Jazz Fest was Gerds’ best show of 2009; will 2010 hit another high note?

In case you missed it over the holidays, Green Bay Press-Gazette critic Warren Gerds named last January’s Jazz Fest concert at the Weidner Center his No. 1 arts event of 2009. (It was the alumni reunion concert, a tribute to founding jazz professor Lovell Ives in which alumni players including “astounding” clarinetist Kevin Van Ess brought down the house.) Gerds called it a “show for the ages,” a feather in the cap for the UW-Green Bay music program. Organizers say the 2010 version, Jazz Fest XXXX on Saturday, Jan. 30, promises more high notes. To see Gerds’ Top 10, with Jazz Fest at the top, click here.