May 4, 2003

Pop and Jazz

alifornia

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES Los Angeles, June 19-22. Begun in England four years ago, this occasional series has become one of the world's most innovative pop festivals by applying a simple principle: hand over the programming to a well-connected artist or musician and allow every nepotistic indulgence. What results is more variety than you'd expect. After having the New York brahmins of Sonic Youth program a Los Angeles festival a year ago, the organizers have made a more local but still stranger curatorial choice: Matt Groening, the creator of "The Simpsons," who was a rock critic early in his career and seems to have been paying a good deal of attention to alternative music. His highlights include Wire, the Boredoms, Coldcut, Johnny Dowd, the Melvins, Mission of Burma, Kool Keith, Fantomas, Melt-Banana, Yo La Tengo, Le Tigre and the Fall. Mr. Groening has also arranged the reunion of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band after more than 20 years, minus the captain, Don Van Vliet, who remains immovable in his new life as a painter. (Another A.T.P. festival, with Stephen Malkmus as the boss, was planned for the New York area in September but has been postponed.) www.atpfestival.com

HOLLYWOOD BOWL Los Angeles, June 22-Sept. 14. Jazz and pop concerts include an Ella Fitzgerald tribute with Dee Dee Bridgewater, the Oscar Peterson Quartet with Dianne Reeves and Clark Terry, a program of Terence Blanchard's music for Spike Lee's films and the 25th anniversary of the Playboy Jazz Festival (June 14-15). World music offerings, getting poppier all the time, include "Global Divas" with Cesaria Evora, Morcheeba and Natacha Atlas; a Latin rock night with Los Lobos, Cafe Tacuba and Kinky, and "Yo-Yo Ma's Sounds of Brazil" with Paquito D'Rivera and others. (323) 850-2000, www.hollywoodbowl.org; Playboy Jazz festival: (310) 449-4070.

SFJAZZ San Francisco and environs. Three years ago the San Francisco Jazz Festival expanded into this organization, which presents concerts year round in overlapping series. The spring season continues through mid-June, with Jason Moran's Bandwagon, the Bad Plus, Mark O'Connor, Charlie Haden and Jim Hall and Dave Brubeck, among others — top-notch jazz stars and the latest to make a buzz. João Gilberto plays on July 26, and a series of free concerts in parks in and around San Francisco leads up to the annual festival in October. (800) 850-7353, www.sfjazz.org

Colorado

JAZZ ASPEN SNOWMASS Rio Grande Park, Aspen. After 10 years in nearby Snowmass Valley, this first-class festival returns to Aspen city limits for its June series, with Chico O'Farrill, Patricia Barber, Brad Mehldau, Joe Cocker and the blues singer Shemekia Copeland (June 19-22). But the Labor Day festival (Aug. 30-Sept. 1), with attractions to be announced, will remain at the recently expanded Snowmass Village Town Park. (866) 527-8499, www.jazzaspen.com

TELLURIDE This small city tucked in the San Juan Mountains has long been the host of two venerable festivals: the 30-year-old Telluride Bluegrass Festival, running June 19-22, with Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Edgar Meyer, Alison Krauss, Kasey Chambers, Vince Gill, Martin Sexton and many others who may or may not play bluegrass; and the Telluride Jazz Celebration, Aug. 1-3, with Cedar Walton, John Scofield, Karrin Allyson, Kenny Garrett and, because all jazz festivals now need a pinch of hip-hop, DJ Logic. Bluegrass Festival: (800) 624-2422, www.planetbluegrass.com; Jazz Celebration: (970) 728-7009, www.telluridejazz.com

Connecticut

LITCHFIELD JAZZ FESTIVAL Goshen Fairgrounds, Aug. 1-3. Most local jazz festivals don't have such high-caliber and varied programming: in three days you can see Taj Mahal, Wayne Shorter, the Heath Brothers, Soulive, Brad Mehldau, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Vanessa Rubin, Benny Green and Russell Malone, and those are just the headliners. (860) 567-4162, www.litchfieldjazzfest.com

District of Columbia

CAPITAL JAZZ FEST Washington and Bull Run Park, Centreville, Va., June 6-8. Three days of the kind of light jazz for which there is no kind name except "contemporary": Will Downing, Stanley Clarke, Gerald Albright, Roy Ayers, Keiko Matsui. Also in there, presumably for authenticity's sake, is Ray Charles. (800) 551-SEAT, www.capitaljazz.com

MARY LOU WILLIAMS WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL Kennedy Center, Thursday-Saturday. In its eighth year, this series of concerts, workshops and seminars has a strong lineup, regardless of gender, with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Terri Lyne Carrington, Gloria Lynne, Mary Ann McSweeney and Renee Rosnes. On Friday the singer Barbara Carroll will be given a lifetime achievement award. (800) 444-1324, www.kennedy-center.org

Florida

JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL Miami Beach, May 14-18. Kicking off the many JVC and other festivals programmed by the New York-based Festival Productions, with a mixture of pop stars, Latin bands and jazz perennials: Cassandra Wilson, Slide Hampton, Patti Austin, India Arie, George Benson and others. (212) 501-1390, www.festivalproductions.net

Georgia

ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL Piedmont Park, May 24-26. For its 26th anniversary, this Memorial Day weekend festival has been expanded, with 26 days of concerts and events throughout Atlanta beginning last Thursday. The festival proper, still on Memorial Day weekend, has Eddie Palmieri, Richard Bona, Bobby Sanabria and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. (404) 817-6851, www.atlantafestivals.com

NATIONAL BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL Atlanta, July 18-27. A big, bold, multidisciplinary festival with a focus: this year it's the centenary of the publication of W. E. B. DuBois's "Souls of Black Folk." The jazz composer Craig Harris has written a piece in honor of DuBois and his book; other musical attractions include "Poetic Opera," led by the hip-hop poet and playwright Carl Hancock Rux, and a jazz concert series. (404) 730-7315, www.nbaf.org

Illinois

CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL May 29-June 1. Now 20 years old, this free series in Grant Park is one of the country's best blues festivals and, since it is programmed and administered by the Chicago mayor's office, one of the oddest. (Does any other festival have so many talks and chats and discussions and forums?) The theme this year is "A Chicago Blues Homecoming," and there are indeed many Chicago acts, like Charlie Musselwhite, Cicero Blake, Otis Taylor and Homesick James. But the biggest attractions are out-of-towners: Otis Rush, Buckwheat Zydeco, Mose Allison, Honeyboy Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and the Campbell Brothers. (312) 744-3370, www.cityofchicago.org/specialevents

RAVINIA FESTIVAL Highland Park, June 6-Sept. 8. Mingled with the classical season here is an equally extensive pop series, beginning with the BoDeans on June 7, and including Bobby Short, the Neville Brothers, Buddy Guy, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Norah Jones, Blues Traveler, K. D. Lang and Tony Bennett. (847) 266-5100, www.ravinia.org

Louisiana

ESSENCE MUSIC FESTIVAL New Orleans, July 3-5. It's surprising that Essence's programming approach of mingling current hip-hop stars with R & B legends hasn't become more widespread. Pairing P. Diddy and Chaka Khan on one bill — or Nappy Roots with Bobby (Blue) Bland and Chuck Brown, or Maze with Anita Baker and Smokey Robinson — could have some interesting results. (800) 488-5252, www.essence.com

Massachusetts

BOSTON GLOBE JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL Boston, June 15-22. Free concerts at Copley Square and Faneuil Hall, including Robert Randolph, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove and Jane Monheit, and a series at the FleetBoston Pavilion (not free) with Aretha Franklin, Buddy Guy, Medeski Martin and Wood, Los Lobos and the John Scofield Band. (617) 929-8756, www.boston.com/jazzfest

LOWELL FOLK FESTIVAL July 25-27. Calling itself the country's largest free folk festival, this series in a Boston suburb is devoted to traditional music and performance practices from around the world. The many performers include the Cajun group Charivari, the bluegrass group Dismembered Tennesseans, the Irish band Danu, the Québécois group Entourloupe and the blues singer Shemekia Copeland. (978) 970-5000, www.lowellfolkfestival.org

New Jersey

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, July 15-Aug. 31. A few months ago Mr. Springsteen announced three dates at Giants Stadium. Then two more were added to accommodate demand. Then two more. Then two more. Then two more again. Then a final date, bringing the total to 10 concerts at one venue, meaning that more than 500,000 paying customers will see the Boss at the same place this summer. It may not be a festival per se, but it is said to be a world box office record for one engagement, and that's something. (212) 307-7171 or (201) 507-8900, www.ticketmaster.com

New York City

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN Prospect Park Bandshell. It's bound to be compared to the summer concert series in Central Park, but given the quality of the programming here, and the stately beauty of the park and the bandshell, that's O.K. The series turns 25 this year (older than SummerStage), and opens with Joan Armatrading on June 12. There's also a Hal Willner tribute to Leonard Cohen with Rufus and Martha Wainwright and Kate and Anna McGarrigle; the annual African concert with Salif Keita and Oliver Mtukudzi, and the Derek Trucks Band, among others. (718) 855-7882, Ext. 45, www.brooklynx.org

HUDSON RIVER FESTIVAL June 17-Aug. 26. Free concerts in several Lower Manhattan venues — Battery Park, Battery Park City and the Winter Garden of the World Financial Center — with Ryan Adams, Polygraph Lounge, Patti Smith, Peter Cincotti, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Spoon, Joshua Redman and Fab Faux, a Beatles tribute act that performs its covers with stunning accuracy. (212) 528-2733, www.hudsonriverfestival.com

NORAH JONES The belle of the ball at the Grammys, Ms. Jones begins her first major tour this summer, stopping at the Beacon Theater for three homecoming concerts, June 23-25. (212) 307-7171,
www.ticketmaster.com

JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL June 15-28. Face it, New Yorkers are spoiled. Other cities get a few days for their jazz festivals, we get 14, and in Carnegie Hall, the Beacon Theater and Lincoln Center, no less. The offerings here range from the conservative — Dave Brubeck, Shirley Horn, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock — to surprises and must-sees like a Peggy Lee tribute with Deborah Harry, Mr. Hancock with the tap-dance lion Savion Glover and a program of Terence Blanchard's music for Spike Lee's films, which the two will be presenting at festivals across the country this summer. More than 100 events are offered, with a series of club dates and free lunchtime concerts in Bryant Park. (212) 501-1390, www.festivalproductions.net

LINCOLN CENTER The schedule is just as full here during the summer as in the other three seasons, especially for pop. The Midsummer Night's Swing series, with concerts and dance lessons, opens June 26 with Buster Poindexter and has Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Cab Calloway Orchestra and others before closing with Illinois Jacquet on July 27; the Lincoln Center Festival has a five-day Brazilian series, with the Carnival king Carlinhos Brown and the New York debuts of Vanildo de Pombos, Selma De Coco, Lactomia and others (July 16-20); the free Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors series begins Aug. 2 with McCoy Tyner and Dave Valentin and runs through Aug. 24 with jazz, classical, world music and pop events nearly every day, including the 20th annual Roots of American Music weekend (Aug. 9-10). (212) 875-5766, www.lincolncenter.org

SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL Coney Island, July 19. The third installment of this one-day alternative-rock jamboree in the sun and sea mist, produced by The Village Voice, is no less great than its predecessors, with Modest Mouse, !!! (a local punk-funk collective whose name is usually pronounced "chick chick chick"), the Kills, the Radio 4, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Hot Hot Heat and others. But any reason to spend a summer afternoon in Coney Island should be pounced upon. www.villagevoice.com/siren

SUMMERSTAGE Rumsey Playfield, Central Park. The treasure of the New York summer music season, with dozens of events of the highest caliber, most of them free. Though the full schedule has not yet been announced, a highlight will be the return on July 6 of Orchestra Baobab, a 1970's Senegalese band that breezily merged African and Latin styles and reunited last year; if you missed it in 2002, don't make the mistake again. The series of benefit (i.e., not free) concerts opens with Wilco and Sonic Youth on June 26 and 27 and will feature Elvis Costello, Ani DiFranco, the White Stripes, the Indigo Girls and Aimee Mann. (212) 360-2777, www.summerstage.org

VANS WARPED TOURRandalls Island, Aug. 9. Now in its ninth year, this annual punks-metalheads-and-merchandising package tour has become as predictable a part of the rock landscape as the obnoxious rage so many of the bands here vent. With Rancid, AFI, the Used, the Ataris, Pennywise, Taking Back Sunday, Dropkick Murphys, Andrew W.K., Glassjaw, Face to Face and dozens of others. www.warpedtour.com

VERIZON MUSIC FESTIVAL May 16-18. Created two years ago by Festival Productions as a lighter version of its JVC Jazz Festival, this mini-festival has George Benson and Dee Dee Bridgewater at Alice Tully Hall, Erykah Badu at the Apollo Theater and a big bill with Wynton Marsalis's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Sherrie Maricle, Donald Harrison and Ray Vega outdoors at Lincoln Center. The festival travels to Tampa, Fla. (June 11-14), Washington (June 27-29) and Los Angeles (July 24-27), with slight lineup changes. (212) 501-1390, www.verizon.com/musicfestival

VISION FESTIVAL The Center, 268 Mulberry Street, May 21-26. Now in its eighth year, the very survival of this densely programmed series of avant-garde jazz and dance is a tribute to the vitality of the downtown scene. Performers in these all-evening events — which border on endurance tests, even for the faithful — include John Zorn, Matthew Shipp, Roy Campbell, David S. Ware, Carl Hancock Rux, DJ Spooky and William Parker, who heads the festival with his wife, the dancer Patricia Nicholson. (212) 473-0043, www.visionfestival.org

New York State

ADIRONDACK MOUNTAIN MUSIC FESTIVAL Moose River Amphitheater and Campground, Lyonsdale, May 30-June 1. Like Bonnaroo in Tennessee, this 2-year-old lollapalooza of pop alternatives is doing just fine, and maybe better, by giving unrelated niche audiences room to boogie together. The lineup includes jam bands like the Disco Biscuits and the Steve Kimock Band, jazz and funk groups like Soulive and Robert Walter's 20th Congress, underground hip-hop stars like El-P and D.J. Logic, the reggae stars Culture and Israel Vibration, and Ween, who show up at all these things and blow everybody away. (800) 594-TIXX, www.adirondackmountainmusic.com

FIELD DAY Enterprise Park, Calverton, June 7-8. The wonderful surprise of this year, Andrew Dreskin, one of the founders of the Ticketweb service, created a two-day alternative Woodstock in this town on the North Fork of Long Island, some 70 miles east of Manhattan, with a dream lineup: Radiohead, Beck, the Beastie Boys, Sigur Ros, the Streets, Bright Eyes, Interpol, N.E.R.D., the Polyphonic Spree, Tortoise, Beth Orton, the Raveonettes, Thievery Corporation and too many others to mention. Camping packages are available. (212) 307-7171 or (631) 888-9000, www.fielddayfest.com

JONES BEACH AMPHITHEATER Wantagh. The series includes Santana with Angélique Kidjo (June 20), Peter Gabriel (June 24), Neil Young and Crazy Horse with Lucinda Williams (June 29), Jackson Browne and Steve Early (July 10), Iron Maiden with Motorhead and Dio (July 26), Aerosmith and Kiss (Aug. 4), Steely Dan (Aug. 22), the "new" Doors with Ian Astbury of the Cult singing Jim Morrison's parts (Aug. 24) and the Counting Crows with John Mayer (Aug. 25). (516) 221-1000 or (631) 888-9000, www.jonesbeachamp.com

ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL June 6-14. In its second installment, this series is going strong with a 60-artist lineup headed by Tony Bennett, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Dave Brubeck and Medeski, Martin and Wood. (585) 234-2002, www.rochesterjazz.com

Ohio

GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS Crystal Forest, Garrettsville, July 17-21. Talk about niche festivals. This one is an annual retreat devoted to the vaudevillian white rap-rock group Insane Clown Posse and their many fans, whom they have named Juggalos for reasons unknown to the rest of the world. And for Juggalos, it probably does not get any better than this: a bucolic 250-acre campground in eastern Ohio, with rock ledges, waterfalls and not two but three lakes. Fellow celebrants include Kottonmouth Kings, Bushwick Bill, Twiztid and Blaze. (800) 397-4919, www.juggalogathering.com or www.hatchetgear.com

JAMMIN' ON MAIN Cincinnati, Friday-Saturday. A textbook outdoor urban block party: three stages downtown, top-notch mainstream acts and low ticket prices, nothing fancy. Headliners on Friday are John Prine, Ben Lee, Ben Folds, Concrete Blonde and Joan Jett; on Saturday, Styx's Dennis DeYoung, Ween, Moe, Antigone Rising, Jason Mraz and Edwin McCain. This festival has been such a success that it has spawned another, Jammin' on Jersey, in Indianapolis. (513) 721-3555; tickets: (513) 562-4949, www.pepsijamminonmain.com

Rhode Island

JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL Newport, Aug. 8-10. The flagship jazz festival has long since been supplanted in terms of quantity and diversity by New York's JVC festival, but the quality is still there: Dave Brubeck, Cassandra Wilson, the Bad Plus, Eddie Palmieri, India Arie and K. D. Lang, among others. (401) 847-3700,
www.festivalproductions.net

NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL Aug. 15-17. Last year was the one to see, with Bob Dylan making his first appearance since 1965, but this is still one of the biggest and most important folk festivals in the country, and the lineup so far includes Ani DiFranco, Aimee Mann, Angélique Kidjo, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, John Hiatt and the Australian group the Waifs. (401) 847-3700, www.newportfolk.com

Tennessee

BONNAROO Manchester, June 13-15. Last summer's surprise is this year's king. Unlike Ozzfest or the H.O.R.D.E. and Lilith Fair tours, which found success in tight market niches, Bonnaroo took a chance last year by treating concertgoers to a hugely diverse feast. People went for it — it sold 70,000 tickets in 19 days on the Web with no advertising — and the festival became the talk of the music world. This year the bar has been raised. In addition to the festival's foundation of neo-hippie jam bands — Widespread Panic, Medeski Martin and Wood, Galactic, Moe and the biggest validation of all, the Dead — there is a stunning variety of music being offered: Sonic Youth, the Flaming Lips, James Brown, Robert Randolph, the New Deal, Tortoise, the Allman Brothers Band, the Polyphonic Spree, Antibalas, Particle, Lucinda Williams and D.J. Z-Trip, to name just a few out of dozens. Tickets are long since gone (80,000 in 18 days this time), but for a lineup like this it's tempting to make the drive just in case. (A second festival, Bonnaroo N.E., has been announced at Calverton, N.Y., on the North Fork of Long Island, on Aug. 8-10. The lineup is to include the Dead, Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, and Tom Petty. Check the Web site for details.) www.bonnaroo.com

ELVIS WEEK Memphis, Aug. 9-17. Each year a string of concerts, lectures and various oddball events (like impersonators' gatherings) are planned for the days leading up to the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. Though this year does not compare to the blowout last August (the 25th year after Presley's death), the week retains its quasi-religious intensity with events like VigilCast, the "official Webcast of the Elvis Week 2003 Candlelight Vigil," which takes place on Friday night. (800) 238-2000, www.elvis.com

FAN FAIR Nashville, June 5-8. A monster four-day festival of country music, now in its 32nd year, with basically everybody: Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Kitty Wells, Trace Adkins, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Billy Gilman, Wynonna, Lonestar and Travis Tritt as well as up-and-comers like Bering Strait, Emerson Drive and Jessica Andrews. (866) FAN-FAIR,
www.fanfair.com

Texas

KERRVILLE FOLK FESTIVAL Quiet Valley Ranch, May 22-June 8. The grandaddy of all grass-roots folk festivals, Kerrville's workshops and performance stages have attracted emerging songwriters and performers since 1972. The festival has a tradition of bringing out new talent: Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, Lucinda Williams and Nancy Griffith all played it early in their careers, and Michelle Shocked recorded her breakthrough "Texas Campfire Tapes" album there in 1986. Rod Kennedy, the festival's founder, sold it in 1999 and retired last year, but things do not appear to have changed under its new ownership. Big names this year include Shawn Colvin, Tracy Grammer, Judy Collins and Peter Yarrow, but the real stars are always people you haven't heard of yet. (800) 435-8429, www.kerrville-music.com

Vermont

DISCOVER JAZZ FESTIVAL Burlington, June 2-8. It may be another big jazz festival with a lot of the stars you've seen before — Sonny Rollins, Andrew Hill, John Mayall — but what distinguishes this one from all the rest is how little of the schedule is perennials. The organizers here have made an effort, as they do every year, to include new, young machers (read: New York downtowners) like Matthew Shipp and Jean-Michel Pilc, who don't make it so far north very often. And just to prove it's Vermont, there are two chances to see the Phish kingpin Trey Anastasio. (802) 863-5966, www.discoverjazz.com

Virginia

HAMPTON JAZZ FESTIVAL June 26-29. See if you can spot the jazz in this pop-heavy lineup: Anita Baker, Earth Wind and Fire, India Arie, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Harold Blanchard. (757) 671-8100,
www.hamptoncoliseum.org/jazz

Washington

BUMBERSHOOT Seattle, Aug. 29-Sept. 1. Seattle's great outdoor smorgasbord, which always adds some A-list names to the usual jumble of plays, comedians, acrobats and crafts peddlers that gather each Labor Day weekend at Seattle Center, in the shadow of the Space Needle. This year R.E.M. is beginning its first tour in four years here; other acts include Wilco, the Roots, Donovan, Chico Hamilton and Rennie Harris's Legends of Hip-Hop. Not bad! (206) 281-8111, www.bumbershoot.org

Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE METALFEST XVII U.S. Cellular Arena, July 25-26. In a way, this is one of the most traditional music festivals in America: a two-day mega-event devoted to a particular type of music (heavy, heavy metal) and marketed to a particular fan, year after year; it has been so successful that it has spawned a spring festival in New Jersey. Though the schedule has not been announced, past Metalfests have very carefully mixed a few top bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse with dozens of underground bands playing a broad array of up-to-the-minute styles. Gosh, what if jazz festivals paid so much attention to the little guys? (414) 225-9026, www.metalfest.com

SUMMERFEST Milwaukee, June 26-July 3. One of the country's biggest and most extensive urban summer concert series takes place at the 24,000-seat Marcus Amphitheater, overlooking Lake Michigan. Known locally as the Big Gig, Summerfest will present Peter Gabriel, Wilco, the Dead with Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Kenny Chesney, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, at the amphitheater and elsewhere, for as little as $11. (800) 273-FEST, www.summerfest.com