by Mike Zielinski

The Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest as presented by Berks Arts Council is a truly unique 10-day festival featuring numerous venues, large and small, and a marvelous medley of gen-res encompassing contemporary jazz, straight-ahead jazz, blues, gospel and more.

Rick Braun

Rick Braun. Photo courtesy of the Berks Arts Council

There are approximately 50 marquee ticketed concerts a year at eight major venues and there also are numerous non-ticketed events at bars and restaurants throughout Berks County.

A festival of such dimension requires remarkable synchronization by general manager John Ernesto, Arts Council staffers and a hearty army of approximately 400 volunteers – with sponsorships and community partnerships as the support beams.

The Jazz Fest’s total economic impact (dining, hospitality and other activities) in Berks County is over $5 million a year, with nearly 90 percent of that revenue coming from attendees who live outside Berks County.

Boney James. Photo courtesy of the Berks Arts Council

Boney James. Photo courtesy of the Berks Arts Council

Approximately 35,000 people attend the festival every year, more than 70 percent of which are from outside Berks and with 44 percent traveling two hours or more and someeven coming from Europe.

The Jazz Fest, staging its 26th annual event April 1-10, 2016, is a magnet for music lovers. Fans flock to the festi-val because the venues are intimate and the artists are quite accessible. Musicians in turn return to the festival be-cause the fans are knowledgeable and appreciative of the music.

“One of the most gratifying things for me is that people en-joy coming here and they come every year,” said Ernesto. “The lineup means something, but a lot of people want to come no matter who’s here.”

Festival headliners over the past quarter century have in-cluded Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Mar-salis, Modern Jazz Quartet, Betty Carter, Shirley Horn, Cassandra Wilson, Count Basie Orchestra, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones with special guest Bruce Horns-by, Grover Washington Jr., David Sanborn, Joe Sample and Lalah Hathaway, Al Jarreau, Patti Austin, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, George Benson, The Manhattan Transfer, Ramsey Lewis and David Benoit with Reading Pops Orchestra, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Nancy Wilson, Joe Bonamassa, Chick Corea and Gregory Porter.