Kids Zone will feature Mr. Daniel, four university jazz bands & the great Dave Bennett
Kids can experience the joy of music with the newest addition to Carmel Jazz Fest: a Kids Zone at Carter Green for kids 12 and under (who are admitted for free) with the popular kids entertainer, Mr. Daniel. The Kids Zone will take place both days of the festival, Aug. 11 and 12.
Carmel Jazz Fest will also play host to four university bands – IU, Ball State, Butler, and the University of Indianapolis – which will take over the Studio and Tarkington Theaters on Aug. 12 to showcase local, emerging jazz artists, as well as a special concert by their university professors.
More information on the Kids Zone and university performances is below, along with highlights from The Dave Bennett Quartet.
The festival will feature more than 30 electrifying national and international acts, including Spyro Gyra (festival headliner), Evelyn “Champagne” King, Dave Bennett Quartet, Freddie Fox, and Tim Cunningham. Festival passes will grant attendees access to multiple performances occurring at indoor and outdoor venues throughout Carmel – including Carmel Gazebo, the lawn at Carter Green, Midtown Plaza, The Tarkington Theater, and Studio Theater.
Festival passes are on sale now. Friday pass: $29; Saturday pass: $39; Two-day pass: $54. You can add on Spyro Gyro tickets for their show at the Palladium starting at $25. Visit CarmelJazzFest.org/tickets to order. You can also purchase add-on experiences at Feinstein’s at Hotel Carmichael on Aug. 11 and 12. Click here to order. Kids age 12 and under are free. Carmel Jazz Fest is a family-friendly event and will include face painters and balloon sculptures.
Kids Zone with Mr. Daniel
Friday & Saturday, Aug. 11 & 12, at Carter Green.
The Carmel Jazz Fest Kids Zone will offer participatory entertainment suitable for kids by popular children’s entertainer Mr. Daniel at Carter Green on Friday, Aug. 11 and Saturday, Aug. 12. The Kids Zone will also feature face painting and balloon twisting by Fabulously Fun Company. Children 12 and under are free.
Mr. Daniel shares his love of music with children using singing, dancing, games, movements, and instruments. Mr. Daniel plays traditional children’s classics as well as popular music while exposing little ones to concepts like beat, rhythm, pitch, melody, and tempo. Mr. Daniel helps children explore their feelings, nature, numbers, friendship, humor, and all the other good stuff little ones should learn – all while rocking-out to catchy tunes.
Mr. Daniel has performed more than 2,000 shows and entertained more than 20,000 children with his unique style of participatory entertainment. Mr. Daniel has released several children’s albums, including Mr. Daniel Feels the Love and Mr. Daniel Dreams of Unicorns. Children can jump, wiggle, play an instrument, and sing on-stage with Mr. Daniel during his fun-filled shows. You can learn more at MrDanielSings.com.
The Dave Bennett Quartet
Playing Friday, Aug. 11, 5 p.m. at the Tarkington Theater and 9 p.m. at Carter Green.
Dave Bennett doesn’t fit the mold for jazz artists. You don’t find many jazz clarinet players who name Alice Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chris Isaak among their influences. You won’t find many who are equally conversant with the music of Benny Goodman and Roy Orbison. In fact, you may not find even one other clarinet virtuoso who breaks from his Swing Era repertoire to sing rockabilly hits while accompanying himself at the piano or electric guitar.
Bennett began his national touring career at the age of 14. He has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops (2013) and has been featured with 35 other U.S. and Canadian orchestras. Some of his annual appearances include The Elkhart Jazz Festival, The Suncoast Classic Jazz Festival, The Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, The Sacramento Hot Jazz Jubilee, The Clambake Music Festival, and The Redwood Coast Music Festival. He made his European debut in 2008 at The Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in a combo with jazz legends and Benny Goodman band alumni guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and vibraphonist, the late Peter Appleyard.
In March 2022, the band performed to a sold-out audience at New York City’s Birdland Theater. Bennett is a recording artist on jazz label Mack Avenue Records. His second release, Blood Moon reached No. 24 on the Billboard Jazz charts in 2018. During COVID-19, he put his guitar pedal to the metal and stepped away from his beloved clarinet. A songwriter stepped forward. Road songs, reverb-laded guitar solos that could power a surf documentary, and memories of loves and lives lost are the mile markers that makeup his latest release Nowhere Fast. His first full-length rock album is a deep, soul-searching joyride through the back streets of his mind.
University Jazz Bands
Aug. 12 at the Center for the Performing Arts
- UINDY – 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Studio Theater
- Butler – 1:30 to 3 p.m., Studio Theater
- Ball State – 4 to 5:30 p.m., Studio Theater
- IU – 6:30 to 8 p.m., Studio Theater
- College Jazz Professors combined – 8:30 to 10 p.m., Tarkington Theater
As part of their mission and in a collaborative effort to offer educational experiences for emerging artists, Carmel Jazz Fest will feature performances by four university jazz bands and their professors. Carmel Jazz Fest will offer students opportunities to network with international and national jazz, R&B, and blues artists on the festival line-up.
The university performances begin at 11 a.m. on Aug. 11 at the Studio Theater and will feature all four bands playing back-to-back for an exciting day of entertainment and spotlight on the emerging, local artists. Audience members will get to see some amazing jazz students. The day then culminates in a special concert by the jazz professors Mark O’Connor, Matt Pivec, Mark Buselli, and Tom Walsh who will team with one student from each university for a special concert at the Tarkington Theater.
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To learn more about Carmel Jazz Fest, visit CarmelJazzFest.org or head over to Facebook.