• 78 RPM Big Band
• Shine
• Significant Other
• Spectra

During the week, there are the noontime concerts at the Rochester Central Public Library downtown. Listed below alphabetically; click on the link to find out when:

• Gabe Condon
• Vince Ercolamento
• John Nyerges
• Paradigm Shift
• Nate Rawls

And of course there are the great High School Bands we all love to listen to while we get our first beer and get in line (or just sit on Jazz Street and the other venues and chill). Listed below alphabetically; click on the link to find out when your favorites be playing the Jazz Street Stage:

• Bloomfield High School Jazz Band
• Brighton High School Jazz Band
• Brockport High School Jazz Band
• Buffalo Academy High School Jazz Band
• Canandaigua High School Jazz Band
• Eastridge High School Jazz Band
• Fairport High School Jazz Band
• Gates-Chili High School Jazz Band
• Greece Arcadia High School Jazz Band
• Greece Athena High School Jazz Band
• Greece Odyssey High School Jazz Band
• Greece Olympia High School Jazz Band
• Hilton High School Jazz Band
• Honeoye Falls Lima High School Jazz Band
• Newark High School Jazz Band
• Pittsford Mendon High School Jazz Band
• Pittsford Sutherland High School Jazz Band
• School of the Arts High School Jazz Band
• Spencerport High School Jazz Band
• Webster Schroeder High School Jazz Band
• Webster Thomas High School Jazz Band
• West Irondequoit High School Jazz Band

Eastman School of Music has a list of their faculty and students playing the XRIJF, too (many of them also listed above).

I apologize if I missed any (and feel free to point it out so I can amend). You can find out information on a number of these artists on this blog by checking out their sites linked to from Rochester Jazz Artists Links button at the top of the page. Remember that you can go hear many of these artists throughout the year, so if you miss them at XRIJF (as I will on many, I'm afraid....), you can likely catch them later.Just watch my listings posts published every Wednesday or, if you prefer to be notified by email, put your email address in the box in the middle panel, follow the instructions, and you'll get all the posts to this blog.  You can check tomorrow and next Wednesday for those playing elsewhere around ROC during the XRIJF.  

In addition to the above, the nightly late nigth jams at the State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel, which in addition to Bob Sneider and the guys usually includes local students and others who sit in for a tune or two before the XRIJF artists step up to the stage for a jam. There will likely be some other performances around the "footprint" of the XRIJF that are not part of the XRIJF as well.