Natalie Cole, Boz Scaggs And Jeff Lorber Headline Jazz Fest Twenty-Eight

Music industry superstar Natalie Cole, San Francisco hipster Boz Scaggs and jazz fusion pioneer Jeff Lorber will co-headline the 2010 Syracuse Jazz Fest June 25-27, at Onondaga Community College. Lorber will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday, June 25; Scaggs at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 26; and Cole at 8 p.m. Sunday, June 27.

Friday’s headliner, Jeff Lorber Fusion, will showcase keyboardist / leader Lorber and fellow LA-based saxophonist Eric Marienthal, and Los Angelino bassist Jimmy Haslip, joined by two of the New York jazz scene’s top veterans, trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Lionel Cordew. “This is another great East Coast-meets-West Coast combo that I saw in Manhattan last January,” said Jazz Fest Director Frank Malfitano. “It pairs Kenny G’s former band leader (Lorber) with Yellowjackets bassist (Haslip) and Brecker Brothers trumpeter Randy Brecker, and the saxophonist from Chick Corea’s Elektric Band (Marienthal) thrown in for good measure. An awesome band that really rocks.”

Guitarist-Vocalist Boz Scaggs has carved out quite a career since his days as an original member of the Steve Miller Band. In recent years, after going double platinum with his breakthrough solo LP, Silk Degrees, which included the hit singles “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle,” Scaggs has turned his attention to jazz. “These days, Boz is singing jazzier renditions of his hits while simultaneously taking on standards, jazz classics and the Great American Songbook,” Malfitano said. “His rich sound and style reflects a life lived and his band is awesome. This is going to be an amazing set.”

Nine-time Grammy Award-winner Natalie Cole makes her Syracuse Jazz Fest debut at 8:00 p.m. Sunday, June 27th. Her most recent album, Still Unforgettable, won a 2009 Grammy as the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The daughter of crooner Nat “King” Cole and Maria Cole, (a vocalist for the Duke Ellington Orchestra), Natalie Cole was also named Best Jazz Artist for 2002 and 2009 by the NAACP Image Awards.

“Natalie Cole is a Superstar,” Malfitano said. “It has to be something in the Cole family DNA, because this incredible acorn didn’t fall far from the family tree. She’s extraordinary, a phenomenal performer, classy and elegant, And just like her legendary dad, Natalie does everything superbly and makes it seem effortless. Unforgettable in every way, she and her 25 piece orchestra are going to blow people away.”

The festival’s three-day, twin-stage format will present continuous music, with sets alternating between the Louis H. Everding Main Stage and the Entergy Scholastic Stage.