Music festival to raise scholarship funds for jazz students

Created by Les DeMerle and his wife Bonnie Eisele, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival started as a way to keep the jazz vibes flowing after making the island their home. It has expanded into a scholarship program where a student is offered a scholarship to pursue his or her jazz dreams in college and beyond. The event is a full week of activities that incorporate youth, all styles of jazz, education and more. Rance made a short trek up to the Island to meet with Les and find out about this year's festivities.

Created by Les DeMerle and his wife Bonnie Eisele, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival started as a way to keep the jazz vibes flowing after making the island their home. It has expanded into a scholarship program where a student is offered a scholarship to pursue his or her jazz dreams in college and beyond. The event is a full week of activities that incorporate youth, all styles of jazz, education and more. Rance made a short trek up to the Island to meet with Les and find out about this year's festivities.

The Mission of the Amelia Island Jazz Festival: As a not for profit 501(c)(3) corporation, the Les DeMerle Amelia Island Jazz Festival distributes proceeds toward a scholarship program to fund college educations for aspiring jazz musicians and works to provide a rich, diverse jazz offering to the Amelia Island area.

The Amelia Island Jazz Festival returns to celebrate 20 years of continuing jazz music support for high school students heading to college.

Les DeMerle and Bonnie Eisele launched the Amelia Island Jazz Festival some years ago as a way to give back to the music they love. The festival raises money for scholarships offered to high school jazz musicians seeking to continue their education in college. The weeklong music festival focuses on a number of activities to promote jazz and keep it alive for years to come. Rance rolled up to meet the couple and this year’s scholarship recipient to get an inside scoop on the week’s activities.

When the seasons changes to fall, locals know the Amelia Island Jazz Festival is on deck. Les DeMerle and Bonnie Eisle launched the festival 18 years ago as the principal fundraiser for their scholarship fund which supports students studying Jazz music. The festival starts Oct. 3rd and runs until the 10th with events happening daily. Friday features Ken Peplowski as the headliner with Steve March-Torme manning the stage Saturday night. There are post show jam sessions with young musicians and professionals each of those nights as cappers. Rance will be hosting those nights and he spoke with Les about this year’s event and what people can expect.