It’s fall: Jazz and blues are in the air

Celebrating its 11th year, The Arts Council of York County’s Blues & Jazz Festival kicks off Thursday in Fort Mill’s Baxter Village with the Dante Lewis Duo and continues through Oct. 2 with a restaurant crawl in Old Town Rock Hill.

Nine of the area’s restaurants, pubs and other venues open their doors to blues and jazz musicians, some of whom are veterans to the festival and others brand new to the festival scene. A few of this year’s performers are The Leslie Richardson Trio, 77th Street Revue and Thel Petty. The Blues & Jazz Festival is produced by Bobby Plair Jr.

Tickets for the restaurant crawl are $10 and can be purchased at the door on Oct. 2. Tickets purchased in advance or online must be exchanged for an event wristband at a ticket booth along Main Street on the night of the crawl. The event wristband gives access to all participating venues.

For information or tickets, call 328-2787, email arts@yorkcountyarts.org, or go to www.yorkcountyarts.org.

The 11th Annual Blues & Jazz Festival

Kickoff

7-10 p.m. Thursday at Springmaide Park in Baxter Village, featuring the Dante Lewis Duo. Bring a picnic, blanket or lawn chair. You can enjoy the music from the patios of the Fish Market, grapevine Wine Shop/Wine Bar, or Six Pence Pub. Free.

Old Town Restaurant Crawl

7-11 p.m. Oct. 2 in downtown Rock Hill. Tickets, $ 10

Venues:

McHale’s Irish Pub features Plair, led by B.S. Plair, a former public school music instructor who spent more than 30 years in teaching and performing. Plair is a family affair. Bobby Jr. began performing with his dad at the age of 10 playing trumpet, and son Victor joined the group at about age 9 playing trombone. Vocalist Wade Witherspoon completes the group. Willie “The Blues Man” Roach will be performing with Plair.

City Club of Rock Hill hosts the Leslie Richardson Trio, whose signature clear and sultry tones, expansive range, and expressive delivery defy categorization.

At Five & Dine you’ll find Thel Petty. Self-taught as a teenager, Petty played rock and R&B in the late 1970s and 80s. His musical interests soon turned to jazz where in high school he was the guitarist for the school jazz band as well as other R&B and funk bands.

Jimmy John’s will feature Take Two, led by saxophonist Brian Hipp.

Amélie’s Uncorked will host Dante Lewis, a powerful saxophonist from Columbia. He has been featured in the Columbia Metropolitan Magazine, the Rowan Arts Festival and several other large charitable events.

Millstone Pizza + Taphouse features 77th Street Revue, formerly known as All Out Acoustic. The band’s members include Matt Sztyber on guitar, Dan Lawlor on drums, John Shaughnessy on bass, and Mike Huffman on the organ. Each member does his part on vocals to complete this harmonious band and bring upscale, low-volume entertainment.

At The Flipside Restaurant, you’ll hear the Colby Dobbs Band, a group that takes the modern and twists it with its own sounds, according to the band.

The Courtroom at the Gettys Art Center will feature Weekends with opening act, Bristo Blue. Weekends brings its high energy style of blues influenced rock ’n’ roll.

Thi’s Place on Main hosts the Marc Hoffman Trio. After being a composer and performer of many other talents and genres, Hoffman started pursuing jazz. He comes to Rock Hill to perform with a collection of over 80 years of musical decades known to him.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "It’s fall: Jazz and blues are in the air."