Ben Tankard is the best selling gospel/jazz musician of all time and he will bring his talents along with his humor and “BENspirations” to Linn Park in Birmingham, AL for the 2016 Steel City Jazzfest on June 2-4. The 3-day outdoor event will feature some of nation’s top musical acts including: Morris Day and The Time, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Boney James, and more.
JazzFest producer CEDRIC ALLEN says, “Having BEN TANKARD as a headliner on our show last year put this festival OVER THE TOP. Not only is he an awesome performer and considered the ‘Godfather of GospelJazz,’ but he is also the star of the top family reality TV on Bravo/ NBC network –THICKER THAN WATER: THE TANKARDS. He draws TV fans to the event that are not jazz music fans. His TV presence gives the festival further credibility with our sponsors. He is a very motivational and inspiring “fan favorite” and his stage performance was so good last year that we booked him for this year’s event BEFORE he even left the stage“. More then 20,000 are expected to attend this year’s event.
Tankard is having a Stellar year (pun intended), in that he just picked up his 15th Stellar Award for Instrumental CD Of The Year for his Full Tank 2.0 release. The Stellar Award is the highest awarded honor is gospel music. In addition to over 100 gospel concerts scheduled on his Full Tank Tour, The 6’6″ tall keyboardist is lighting up the stage for some of the nation’s stop Jazz festivals which have included : Seabreeze Jazzfest, Catalina Island Jazzfest, and Jazzy88 Jazzfest. Pretty good for an ex-pro basketball player who was injured then cut and started a new music career (but has never had piano lessons!). In addition to his music success, Tankard’s hit family reality show is now airing in it’s 3rd season and he is about to embark on a 6 month book tour for his new hardback book “The Full Tank Life”, which releases late summer on Hachette Books (Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer).
For family action you can catch Ben Tankard every Sunday night on Bravo for Thicker Than Water:The Tankards, but if you want to dance in the park and see the jazz master rock the the stage with his band, you need to grab your lawn chair and join 20,000 other folks at Linn Park, Birmingham,AL June 2-4, 2016.
You won’t be sorry.
Web sourced : Reality TV Watch
Steelcityjazzfestbham.com
bentankard.org
bravotv.com
hachettebookgroup.com