OKC Jazz Fest to Support Allied Arts & Honor Wayman Tisdale
The five-day music festival, May 31 - June 4 in Bricktown and historic Deep Deuce, will also honor Wayman Tisdale posthumously as the 2016 OKC Jazz Ambassador for his contribution to jazz music.
The festival will feature jazz, jazz rock, hip hop, rhythm & blues and other genres of music. Headliners for the music festival include Al Jarreau, Color Me Badd and The Gap Band. Other performers include Los Angeles jazz violinist Lucine Fyelon, Eldredge Jackson, Darla Z, Olivia Kay and the Ambassador Concert Choir.
Allied Arts will receive $2 dollars from each ticket for the headliner events at the new Criterion Music Hall. In addition, ticket buyers will also have an opportunity to contribute to Allied Arts. Contributors who give $50 or more will receive the OKC City Card, Oklahoma City's premier entertainment discount card.
"The OKC Jazz Fest and our partners at the Criterion Music Hall recognize the importance of Allied Arts and their ongoing efforts to elevate the arts and insure that the arts are accessible to all. Now, more than ever, Allied Arts needs the community's support to fund the arts and music education in Oklahoma City," said Mike McAuliffe, founder of the OKC Jazz Fest.
Wayman Tisdale, best known for his basketball skills in the NBA and at the University of Oklahoma, was also an accomplished smooth jazz guitarist. He launched his music career on the Motown label in 1995. Tisdale recorded eight albums including Face to Face which went to No. 1 on Billboards contemporary jazz chart. His most recent release, Rebound, was written and released after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. The OKC Jazz Fest will make a special presentation to the Tisdale Family before the Al Jarreau performance Friday, June 3.
The official kickoff event for the festival will be on Tuesday, May 31 at the Aloft Hotel. Featured bands for the event include The Burton Band, Born In November and The Stars.
"Jazz on Deep Deuce" will take place on Saturday, June 4 with bands performing throughout the day at various Deep Deuce and Bricktown establishments.
Major supporters of the festival include the Chickasaw Nation, Saint Anthony, Fellers Snider Law Firm, Criterion Music Hall, Aloft Hotel, Diamonds Direct and Phoenix Restoration.
|
Prince Caspian Branson Hillside Theatre (6/12-8/08) |
|
SWEENEY TODD: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma (7/28-8/02) |
|
The Tempest Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (6/11-6/28) |
|
Lyric’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2026) Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma (11/25-12/26) |
|
Patience Cimarron Opera (6/26-6/28) |
|
Little Women Liddy Doenges Theatre (11/21-11/22) |
|
SISTER ACT Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma (7/07-7/12) |
|
Julius Caesar Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (9/10-9/27) |
|
Leanne Morgan Paycom Center (11/15-11/15) |
|
An Actor's Carol Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park (11/27-11/29) |