Illustrious headliners, up-and-coming combos at Syracuse Jazz Fest

By Russ TARBy

Contributing Writer

Headliners for the 37th edition of the National Grid Syracuse Jazz Festival include a ground-breaking jazz keyboardist and one of the most popular female vocalists of all time.

Legendary pianist and composer Herbie Hancock will appear on the Amazon Main Stage in Clinton Square at 9:15 p.m. Friday, June 23. Admission to all Jazz Fest events is free.

Hancock, 83, was a member of the pioneering Mile Davis Quintet before he forged a highly successful solo career with albums such as “Head Hunters,” “Rockit” and “Future Shock.”

Hancock has won 14 Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for his score for the film “Round Midnight.” His compositions include “Watermelon Man” and “Chameleon.” In 2016, the Chicago-born musician received the Gram- my’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gladys Knight rose to fame in the early 1960s alongside her Atlanta-based group, The Pips. Billed since 1961 as Gladys Knight & The Pips, the combo scored Number One hits with “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Knight will light up the Amazon Main Stage here at 9:15 p.m. Saturday, June 24.

Over the years, Knight has been nominated for 22 Grammys and won seven of them including a Best Gospel Performance trophy for her 2004 duet with Ray Charles, “Heaven Help Us All.” Knight, who’s 79, refused to limit herself to singing. She also excelled as an actress in television programs such as “New York Undercover” and “Charlie & Co.” In 1999, she starred on Broadway in the smash musical “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.”

All that work earned Knight a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she and The Pips were inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.

Tuba skinny swings hot

While Hancock and Knight are familiar names, lesser-known performers will also impress Syracuse Jazz Fest audiences.

“This year’s festival is back to the programming level of Jazz Fests of yesteryear with superstar headliners and household names like Gladys Knight and Herbie Hancock, and terrific up-and-comers like Tuba Skinny from the streets of New Orleans,” said festival founder Frank Malfitano, who lives in Baldwinsville.

Tuba Skinny – those free-wheeling trad-jazz buskers – will swing like crazy at its main-stage set at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 24.

First formed shortly after Hurricane Katrina swept away much of the Crescent City, Tube Skinny’s eight core musicians came together after playing with bands such as the Dead Man Street Band.

While the band is a collective, Skinny’s de facto leader is well-bred lady cornetist Shaye Cohn who also plays piano and fiddle and orchestrates much of the music. Shaye’s the cog around which the entire ensemble swings like a pendulum.

The musicians are trombonist Barnabus Jones, banjoman Max Bien-Kahn, guitarist Greg Sherman, sousaphonist Todd Burdick, washboardist Robin Rapuzzi and vocalist Erika Lewis who doubles on bass drum.

A few years ago, sultry singer Erika Lewis relocated to North Carolina. She no longer regularly performs with Tuba Skinny, however she still joins the