Beantown Jazz Festival
September 24, 2011
On September 24, 2011 Columbus Avenue and Carter Playground will be transformed into a jazz lover's dream with the Beantown Jazz Festival. Tens of thousands of music lovers will be here to experience a truly premiere musical event, featuring live jazz and blues from artists simultaneously playing on multiple stages scattered around the venue.
Food and crafts vendors will also be present, as well as a "Target Instrument Petting Zoo" where different instruments are available for testing by the event's participants. The many food vendors take on an international flavor, with past festivals featuring Jamaican cuisine such as shrimp and beef jerky, southern favorites like grilled corn and ribs, sizzling Korean goodies, and decadent mainstay treats such as fried dough.
As usual, the featured artists represent a good mix of different styles of jazz, with this year's event featuring Bloco AfroBrazil, Bill Banfield, Pablo Ablanedo, Rafael Zaldivar, and Darcel Wilson to name a few. Berklee College of Music, the event sponsor, also features its own talents including the famous Berklee Global Jazz Institute Ensemble, the Berklee P-Funk Ensemble, teachers, students and alumni. The audience can expect nothing but world-class quality music from this event in a city known for its cultural roots.
Jazz originated from African-American communities in the Southern United States in the early 1900s. Jazz is mostly known for pioneering improvisation, syncopation, polyrythms and sometimes even dissonance, which is the seeming "off-sounding" notes often used in jazz solos. Now, jazz has branched off into many different sub-genres, including the classic big band or swing jazz, to modern fusion or hybrid genres such as funk-jazz, acid jazz, or even smooth jazz. The festival promises a touch of different modern sub-genres, as well as classic, old-school early jazz music.
Berklee College of Music is a world-famous institution, and widely regarded as one of the best contemporary schools of music. Music students from all over the world look to Berklee College as one of the most prestigious opportunities for higher musical learning. Hundreds of its students, faculty members and alumni have received prestigious awards like the Grammy, Oscar, Emmy, and even the Golden Globe awards. Some famous alumni include Victor Bailey, Paula Cole, Rachelle Ferrell, Stu Hamm, Quincy Jones, Diana Krall, Abe Laboriel, John Mayer, Pat Methany, John Myung of Dream Theater, Esperanza Spalding, Susan Tedeschi, and Steve Vai, to name a few.
Related, Boston also hosts several jazz venues and clubs, including the Berklee Performance Center, Sculler's Jazz Club, Regattabar, Wally's Cafe, Berklee's Cafe 939, and David Friend Recital Hall, as well as others.
*** Schedule Subject to Change ***
Natixis Stage Performance Schedule
12:00 pm — Pablo Ablanedo Octet
01:05 pm — Rajdulari
02:15 pm — Bill Banfield / Jazz Urbane
03:30 pm — Andrea Capozzoli
05:00 pm — Dave Samuels and the Caribbean
Jazz Project
Subaru of New England Performance Schedule
12:00 pm — Berklee Global Jazz Institute Ensemble
01:00 pm — Louis Hayes Cannonball Legacy Band
03:30 pm — Rafael Zaldivar
04:45 pm — The Neal Smith Quintet
BeanTown Stage Performance Schedule
12:45 pm — Los Hermanos Arango
01:00 pm — Shea Rose
01:45 pm — Bernie Worrell and SociaLybrium
03:00 pm — Berklee P-Funk Ensemble
04:15 pm — Darcel Wilson
04:15 pm — Jeff Ramsey
05:00 pm —
Oleta Adams
Contact Information & Address:
Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival (Street Festival Location)
Columbus Ave between Mass Ave and Burke Street, Boston, MA 02118
beantownjazz.org
