The Erie Jazz and Blues festival is returning. Check out who are scheduled to play

After a change in leadership and a one-year hiatus, the Erie Jazz and Blues Festival is making a comeback.

The festival is set for Aug. 3-4 at Frontier Park, 1501 W. Sixth St. This is the first festival with a new artistic director, Matt Walker, as former artistic director John Vanco stepped down from the role last year.

“I’ve known John for quite a few years,” Walker said. “He’s an iconic figure in Erie and he has been a great force for the art and music world in Erie. John is still very much a part of it. I communicate with John more frequently. John is there for me anytime I need him.”

The Blues and Jazz Festival took the year off in 2023 to reorganize, but Walker believes this year they are coming back strong and with some fun ideas.

“Traditionally, we have split this up where Saturday will be a blues-heavy day and Sunday will be a jazz-heavy day,” Walker said. “This year we are mixing that up so you will hear both blues and jazz on each day.”

Preparing for comeback: Erie Blues & Jazz Festival returning in 2024 after 2023 cancellation, organizers say

A jazzed-up lineup

The first day of the festival on Aug. 3 begins at 10 a.m. with Music4Vets, a program that allows Veterans to improve daily lives through live performances throughout the community.

The schedule for Saturday includes:

• Noon: Presque Isle Little Big Band

• 1:45 p.m.: Bigfoot & Redbeard

• 3:30 p.m.: Hugo Cruz & Caminos

• 5:30 p.m.: Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience

• 8 p.m.: Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

Women in blues and jazz take the stage

The lineup continues Aug. 4, and honors women in blues in jazz with a lineup featuring all female performers.

“One of the things that may not be common knowledge, even in 2024, (is) women have a low rate of representation at music festivals and concerts across the world and certainly across America,” Walker said. “... We wanted to take a day that really had a lot of female performances. We’re going to open Sunday with a women’s gospel choir, which will all be local.”

Sunday's lineup is as follows:

• 10 a.m.: Women’s Gospel Choir

• Noon: Kelly Armor & Friends

• 2 p.m.: Ellen Pieroni & the Encyclopedia of Soul

• 4 p.m.: Shaun Booker Dammit Band

• 6 p.m.: CSNY Tribute featuring Jennifer Stills & Fuzzy Samuel

• 8 p.m.: Barbra Blue with Bernard Purdie

What to expect from the 2024 festival

Walker had much to say about performers coming to Erie this summer for the festival.

"We have a jazz musician from Pittsburgh (in) Hugo Cruz, and Caminos, which is a Latin jazz band in Pittsburgh, that is creating a lot of energy down there," Walker said. "Kelly Armor & Friends ... Kelly is a long-time Erie musician and we’re looking forward to what she is going to bring."

He also said the festival is bringing in high-end performers from Louisiana to give a good New Orleans-style concert on Saturday night.

"We have back-to-back performances of Louisiana’s top-notch performers Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience," Walker said. "That will be followed up by Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. We’re going to do a New Orleans-heavy feel for Saturday night."

Some of the talent performing is from Erie or the region.

"We will have a tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young which will feature Steven Stills' daughter Jennifer Stills," Walker said. "One of the bass players from Crosby Stills Nash and Young in their heyday was a guy named Fuzzy Samuel. Fuzzy lives in Erie, so he’s going to be a big part of this. Then (there's) a jazz musician from Buffalo, Ellen Pieroni and the Encyclopedia of Soul. She is an up-and-coming artist who started to make some hype throughout New York state."

Sunday's headliner is Barbra Blue, a blues singer from Pittsburgh who has a musical note with her name on the Walk of Fame in Memphis.

Blue will be joined by a drummer named Bernard Purdie who Walker said is arguably one of the most influential soul and R&B drummers in the last 50 years.

“Expect high-class world music; high-end world-class music,” Walker said. “No performer will get on that stage that isn’t qualified to be up there.”

'Where Do We Go Now?:' Erie's First To Eleven hits road for East Coast tour

Keep up to date on the festival by following their Facebook page.

Contact Nicholas Sorensen at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Blues and Jazz Festival 2024: Lineup includes CSNY tribute