Carson City Music Festival ‘Jazz & Beyond’ is back for its 20th year with 24 free concerts in August | Carson City Nevada News

Carson City’s 20th annual Jazz & Beyond Music Festival, presented by the Mile High Jazz Band Association, offers 11 days of free entertainment and more than two dozen performances.

Two or more concerts will be held each day in multiple venues around the city, beginning with the festival opener on Friday, Aug. 11, from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Governor’s Mansion, on the corner of W. Robinson and Mountain Streets. It features the Andean music of Kantu Inka followed by the 17-piece big band, the Reno Jazz Orchestra, with special guest entertainer, David Hayes. Gates open at 4:00 p.m. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Seating is limited; attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

A favorite of Jazz & Beyond concertgoers is The Red Tango string quintet performance at the Brewery Arts Center Grand Ballroom on Saturday, Aug. 12, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. This year, tango dancers Victoria Randlett and T.S. “Zak” Brown (VZ Tango) will also be there to teach, demonstrate dance steps, and perform.

Visitors can spend an afternoon at the historic Silver Saddle Ranch, 2648 Carson River Road, along the Carson River, on Sunday, Aug. 13, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. They can wear their boots and hats and enjoy the music of Doug Sandall and Dale Poune, Cowboy Poetry by Larry Marinel and Johanna Foster, and then more music by the Sagebrush Rebels country band. Mule-drawn wagon rides by Hee Haw Haven Mules will provide tours through the ranchland. Food, ice cream and beverages will be available for purchase. Some hay-bale seating is available; audience may bring lawn chairs. This annual event is sponsored in part by the Carson City Parks, Recreation & Open Space Department; Friends of Silver Saddle Ranch; and the Great Basin Consulting Group.

Jazz & Beyond Music Festival’s final performances will be on Monday, Aug. 21. This date is the 119th anniversary of the birth of the great band-leader, William “Count” Basie. The audience is invited to listen to the music of Tom Stryker’s Impromptu at 5:00 p.m. in Comma Courtyard, followed by a Basie tribute concert at 7:00 p.m., just around the corner on the Bob McFadden Plaza Stage, by the Mile High Jazz Band with vocalists Jakki Ford and June Joplin. The audience is asked to bring lawn chairs to the latter performance.

Other performances — all of them free — include Niall McGuinness and the New World Jazz Project, Cherie Shipley’s “Take This” band, the Reno Video Game Symphony Jazz Ensemble, RoseBud’s Dance Band, CeCe Gable Quintet, Cruz Control featuring Whitney Myer and lots more. For a complete schedule of events, visit jazzcarsoncity.com. For additional information, call 775-883-4154 or email info@jazzcarsoncity.com.

Mile High Jazz Band Association’s Jazz & Beyond Festival is funded in part by grants from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Carson City Cultural Commission, Travel Nevada, the Carson City Downtown Business Association and by private donations.