Thursday, Jun. 04, 2009

New and improved: Wine, Dine and Jazz festival comes back to Belleville

BELLEVILLE -- Robert "Bo" Hill will always be sorry he ignored his parents' advice to learn a musical instrument.

"If I had listened to my mother back in those years, I'd have been playing keyboard," the 67-year-old Belleville man says. "I just never did, and now I regret it."

But, to the delight of area music lovers, he'll atone for that mistake again this weekend at the Wine, Dine and Jazz Festival in downtown Belleville. After all, it was his happy task to line up the 10 jazz acts he hopes will please a wide range of fans.

"Oh, I'm excited about it," he said of the second annual affair that will mix top area entertainment, 100 wines from 18 Illinois vintners and food from eight Belleville/Swansea eateries. "I still try to stay in touch with jazz music, because I've been a fan for 50 years and I'm still crazy about it."

From the response festival director Carol Bartle received from last year's one-day gala, his love obviously showed. Although it came on the heels of another giant event -- Art on the Square -- an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 people crowded into the public square, leading organizers to expand this year's festival into a two-day part, starting on Friday night. Admission is free.

"It's going to be bigger and better than last year, of course, because we have been getting tons of calls about it," Bartle said. "It looks like the weather's going to be OK for Friday and Saturday, so we're ready to have some wine, dine and jazz."

New and improved

Festivalgoers will find one major change: Instead of a second stage of major entertainment ("That darn near killed me last year," Hill chuckled), a "soft jazz" tent on the Regions Bank quadrant will offer 30-minute sets between acts on the main stage. Multi-instrumentalist Mark Biehl, whose "Landscapes" album has drawn international attention, will play on Friday night before Dave Glauber and Gregg Eilers mix it up with rock, blues, folk and hillbilly as DANG on Saturday.

Cooks can jazz up their culinary skills by taking one of the cooking classes that Eckert's Country Store will offer at 6:15 p.m. Friday and 3 and 6:15 p.m. Saturday. Chris Eckert will demonstrate a variety of recipes, each paired with an Illinois wine.

For those who would rather sit back with a good beer, Illinois Distributing will serve up a variety of micro brews. ("That's always good for the Germans to know that we have beer, too," Bartle joked.) And, if you don't want to battle the parking, take the MetroLink to the Scheel Street Station, then ride the free Roho Jazz Shuttle, complete with entertainment that will make you feel you've arrived in New Orleans.

But most of the attention will be on the main stage, which will feature acts ranging from the Air Force's Shades of Blue Protocol Combo to kick off the weekend to the young sounds of Fresh Heir on Saturday afternoon. For Hill, it's another sign of downtown Belleville's musical rejuvenation that's been a long time coming.

"Once in a while a little club would pop up, but it just never lasted," Hill said. "Now it seems with clubs like the Blue Agave and The Ground Floor, they're trying to bring this thing back. And there are some marvelous players in the area. There really are."

Although never picking up an instrument himself, Hill still received a solid music education while growing up in East St. Louis.

"I guess that's where I get my jazz roots," Hill said. "When I was in school, we had a close-knit group of about seven or eight who were the Dobie Gillis kind of guys -- you know, walked around in another world listening to Miles Davis and (John) Coltrane and a lot of players who came out of St. Louis. I used to go down to the Blue Note Club all the time. Those were good years down there."

Hill finally had the opportunity to put that background to good use last year when Bartle and Patty Gregory asked Hill's wife, Kathy, to serve on the festival's music committee. She in turn recruited her husband.

"So, she gets me on board, and then she bails on me," Bo said, laughing. "But that's fine because I tell you what -- this has been one of the most enjoyable things I could have ever done. I mean, it's just been an amazing opportunity, and I've just had a great time."

Crowd pleasers

This weekend, he hopes festivalgoers do, too, with a lineup that features familiar faces from last year plus a number of new acts. Two of the big favorites will be Brian Owens, the Friday night closer, and Anita Rosamond, who likely will be accompanied by a well-known friend when she performs at 6:45 p.m. Saturday.

"Brian was really a hit last year," said Hill of the Belleville native who has opened for Ramsey Lewis and Spyro Gyra and shared the stage with Christine Brewer. "If you listen to him, you might hear a little Sinatra, a little Nat King Cole and a little Donny Hathaway, so he covers a lot of bases. He's just amazing.

"(Anita) doesn't need a lot of introduction. She was the closer last year, and she has a big following in Belleville," said Hill of the St. Louis vocalist whose special friend is St. Louis football Cardinal hall-of-famer Jackie Smith. "We're actually trying to get him to introduce Anita and the last band of the day."

That last band -- the nine-piece Wild, Cool & Swingin' Orchestra led by trumpeter Jim Manley -- is not to be missed if you want to experience the shows from the Las Vegas strip of the 1960s, Hill said.

"They play a lot of Sinatra stuff, a lot of big band stuff," Hill said. "From all I understand, they really will knock your socks off."

Also returning by popular demand will be Mary Dyson with the Brock Walker Trio at 5 p.m. Saturday. For the past six years, Dyson has been an integral part of Mae Wheeler's DIVA and Soulful Celebration scholarship fundraisers in St. Louis.

"She's as good as they get around here," Hill said. "I think a lot of people were impressed with her last year. And, he's an amazing keyboardist. Of course, I'm partial to that."

New to the festival but familiar to St. Louis jazz aficionados will be Two Times True with pianist Carolbeth True and her son David on drums at 6:45 p.m. Friday and Tony D (Pisquale) and his Groove Merchants at 2 p.m. Saturday. Rounding out the entertainment will be Fresh Heir at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

"They're a high-energy kind of soul, rock, hip-hop mix," Hill said. "It's hard to describe what their genre is, but they're really a bunch of good players.

"We're trying to attract some younger people to this festival, too, so we went with this group because they're young guys and they play this new style of jazz. I'm OK with that but I still like the old standards. I'm still locked in the '60s."