CJ Parker performs in Polyrhythms' 11th-Annual Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Martin Luther King Center -- August 22 through 24.
Friday, August 22, through Sunday, August 24
Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and MLK Park, 630 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL
With this year's musical guests including the Matt Full Band, the Frank Russell Quartet, and Davenport phenom CJ Parker, Polyrhythms proudly presents the 11th-annual Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival at Rock Island's Martin Luther King Center and neighboring MLK Park, an August 22 through 24 celebration of cultural heritage in the Quad Cities named after the late musician, educator, and East Moline native lovingly known as “The Jazz Professor.”
On Friday, August 22, the weekend's activities begin inside the MLK Center at 5 p.m. with an opening reception featuring light hors d'oeuvres, followed by the festival's Black Authors Forum lasting from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Then, at 8 p.m., Davenport native and jazz great CJ Parker takes the stage. A singer, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist originally from Davenport, Parker blends his upbringing of gospel with his schooling in jazz, funk, and soul. An exciting, entertaining, and fun-spirited musician, Parker was featured in MTV Music News as a "Rising Star Due for Take Off," and his vocal timbre is comparable to those of John Legend and Justin Timberlake. Over the past several years, the young talent has performed at numerous area venues as a solo artist and with the ensemble 10 of Soul, and his theatre credits including music directing the Black Box Theatre's Hello, Dolly! and appearing in the Mockingbird on Main's Big Rock Candy Mountain.
With the events on Saturday, August 23 taking place in MLK Park, the fun begins at noon with exciting youth performances, a book fair, a children's book giveaway, vendors, and music provided by DJ Charles Swift. At 2 p.m. inside the MLK Center, a health forum on hypertension and diabetes will be led by speakers Angela Moore LPN and Stephanie Norles RN. Heading back outdoors, a jazz performance by the Kuchina Collective will begin at 3:30 p.m., while the late, great Polyrhythms founder will be celebrated with the 4:30 p.m. presentation of the Nate Lawrence Memorial Plaque. Five p.m. brings with it a concert set with the Matt Full Band, boasting Fuller on lead guitar and vocals, Joshua Kain on rhythm guitar and vocals, Dewey Lacefield on bass and vocals, Tyrone Phillips on lead vocals, and Jim VanHyfte on drums. Club Crib then takes the stage at 6:30 p.m., with the day's events concluding with an 8 p.m. performance with the noted jazz artists of the Frank Russell Quartet.
August 24, meanwhile, will be deemed the Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival's “Gospel Sunday,” the day's 3 to 7 p.m. events inside the MLK Center including performances by Jerry Johnson & the Voices of the QC and special guests, the night climaxing with the Polyrhythms Fish Dinner Fundraiser.
Cultural-heritage exhibits and displays will also be on site throughout the three days of the fest, admission is free all weekend, and more information on Polyrhythms' 11th-Annual Bill Bell Jazz & Heritage Festival is available by visiting Polyrhythms.org.
