Friday 8/01/2025
NAJEE
tickets available
FEB 7th 2025
Saturday 08/3/2025
​Brian Culberson
tickets available
FEB 7th 2025
Artist Biographies
BRIAN CULBERTSON
Over the course of crafting a 25-album catalog and architecting nearly 40 Billboard No. 1 singles as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer, Brian Culbertson has charted his own unique course in music. Label him jazz and he makes a funk record. Call him an R&B artist and he drops an acoustic jazz trio collection. Brand him pop and he creates a 32-minute New Age opus. And you’d be hard pressed to name another instrumentalist of his ilk who can mount an elaborately designed concert production that will keep him on the road for three consecutive months. Culbertson burst onto the scene in 1994 with a chart-topping album that he recorded in his college apartment featuring keyboard-led contemporary jazz tracks. “Long Night Out” landed him a lengthy record deal and signaled that a star was born. Flash forward to present day, Culbertson composed thirty songs that populate the three albums in “The Trilogy” that describes the three-part arc of a long-term relationship: the hot and steamy “falling in love” phase, the rocky middle when perhaps they even break up for a bit, and the couple reunites to live “happily ever after” phase. “Hearing the three albums in a row provides the context. All the songs on ‘Red’ (October 2021) were clearly about passion and love. ‘Blue’ (January 2022) is melancholy and sad songs, breakup songs and ‘losing people’ songs. Once you get to part three, ‘White’ (May 2022) is all about songs that have an uplifting feel to them. Stylistically, they all feel similar even though they are emotionally broad” said Culbertson.
NAJEE
NAJEE'S STORY
The Billboard #1 Artist’s New CD is a Pan-American Journey Traversing The US & Brazil Featuring An All-Star Line-Up with Alyson Williams, Frank McComb, Chris “Big Dog” Davis, Barry Eastmond, Robert Herbert & Adam Hawley among others.
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“My life has been a series of pivotal events and circumstances that have gotten me to where I am,” reflects the fearless chart-topping Contemporary Jazz pioneer Najee. In a business where trends and artists come and go, the genre-bending saxophonist’s staying power is a rare blessing. The Grammy and NAACP award-winning musician’s genuine love for connecting with people, coupled with his consummate musicianship and sheer passion for music, has made him one of the brightest stars in Contemporary Jazz for close to four decades. “I heard this beautiful saying once,” explains the Zen saxophonist who has collaborated with Prince, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, and Herbie Hancock, among others. “It said that some people meet their destiny while traveling on a road trying to avoid it. I recall as a young man contemplating the idea of changing directions and going into banking. Here I am still doing what I am doing because it’s what I am meant to do! Every day I wake up and I am grateful for my life and career.” Najee’s gratitude permeates every note on Savoir Faire, his newest recording out on Shanachie Entertainment on May 13, 2022. Recorded during the pandemic, Savoir Faire, a Pan-American excursion, found Najee enlisting friends from New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Connecticut, Florida, Sao Paulo, and Rio, to honor a melting pot of influences. “I gave up worrying about disputes between genres a long time ago,” states Najee. “Duke Ellington said there are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music. So based on that I do not worry. People seem to forget that in the early days of jazz, the music was designed to make people dance. All of your experiences live inside you and they come out in your music. I just want to make good music and make it accessible for people to enjoy.” Fait Accompli on Savoir Faire!
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ABOUT
The Louisville Jazz Fest is an annual event that brings together jazz lovers from all over the world. Our mission is to celebrate the rich history and culture of jazz music, while also providing a platform for emerging artists to showcase their talents.
EXPERIENCE
The Louisville jazz festival is in a modern comfortable outdoor covered event park with a rich sound and soothing environment guaranteed to engulf the senses of all in attendance
LOCATION
Iroquois Amphitheater
1080 ampitheater Road
Louisville, KY 40214
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