NEWSLETTER
The legendary blues guitarist returns to RIJF for the first time since 2009!
Tickets on sale Friday, February 16 at 10 AM
Rochester, NY (February 13, 2024) –The CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival is proud to present legendary blues guitarist, Taj Mahal, on the Festival's opening night Friday, June 21, at 8 a.m. at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. The Festival's 21st Edition will be held June 21 to 29 at 20 indoor and outdoor venues in downtown Rochester, New York.
Tickets for Taj Mahal are $93/$83/$63/$43 plus service charges and go on sale Friday, February 16 at 10 a.m. only at RochesterJazz.com/tickets or by calling (585) 454-2060.
Taj Mahal last played at RIJF in June 2009. He was also scheduled to play at the festival in 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festival was not held.
Taj Mahal joins other already announced headliners, Lee Ritenour Band with Special Guests Randy Brecker and Bill Evans, Samara Joy, and Laufey. Headliner tickets and Club Pass tickets are available at RochesterJazz.com. The Laufey show is sold out.
The full lineup will be announced Tuesday, March 19.
About Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal doesn’t wait for permission. If a sound intrigues him, he sets out to make it. If origins mystify him, he moves to trace them. If rules get in his way, he unapologetically breaks them. To Taj, convention means nothing, but traditions are holy. He has pushed music and culture forward, all while looking lovingly back. “I just want to be able to make the music that I’m hearing come to me -- and that’s what I did,” says the 76-year-old. “When I say, ‘I did,’ I’m not coming from the ego. The music comes from somewhere. You’re just the conduit it comes through. You’re there to receive the gift.” Taj is a towering musical figure -- a legend who transcended the blues not by leaving them behind, but by revealing their magnificent scope to the world. “The blues is bigger than most people think,” he says. “You could hear Mozart play the blues. It might be more like a lament. It might be more melancholy. But I’m going to tell you: the blues is in there.” Read more
###
MEDIA CONTACT
(585) 729-7533