Aug 1, 2023 1:22 PM
Blindfold Test: Joey Baron
At 68, Joey Baron has been a lifelong connoisseur of the nuances of groove and melody-oriented drumming. Over his…
Galactic will headline the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival.
(Photo: Courtesy of Galactic)The jazz festival season for 2021 has certainly been a moving target, mostly for the good. With a host of late-breaking news and artist additions, there’s plenty to get excited about for lovers of live, improvised music. Here’s news from a few major festivals around the globe.
Out on the West Coast, the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2021, Aug. 13–15, recently announced Common will join a lineup of jazz, hip-hop and r&b stars that includes Goapele, James Francies, Kancace Springs, Christian Sands, the Helen Sung Quartet, the Jamie Baum Septet+ and more.
Jazzaldia’s 56th festival, July 21–25 in Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain, announced that it will honor Cuban jazz legend Chucho Valdés with the festival’s Donostiako Jazzaldia Award nearly two decades after his father, Bebo, received the award. In addition, La Locomotora Negra, one of Spain’s longest-running jazz ensembles, will also receive the Donostiako Jazzaldia Award. The band has decided to offer its final performance at the festival this year.
The Newport Jazz Festival is gearing up to go live July 30–Aug. 1 with a killer lineup. Recently, the fest announced that Kamasi Washington will replace Wynton Marsalis, who had to withdraw for personal reasons, on the July 30 lineup, joining the wildly popular Khruangbin, Robert Glasper, A Christian McBride Situation, the Arturo O’Farrill Quintet and Catherine Russell. A few choice hits from the rest of the weekend include Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, Chris Potter Circuits Trio, Charles Lloyd, Immanuel Wilkins and more.
In Belgium, Jazz Middelheim is adding to its lineup for the Aug. 13–16 event. The last day of the fest will feature the Joe Lovano Trio, Philip Catherine “Two Pianos” and bassist Avishai Cohen on the main stage.
Aug. 16–22, the 41st annual International Jazzfestival Saalfelden will relaunch in the Austrian Alps with some 60 concerts including Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, the duo Courvoisier/Davis, Avram Fever, Craig Taborn and more.
The DC JazzFest continues to add to it’s lineup for Sept. 4–5 of the Labor Day weekend with a closing dance party hosted by rapper and DJ D-Nice. For fans of straightahead jazz, don’t worry, the festival provides plenty of that, too, with Regina Carter, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Orrin Evans’ Terreno Comum and more.
In the Midwest, the Detroit Jazz Festival presented by Rocket Mortgage plans for live audiences over the Labor Day weekend with COVID-19 safety precautions in place. The festival will feature three live stages in downtown Detroit featuring artist-in-residence Dee Dee Bridgewater in several settings and performances by Herbie Hancock, Gregory Porter, Keyon Harrold, Omar Sosa and the Havana-Detroit Jazz Project, Kurt Elling’s Big Band and more. The festival will be live-streamed at live.detroitjazzfest.org.
And one more for Labor Day weekend, the 10th Annual John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival in High Point, North Carolina, Sept. 4–5, has an enviable lineup featuring Galactic, Lakecia Benjamin, Kenny Lattimore, Tito Puente Jr., Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Chris Botti, Kurt Elling and more.
As the weather turns colder and the festivals head south, The Suncoast Festival in Clearwater Beach, Florida, has announced that the Brubeck Brothers will headline the 31st edition of the event Nov. 19–21. DB
“Bill Stewart has nothing to prove,” Baron says. “I aspire to that ethic.”
Aug 1, 2023 1:22 PM
At 68, Joey Baron has been a lifelong connoisseur of the nuances of groove and melody-oriented drumming. Over his…
“At this point in my life I’m still looking for the note,” Lloyd says. “But I’m a little nearer.”
Jul 27, 2023 2:06 PM
If, as Charles Lloyd likes to say, “creativity is going to burst at its seams,” then it’s no surprise that the…
Christian McBride and writer Ashley Kahn meet for a DownBeat Blindfold Test hosted by New York University’s Jazz Studies program.
Aug 29, 2023 11:41 AM
Christian McBride turned 51 this May 31 and is still pushing far beyond what many might consider conventional career…
Samara Joy brought fans to their feet in the middle of her Newport set!
Aug 8, 2023 3:53 PM
“Something for everybody” was the strategy of the Ed Sullivan Show, the most successful variety show in TV history,…
’You can’t simply book a festival with things that you like,” Christian McBride says of the Newport Jazz Festival. “You have a responsibility to present up-and-coming artists who people don’t know yet. And you have to get people in the seats.”
Jul 25, 2023 1:22 PM
This year’s Newport Jazz Festival, scheduled for Aug. 4–6, will continue George Wein’s strategy of presenting a…