The Origins of Edgefest
Dave Lynch was director of the first Edgefest in 1997. In a recent conversation we talked about the origins of the festival.
Dave’s first foray into presenting music was in 1996 when he and two other Ann Arborites, Jules Ryan and Damon Stanek, brought Tim Berne’s Bloodcount to Ann Arbor to play at the Heidelberg. Dave and his friends were attending festivals of edgy music in New York and Quebec around this time and were bemoaning the fact that little of this music was being presented in Ann Arbor. Dave and Jules also drove the Dave Douglas String Group from Columbus to the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival being held at Gallup Park that same year.
Given her own interest in the Douglas ensemble, Deanna Relyea from Kerrytown Concert House was also at Gallup Park, and a conversation ensued about presenting adventurous music of this sort at KCH and the Jazz at the Edge series was begun.
Roscoe Mitchell and Myra Melford were the first to perform in the Edge series and as planning for the 1997 season progressed a puzzle presented itself: it seemed several groups were able to come, but all on the same date. A festival seemed the obvious solution and a one-day Edgefest was scheduled for Saturday, November 8 of that year, featuring three touring groups (Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio, Charlie Kolhase’s Quintet, and Rova), plus several local acts (like Transmission and the Andrew Bishop group).
And that is how Edgefest was born.