Wednesday, May 12 — Boston: The Tanglewood Jazz Festival (Sept. 4-5, 2010, in Lenox MA) has announced it will award four performance spots on the “Jazz Café” stage of its annual Labor Day weekend programming on the basis of musicians’ videotapes and electronic press kits. For what appears to be the first time, emerging artists are being asked to submit links to demonstrations of their music online to be considered for a prestigious gig at a major festival.
The video applications will be judged by a panel of journalists, musicians and festival principals comprising author James Gavin (Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne), Lois Gilbert (founder of JazzCorner.com), Christopher Loudon (writer on vocalists for JazzTimes), singer Jane Monheit, Steve Schwartz (program host and producer of WGBH-Boston), Dawn Singh (Tanglewood Jazz Festival manager) and singer Sachal Vasandani. Submissions are to be made by June 15 through the music website Sonicbids, and must be accompanied by a $10 application fee. There is no restriction on an applicant’s age. Winners will be announced July 1.
Artists selected for the Jazz Café spots will receive national publicity and promotion for their performances and a nominal travel stipend. Those who have previously headlined jazz fests or similar events including concert halls are disqualified from applying. Jazz Café performances are presented in a cabaret-style setting immediately prior to the Tanglewood festival’s main stage concerts; Esperanza Spalding, Grace Kelly and Kat Edmonson are among those previously featured in the Jazz Café.
For further information, contact Dawn Singh, dawnsingh@aol.com.
