Festival Features Fantastic Jazz and Fall Foliage
at Central Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks

LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MO. -- Fall has arrived at the Lake of the Ozarks, bringing with it gorgeous colors and great jazz music at the Lake Ozark Annual Dixieland Jazz Festival, Oct. 28-31 at the Country Club Hotel & Spa. The
festival attracts hundreds of jazz fans from across the country to central Missouri for four days and nights of jazz performed by nationally known musicians and bands.

"The beautiful fall colors, cooler temperatures and smaller crowds make this a delightful time of year to visit the Lake and hear some world-class Dixieland jazz," says event organizer and renowned clarinetist Lynn Zimmer, who also performs at the festival with his group, Lynn Zimmer and The Jazz Band.

A native of Kansas City, Zimmer has shared the stage with numerous jazz greats, including the famed swing-era bandleader Clyde McCoy, West Coast jazz institution Turk Murphy, Grammy award-winning trumpeter Al Hirt and New Orleans legend Pete Fountain. The rest of the year, Lynn Zimmer and The Jazz Band are onstage every Wednesday through Saturday at the Country Club Hotel's popular Bourbon Street Grill.

Joining the Zimmer group at this year's jazz festival will be two special guests: Bob Havens, the featured trombonist on "The Lawrence Welk Show" for more than 20 years, and renowned cornetist Connie Jones who has performed with
the Pete Fountain, Jack Teagarden and Dukes of Dixieland bands among others.

Three other top jazz bands will perform at the Dixieland Jazz Festival:
Banu Gibson & The New Orleans Hot Jazz will make their first-time appearance at the festival. Gibson is an acclaimed jazz singer who focuses on the songs of the 1920s, '30s and '40s, mixing fresh renditions of standards with
crowd-pleasing novelties. Backed by a group of superb New Orleans musicians, she annually appears at hundreds of jazz festivals in the U.S. and abroad.

The West End Jazz Band specializes in dance music from the 1920s and '30s, the Golden Age of Jazz in America, through authentic arrangements and vocals. The six-piece group is based in Chicago and led by cornetist Mike Bezin.

Back by popular demand, Jean Kittrell & The St. Louis Rivermen will please the crowds with their repertoire of classic jazz, Dixieland standards, blues, barrelhouse, ragtime and swing. Dr. Kittrell (she holds a Ph.D. in Modern
British literature) and her six-piece band are St. Louis-area jazz favorites and regularly tour the U.S. and Europe.

The bands will perform in morning, afternoon and evening sessions at the Country Club Hotel & Spa. Ticket prices will be $29 for a morning/afternoon or evening session any day except Thursday, when evening-session tickets will be $10. The "All That Jazz" four-day pass is $120, or $105 for visitors who also book a room at the Country Club Hotel.

Stay Sunday night, Oct. 30, for only $59 and enjoy Lynn Zimmer and The Jazz Band with special guests Connie Jones and Bob Havens in the Hotel's Bourbon Street Grill with no cover charge. Hotel package rates for the Jazz Festival
are available. Other Lake area hotels also have rooms available for festival guests. For tickets or information on festival/Country Club Hotel packages call 800-964-6698. The Country Club Hotel & Spa is located in Lake Ozark on
Carol Road, just off Route HH (Horseshoe Bend Parkway).

The Lake area offers a variety of other festivals and musical events year-round. For more information on activities, dining and lodging at the Lake of the Ozarks, call 800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitor Bureau's web site at www.funlake.com.

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