Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to headline Yosemite International Jazz Festival

Jarrod Lyman
Director of Media
Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau
(559) 683-4636

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to headline first night of festival

Oakhurst, CA. – The popular group Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will headline the first night of the inaugural Yosemite International Jazz Festival Friday, Oct. 28.

The group will take the stage in the Half Dome Event Center following Karen Marguth and Greg Addams.

“We are so excited to have Big Bad Voodoo Daddy headlining the first night of this new signature event for Oakhurst,” said Kathy McCorry with the Oakhurst Area Chamber of Commerce which is putting on the two-day concert.

“They’re energy is really going to get this concert off to a great start. They always put on a good show, and we know they will really bring in the fans,” said McCorry.

Since their arrival on the music scene in 1993 in a legendary residency at Los Angeles’ Brown

Derby nightclub, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s irresistible live show and aggressive, musically perceptive approach has proven them over time to be the singular standout among the numerous bands that launched the Nineties swing revival. The seven-man group forged a massively successful fusion of classic American sounds from jazz, swing, Dixieland and big-band music, building their own songbook of original dance tunes, and, sixteen years later, BBVD is a veteran force that to this day adds new fans by the roomful every time they play.

BBVD’s originals rocketed the group into its first phase of stardom, when “You & Me and the

Bottle Makes Three (Tonight)” and “Go Daddy-O” were featured in the 1996 indie film landmark Swingers. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, named famously after an autograph by blues legend Albert Collins, sold more than two million copies of the albums Americana Deluxe and This Beautiful Life, and received national critical acclaim while the band’s music has appeared in over sixty movies and television shows. With their 2003 New Orleans-inspired album Save My Soul, BBVD began playing in theaters and performing arts centers, selling out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, Chastain Park and Constitution Hall, just to name a few. They have appeared as special guests with the great symphony and pops orchestras of the nation, including their first symphony show with the US Air Force Orchestra.

The band’s career milestones have included appearances in the Super Bowl half-time show, writing theme music for ESPN and network television, and performing for three American presidents. They have appeared numerous times on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brian and Live with Regis & Kelly, and wrote, performed and recorded the current theme song for the Carson Daly show after appearing multiple times as the show’s house band.

And now, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s songs have passed into the classic American songbook,

playing alongside pop standard songs in film and television, and even on reality competitions like Dancing With the Stars.

Saturday’s acts include Dana Abbott, Rich Severson and Alize Lui in the afternoon, and Tim and Myles Thompson, Richard Elliot and Spyro Gyra Saturday evening.

For more on the Yosemite International Jazz Festival or to purchase tickets, visit www.yijazz.com.

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