Set to play during the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival will swing into downtown East Lansing for its seventh year Friday evening.
The Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, located under a big tent on M.A.C. Avenue between Grand River and Albert avenues, will give those who attend a taste of jazz mixed with salsa and swing flavors. The event will close off M.A.C. Avenue to accommodate the crowd.
East Lansing Councilmember Bev Baten says an open-street atmosphere is sure to bring about an enjoyable experience for every person in attendance.
"People get to experience what's going on downtown," Baten said. "We're a hip, cool city and having events like these make us attractive to a lot of people."
In the festival's past years, 500 to 1,000 people have attended the event. Baten said about the same number of festivalgoers are expected to attend on Friday.
Events such as the festival are good for city tourism and economics, says Michael Sundermann, East Lansing Arts Commission chairman.
"I think events like this help bring people downtown to enjoy the benefits of shopping and eating downtown," Sundermann said.
Albert Cafagna, an MSU philosophy associate professor emeritus and a co-founder of the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, has attended the event each year since its opening and thinks it will be around for a long time.
"We found that the audience response has been so rewarding," Cafagna said. "If we put even more effort into the festival, we can expand it.
"All over Michigan, funding for art is in jeopardy so this is a way to help keep jazz, which is America's music."
There was one band at the festival when it started seven summers ago, but this year's audience will be able to enjoy music from four different groups.
The first group, The Diego Rivera Quartet, will entice the audience with a world-class jazz experience. The second group, Ray Kamalay and his Red Hot Peppers, will play a combination of big-band swing and a twist of modern Django Reinhardt-style jazz. Up third is the Ritmo Latin Jazz Band, which will shake the audience out of its seats with a range of swing, Latin jazz, rock, funk and salsa. The Uptown Society Orchestra will close out the show with their elegant swing music.
Participants will be able to buy food from vendors during 30-minute intermissions in between acts. There also will be free gift raffles of CDs, football jerseys, gift certificates and gifts from festival supporters.
