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Dune Climb

Sunday, July 11, 2010 7:00 PM

Jeremy Kittel Band - Jazz/Fiddle/World

National award winning violinist/fiddler Jeremy Kittel and his band will perform a fiery blend of jazz, Celtic fiddling, and sultry world grooves. Jeremy has performed at festivals and concerts across the country including the Kennedy Center, Prairie Home Companion, Detroit International Jazz Festival, and Milwaukee Irish Fest.

A beautiful summer's evening at the foot of the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb, families enjoy their pre-concert picnics and then a musical program provided by artists of national stature: this is the magical mixture which has filled us with warm memories every year since the first Dune Climb concert in 1998. This year's event is again our free gift to the community thanks to our generous sponsors, volunteers, and support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and NorthSky Nonprofit Network. Bring chairs, blankets, and everyone you know. Folding chairs are also provided in front of the stage.

If you should run into Jeremy Kittel somewhere on this planet, ask him any question except "What's your favorite style of music?" It's not that he'll be so offended as to reprimand you with his violin bow — on the contrary. As anyone who has seen him in concert can attest, his talent is matched by a kind of confident good nature that once spurred the Ann Arbor News to write, "If he didn't come across as so nice, he'd be a little scary." It's just that Kittel, as someone who is truly steeped in a few very different musical traditions, has heard that question before … many times before, and it's easy to understand why. When a musician is as likely to be found playing a ferocious set of reels in some dark pub in Ireland as he is likely to be found trading licks with a saxophonist at a hip New York City jazz club — and he is occasionally even seen doing such apparently odd-ball things as exploring Indian classical music on stage at Carnegie Hall — one starts to wonder … what is it that drives him?

Whatever the source of his inspiration may be, it has led to a dizzying heap of accomplishments and opportunities, one of which is his recent inclusion as a full-time member of the Grammy award-winning Turtle Island Quartet. Just prior to joining Turtle Island Quartet, Kittel was earning his masters degree in jazz performance at the Manhattan School of Music and skipping town on weekends to perform across the country alongside fiddle legends Mark O'Connor and Darol Anger. He's won multiple U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championships, a total of six Detroit Music Awards for both folk and jazz, and has released three highly acclaimed solo CDs. Upon graduating at age twenty from the University of Michigan Music School, he was awarded the Stanley Medal, their highest honor. And then there's his extensive performance history: venues such as the Kennedy Center, Milwaukee Irish Fest, Detroit Jazz Festival, and "A Prairie Home Companion" as a band leader, and the Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic as featured orchestral soloist. Impressive, perhaps, but it does little to shed light on the source of his inspiration.