Knox Rootabaga Jazz Festival 2010

The Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festivalcelebrates its 30th anniversary this year with performances April 8, 9 and 10, featuring the Matt Wilson Quartet, Orquesta Alto Maiz, the Knox College Jazz Ensemble, Knox Alumni Big Band, and the Knox Faculty and Friends Combo. Tickets for each event are available at the door or in advance by sending e-mail to rootabaga@knox.edu

• $25 festival pass that saves $7 and covers all events is available by sending e-mail to rootabaga@knox.edu

A Knoxville native and award-winning drummer, Wilson will perform with his quartet Saturday, April 10 at 5 p.m. in the Orpheum Theatre, 57 S. Kellogg, Galesburg.

Matt Wilson (photo right, with Matt Wilson Quartet) was recently featured in a cover story by Downbeat magazine, which has also selected him as a "rising star drummer." Wilson finished at the top of the 2004 readers' poll in Modern Drummer magazine, and he was nominated Jazz Drummer of the Year in 2004 and again in 2006 by the Jazz Journalists Association. The Boston Globe has praised Wilson as "a great drummer and a promising composer who knows how to lead a band. " According to a review in Atlantic Monthly, Wilson "may have created a new genre -- Garage Jazz." The New York Times hailed his quartet as "one of the best working bands in New York City."

The Knox College Jazz Ensemble (photo below, right) will open the Saturday night concert with The Matt Wilson Quartet. Directed by Nicole Whittaker Malley, instructor in music and director of the jazz program, the Knox College Jazz Ensemble won one of two Overall Outstanding Awards in the Jazz Ensemble category at the 2010 Elmhurst Jazz Festival. In addition, eight Knox students in the ensemble received outstanding soloist awards at the festival.

The Knox Faculty and Friends Combowill perform at 8 p.m., Thursday, April 8, in McGillacuddy's Restaurant, 58 S. Cherry, Galesburg. The combo features Kevin Malley and Justin Haynes, saxophones; David Hoffman, trumpet; Scott Garlock, trombone; Semenya McCord, vocals; Nikki Whittaker Malley and Kevin Hart, vibraphone; Daniel Leahy, piano; John Miller, guitar; Steve Jackson and Andy Crawford, bass; and Brian Zeglis and Jake Dillon, drums.

The 30-member Knox Alumni Big Band, directed by Scott Garlock, and Orquesta Alto Maiz will perform starting at 8 p.m., Friday, April 9, in McGillacuddy's Restaurant. Currently associate professor of music, assistant band director, and conductor of the Ashland University Jazz Orchestra,  Garlock taught at Knox from 1990 to 2003.  Orquesta Alto Maiz is an 11-piece Iowa-based Latin jazz band, and has performed at prior Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festivals.

In three decades, the Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival has brought a number of top figures in the jazz world to Galesburg, among them Kurt Elling, Benny Green, and the Artie Shaw and Woody Herman bands. The festival was initiated by Galesburg community members Mona and Tom Tourlentes at Carl Sandburg College in 1980. It is named after "The Rootabaga Stories," a series of children's stories by Galesburg native and famed poet Carl Sandburg.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

2010 Knox-Rootabaga Jazz Festival Schedule:

• Thursday, April 8, 8 p.m.-midnight
• Knox Faculty and Friends Combo
• McGillacuddy's Restaurant, 58 S. Cherry, Galesburg
• Admission: $7

• Friday, April 9, 8 p.m.-midnight
• Knox Alumni Big Band at 8 p.m.
• Orquesta Alto Maiz at 9:30 p.m.
• McGillacuddy's Restaurant, 58 S. Cherry, Galesburg
• Admission: $10

• Saturday, April 10, 5 p.m.
• Knox College Jazz Ensemble and The Matt Wilson Quartet
• Orpheum Theatre, 57 S. Kellogg, Galesburg
• Admission: $12 - $15