Al Green to headline troubled jazz festival

Rev. Al Green, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy lifetime achievement award winner, will anchor this year’s Indy Jazz Fest, organizers will announce tonight at a party at the Jazz Kitchen in Broad Ripple.

The Ninth Annual Indy Jazz Fest’s lineup, scheduled June 15-17 at Military Park downtown, also includes Béla Fleck, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner Trio, Regina Carter, Hiromi, Somi and Spyro Gyra.

Others include James Hunter, DIVA with Nnenna Freelon and Rachel Price, Monk Legacy Septet, ORI, Mike Milligan and Steam Shovel, Monika Herzig & A Tribute to Women in Jazz, Frank Smith and the Buselli Wallarab Jazz Orchestra.

This year’s festival is being produced by the American Pianists Association, which took over the struggling program in 2003. Last year attendance hit a record low of 14,500 despite a lineup that included The Neville Brothers, Herbie Hancock, Bonnie Raitt and Dr. John.

Backers blamed the dip on bad weather–the three-day festival was hit with a mixture of high temperatures and humidity levels and rain.