Nashville, Tenn. (Top40 Charts/ By Kissy Black/ Lotos Nile Media) - The Savannah
Music Festival (SMF), Georgia's largest musical arts celebration, is one of the most distinctive cross genre music festivals in the world. In its long history, the 17-day long SMF has built an archive of recordings documenting the living musical traditions of jazz, classical, blues, bluegrass, Gospel, American and international roots music artists.
'Our festival celebrates the musical arts by assembling world-class performers for a variety of concerts, special productions and one-time-only collaborations,' says Rob Gibson, SMF Executive & Artistic Director. 'We are delighted to partner with Festivalink.Net to make these singular performances available to everyone through the web as well as on a CD available to concertgoers.'
The first SMF compilation Live From Savannah Music Festival: Jazz and Americana Selections 2004 -2007 features highlights from singular performances recorded in the last five years including: Mando Madness (2005) a new grass and jazz jam featuring Tony Williamson (Williamson Brothers), Sam Bush (New Grass Revival, Emmylou Harris), Mike Marshall (Modern Mandolin Quartet), David Grisman (Dawg Band, Stephane Grappelli) and jazz mandolinist Don Stiernberg, backed up by the legendary band Psychograss; Le Jazz Hot (2007) with Gypsy jazz guitarist John Jorgenson, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, drummer Jeff Brillinger (Chet Baker), trombonist Wycliffe Gordon (Wynton Marsalis Septet), clarinetist Ken Peplowski (George Shearing) and bass player Greg Cohen (John Zorn's Masada Quartet); Piano Showdown (2006/2007) with Marcus Roberts and the boogie-woogie piano of Bob Seeley (Meade Lux Lewis); Marcus Roberts Trio in Swing Time (2007), featuring special guests Peplowski and Gordon; Gershwin Night (2004) with violinist Daniel Hope (SMF's Assoc. Artistic Director) and pianist Sebastian Knauer performing violinist Jascha Heifetz's arrangements of Gershwin classics as well as tunes by Dobro master Jerry Douglas.
'The Savannah Music Festival archive is full of remarkable performances,' says Ann Blonston, General Manager of FestivaLink.net 'The shows were professionally recorded and mixed and every tune we're including has the artists' blessing. We'll give the Festival's ticket buyers a taste of the breadth of the Festival, by releasing the first volume of the compilation during the festival this spring. That music, and much more, will be available for download on FestivaLink.net.'
FestivaLink.net's success with fans and promoters is due to their dedication to capture magical 'festival moments' and make them widely available with fair compensation for everyone involved: artists, songwriters, and presenters. FestivaLink.net is known for the high the quality of its recordings. They work hand in hand with Airshow engineers in Boulder, CO, to post-produce the performances to bring out the musicians' best.
'We're gratified by the response of artists to our service,' says Ann Bloston. 'Audiences love to hear live performances. It's our mission to deliver the best possible recording we can. These shows are keepers.' Recordings are offered in three popular formats: protection-free and speedy MP3s, CD-quality FLAC downloads compatible with your iPod or other MP3 player, and the still-popular and convenient CD, sent to you by mail.
FestivaLink.net is proud to be part of SMF's continuing mission to document the best music America, and the world, has to offer. 'We work in genres where careers span a lifetime,' Blonston concludes. 'Artists in these genres can still entertain in their 80s. We aspire to the equivalent longevity in the digital world, to help artists keep their music in front of new listeners. It's our goal to keep those long careers vital.'
