Jefferson City's High Street will be alive with the sound of Jazz music.
The Capital Jazzfest and Capital Street Art Fair runs from noon to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 and features live jazz music and chalk art downtown.
The chalk art, for all ages, begins at noon.
"We set up squares on the street and people can register, amateur and professional artists, to draw with chalk," said Vicki Meyers, treasurer of the Capital Arts board of directors. "There are categories and they compete in those categories."
Participants are given a four-by-six-foot square in which Meyers said they can draw anything they want. Cash prizes are awarded to winners.
Dawn Weber and the Electro Funk Assembly kick off the music portion of the event at 1:30 p.m. The band is based in St. Louis and performs "original music in the styles of live House Music, Drum and Base, Trip Hop, Hip Hop, and other electronic styles."
A University of Missouri Faculty Jazz Combo will perform at 2:50 p.m. The combo includes several professors and adjunct faculty.
Following the Jazz Combo, the James Ward Band Featuring Bukeka will perform at 4:15 p.m. Jam Magazine described the band's music as having "deep melodicism and sophisticated grooves mark(ing) it as an amalgamate between funk and jazz."
La Movida - a band with a fusion of Latin, Spanish Flamenco, modern rock and world music - will perform at 5:40 p.m.
Green's Blues Band will finish the evening at 7 p.m. The band's mission is "exploring and expanding the "roots' of American music."
"We do a lot of harmonies," said Ben Green, leader of the band. "We've got a '50s rock sound with a Gospel blues twist.
"Our drummer has played with a lot of different people, so he has that real rock feel."
Jazzfest is free and is hosted by the Jazz Forward Initiative and Capital Arts. Jazz Forward Initiative is a nonprofit whose mission "is to provide the citizens of Mid-Missouri with the opportunity to see and hear excellent live performances of this uniquely American art form in a safe, comfortable setting, by presenting the best locally based, regional and national jazz and blues musicians Missouri and the world has to offer to expand their understanding and appreciation of the art form." Capital Arts is an art gallery that hosts exhibitions, art programs and classes, while "advocating for the cultural enrichment of all residents of Jefferson City through a diversity of offerings."
Jeff Bassinson, a volunteer with Jazzfest and the Jazz Forward Initiative, said event organizers are hoping for 2,000 attendees this year.
He said there will be $2 wristbands for beer, as well as a kettle corn stand. Downtown restaurants will also be open throughout the event.
"We want this to be a free, family-friendly activity," Bassinson said. "Our numbers have slowly increased until we outgrew Memorial Park a few years ago."
If you would like more information about Jazzfest, visit www.capjazz.org.
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