Prince-Rodgers Grateful Jazz Premiere at Chestertown Jazz Festival 2024

August 5, 2024

Prince-Rodgers Grateful Jazz, featuring Prairie Prince, Bobby Lee Rodgers, and Ella Rodgers, blend rhythmic and improvisational traditions of jazz with the music of the Grateful Dead. They debut at the Chestertown Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 7, 2024.

Bobby Lee Rodgers, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, has a background in many musical styles including jazz. He was a young instructor of Jazz Studies at Berklee College of Music, and he enjoys fusing jazz with rock, funk, and blues as well as performing with tribute bands: (All You Need is Love – The Beatles; Jazz is Dead with Steve Kimock; and others.) He is known for his unique interpretations of musical greats such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Wes Montgomery.

Bobby Lee’s latest musical endeavor is a collaboration with his 17-year-old daughter Ella Rodgers, incorporating her exploration of her favorite musical styles of the singers and musicians of ragtime, boogie-woogie, and hot jazz of an earlier era.

Prairie Prince also has a foundation in jazz, counting Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich as his earliest drum influencers, from enjoying listening to his sisters’ record collection of the 1950’s jazz giants. Known for his powerful drumming in the rock-world (The Tubes, Journey, Todd Rundgren, Phil Lesh, XTC) Prairie is looking forward to this collaboration with Bobby Lee and Ella Rodgers to develop a unique jazz sound.

The 28th Chestertown Jazz Festival will be held September 6-7, 2024 in Chestertown, MD. more