Giacomo Gates at the mike. (Courtesy of M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest)
Executive director and founder Frank Malfitano has announced that Giacomo Gates will sing at 5 p.m. on July 5. On Sunday, Malfitano revealed that Manhattan Transfer vocalist Cheryl Bentine will team with lyricist, vocalist and hipster Mark Winkler at 5 p.m. July Fourth, the first day of the three-day, free-admission festival at Jamesville Beach Park. The duo will be backed by standout Central New York’s Rick Montalbano Trio.
Previously announced headliners are The Doobie Brothers on the Fourth, The Grandmothers of Invention on July 5 and Taylor Dayne on July 6.
The lineup for the 31st edition of the fest is now complete.
You can find the full schedule, including workshops and clinics by national musicians, on the fest site.
Gates performs in the fast and hip style called vocalese, where notes and sounds are as important as words.
Gates is also known as an educator; he teaches at Weslyan (Conn.) University and Southern Connecticut State University.
His current album, “Miles Tones: Giacomo Gates Sings the Music of Miles Davis,” has been No. 1 on the National Jazz Radio chart the last four weeks. His previous collection, performing songs from a Syracuse fest favorite, the late Gil-Scott Heron, also went to No. 1 in those ratings.
The annual Downbeat poll has labeled Gates as a “talent deserving wider recognition” the past several years.
Mark Bialczak 
Hi Mark, Green lakes is cookin, but my wedge needs some work, but hey that is what May is for or is it fore !!My new band “The Merry Pranksters” is playing this saturday night at the Westcott Community Center. This band is a riot a rather big riot actually.It is an 8 piece muical buffet for sure.I have: Big D- (Dave Schneider) on guitars and VocalsMark Gibson on guitar and vocals, he is a great soulful singerSharon Allen-vocalsGeorge Newton-pedal Steel Dave Liddy-Piano extraordinairre Wayne Stevens-Drums and vocalsMike Ranger-BassSkip Murphy-Harmonicas and humorous vocals Our first gig was at the Westcott Festival and it was so much fun we decided to continue the buzz.We played at Shiftys last winter and packed the place again we had a blastSo, being the neighborhood kind of guy you are, I thought that you might like this gig The show starts at 7:30 with Michael Miller singer songwriter o[ening the show. Michael was one of the founding members of my old band ‘Out of the Blue”We hit at around 8.We have a mantra in this new collective to play tunes that we always wanted to play but never really had the chance to play before. All of these musicians play regularly in other bands. We want to play every three months or so, and so far it has been a hoot. Our poster tells it all. I hope that all is well with you and that golf keeps you young or at least profane.Skip Murphy315 530 8780 Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 13:01:27 +0000 To: fivemurphs@hotmail.com
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