December 13, 2024

St. Lucia jazzBET Jazz Presents the
13th annual St. Lucia Jazz Festival
May 7th -16th, 2004

Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Kenny G, Ashanti, Joe, Billy Taylor, James Carter, Maynard Ferguson, Marlena Shaw, Floetry and Others Scheduled to Perform.

BET Jazz, The Jazz Channel and the St. Lucia Tourist Board will present a stellar and diversified lineup for the 13th annual St. Lucia Jazz Festival scheduled for May 7th -16th, 2004. Considered one of the premier music festivals in the Caribbean, St. Lucia Jazz features more than a dozen acts in a variety of venues around the island known as the ‘Helen of the West Indies’ for its natural beauty.

St. Lucia Jazz features multiple shows daily, including acoustical, new age and straight-ahead jazz, soul, fusion and R&B. Unlike other Caribbean music festivals, St. Lucia Jazz features ‘fringe’ events, which are held in a variety of small villages all across the island. The ‘fringe’ activities provide the opportunity for travelers to experience the entire island and its people, as well as the fine music. ‘Fringe’ events take place in small village parks, casual open-air venues, and charming retail complexes.

The confirmed lineup to date for St. Lucia Jazz 2004 includes: R&B artists Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Ashanti, and Joe, jazz greats Kenny G, Billy Taylor, James Carter, Maynard Ferguson, Marlena Shaw and newcomer Floetry. Also performing will be Cuban band Charanga Habanera, Blue Mango and The Yellowjackets.

Peter Hilary Modeste, the St. Lucia Tourist Board¹s director of tourism, hopes to take the festival to new heights this year. ‘We now need to look to more mainstream performers as a source of headliners for St. Lucia Jazz fest,’ says Modeste. By booking more internationally known acts, the St. Lucia Tourist Board hopes to broaden its audience and in the process expose St. Lucia to new and more diversified travelers.

For more information and tickets, visit the official St. Lucia Jazz Web site at www.stluciajazz.org, or contact the St. Lucia Tourist Board toll-free (888) 4-ST-LUCIA. Information on St. Lucia is also available online at www.stlucia.org, the official site of the St. Lucia Tourist Board.

About St. Lucia Jazz Since its establishment in 1992, the St. Lucia Jazz Festival has grown in magnitude and stature to become one of the preeminent Jazz Festivals in the world. World-class artists such as R&B legends Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Santana, Patti Labelle and jazz greats Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Jordan, Roy Hargrove and George Benson have all played before an audience of St. Lucian locals and international tourists. For more information about the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, please visit http://www.stluciajazz.org.

BET Jazz: The 24 Hour Jazz Channel, a subsidiary of BET and Viacom, Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), is the principle location for the fulfillment of all jazz interests. The network is the first and only 24-hour television programming service dedicated exclusively to jazz music and culture. BET Jazz features many of the finest names in jazz through in-studio performances, festivals, concert coverage, and celebrity interviews. Many of the shows feature original programming as well as historic footage unavailable on any other television network.