November 19, 2008

Dear Directors:

To date we have over 150 groups that have completed registration for the 2009 Brandon Jazz Festival with a number still on the pending list.

Our evening concerts have been finalized and we have responded to the annual problem of not having enough tickets available by moving to a new venue and combining concerts.

While we will still use the Lorne Watson Recital Hall and the Evans Theatre during the day we have moved the evening concerts that were normally held in these two venues to McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church at 635 McDiarmid Dr. This church has 700 seats with unobstructed sightlines in a bowl setting. Seating for these concerts will be "rush" with doors opening 20 minutes prior to the concert. We will be featuring two groups on this concert - Hornheads from Minneapolis and Retrocity from Toronto.

Hornheads is a 5 piece group featuring trombone, 2 saxes and 2 trumpets and will blow you away. Check them out at www.hornheads.com.

Retrocity is a 7 voice vocal group led by Dylan Bell and while they like to do "retro" tunes Dylan assures me that the "jazz" will be predominant in their sets. You can check them out at www.retrocity.ca.

Tickets will go on sale on Monday, December 15th @ 10:00am from Ticketmaster and there should be enough tickets available to meet demand.

We will still be featuring the BU Jazz Ensemble with our adjudicators as special guests in the WMCA each evening as always.

For information on Hornheads, Retrocity times and ticket prices please visit the concert page.

I'm working on a first draft of the 2009 schedule of performance and hope to have it available to you before tickets for evening concerts go on sale.

Thanks and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Brent Campbell