Planet Earth at TD Toronto Jazz Festival at Shops at Don Mills June 30, 2012

For the third consecutive year, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival brings the pre-eminent sound of the city to the prestigious Shops at Don Mills (1090 Don Mills Road at Lawrence Ave. East) in the Town Square for a series of FREE concerts from June 22-July 1. For additional information, please visit www.shopsatdonmills.ca or www.torontojazz.com or call 416-447-0618.

Open air concerts are the epitome of summer and what better place to soak it all in than at the Shops at Don Mills, where fashion, dining and entertainment come outside to play. The Town Square, nestled in the heart of the shopping centre, will provide daily entertainment including Planet Earth on Saturday, June 30 at 8:00pm.

Touted as one of the vanguards of funk revival, Planet Earth have been playing the Toronto club scene since 1999 and now boast three releases of original material out on the band-owned label Sleeping Eddie Music. In recent years, Planet Earth have made appearances as an opening act for Maceo Parker, K-OS, Maestro, and Joey DeFrancesco. Three sold-out Soul in the City concerts, Toronto International Film festival cast parties (1998 and 1999) at Skydome for Dreamworks, Beaches jazz festival appearances (1998-2004), charity events, and a six year running Thursday night slot at famed Toronto nightclub The Orbit Room. Now as an eight piece band, Planet Earth hires the elite of Toronto's music scene to flesh out their signature sound on stage and in the studio. Appearing on saxophone: John Johnson, Shawn Nykwist, Chris Mitchell, Vern Dorge, Perry White and Steven Kennedy; on trombone: Gord Myers, Russ Little, & Steve Donald; guitarists Jake Langley, Arvil Wray, John Tilden, Kevin Breit, Donna Grantis, and Dan Nordermeer; members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, along with special appearances by Alex Lifeson, Lee Oskar, Holly Cole, Jackie Richardson, Doug Riley, Kevin Turcotte, Guido Basso, and others. Ron Littlejohn is a self-trained vocalist who began singing at the age of three to old 45's. His eclectic taste in music has added considerably to that collection over the years, immersing himself in gospel, R&B, soul music and funk. Littlejohn dresses, moves and grooves in the funk style.

One of North America’s premier jazz festivals, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival attracts over 500,000 loyal patrons and features more than 350 performances with over 1,500 musicians performing at approximately 40 locations around Toronto.