The 13th Annual Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival in Boston | Sept. 28th, 2013
On September
28, music lovers of all ages will gather for the 13th Annual Berklee
BeanTown Jazz Festival in Boston’s historic South End – home to several
legendary clubs during Boston’s jazz heyday. The all-day, free outdoor
event will offer contemporary jazz, Latin, blues, and soul acts on three
stages. Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM), one of the world’s
leading asset managers, is the presenting sponsor of the festival and
will present a $5, 000 scholarship to a student musician. Past Berklee
BeanTown Jazz Festivals have drawn as many as
The
Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival – Boston’s biggest block party – takes
place on Saturday, September 28, from noon to 6 p.m. on Columbus Avenue
between Massachusetts Avenue and Burke Street in Boston’s South End. The
outdoor performances are open to the public free of charge. Highlights
include Meshell Ndegeocello; Will Calhoun Trio, led by the Grammy
Award-winning alumnus and drummer of the band Living Colour; and Robin
McKelle & the Flytones.
This year, the festival celebrates
the theme Jazz: The Next Generation, with performances by some of the
genre’s most acclaimed up-and-coming alumni artists, including
Grammy-nominated trumpeter Christian Scott; Mike Tucker Trio featuring
vibraphonist Warren Wolf; and the Matt Savage Quartet featuring sax
great Bobby Watson.
Faculty and students also play a major role,
with performances by faculty artists Lawrence “Larry” Watson & the
Workforce, The Bell Affair, Matt Jenson & the Liquid Revolution, and
Rick DiMuzio Quintet; and students including Berklee Global Jazz
Ambassadors featuring Adam Cruz, Jazz Revelation Records artist the
Simon Moullier Quartet, Giorgi Mikadze Group, the Berklee P-Funk
Ensemble and the Berklee City Music All Stars Big Band Jazz Ensemble.
Street performers Marcus Santos & Bloco AfroBrazil will perform
throughout the afternoon.
Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival also presents ticketed concerts during the weekend of the festival:
On
Friday, September 27, and Saturday, September 28, Gary Burton’s 70th
Birthday Tour stops at Scullers Jazz Club for performances at 8 p.m. and
10 p.m. each night by the New Gary Burton Quartet featuring Julian
Lage, Scott Colley, and Antonio Sanchez. Visit ScullersJazz.com for more
information.
On Sunday, September 29, instrumental jazz, funk,
and world music collective Snarky Puppy perform at the Berklee
Performance Center at 8:00 pm. Visit Berklee.edu/bpc for more
information.
Berklee College of Music, for the fourth year, is
the proud recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) to support the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival and its theme. In
awarding the prestigious Art Works grant to Berklee, the NEA cited the
festival as a celebration of Boston’s diversity as reflected in the
attendees, music, food, and crafts. An educational program about the
importance of mentorship in jazz is being planned.
“The next
generation of creative musicians is quite strong and, having stood on
the shoulders of their predecessors, are now hopefully prepared for
unlimited boundaries. How exciting to witness and be a part of this
process, ” said Terri Lyne Carrington, Grammy Award-winning drummer,
composer, Berklee professor, and Artistic Director for the festival.
“Mentoring has always been an important part of the continuance and
advancement of jazz, so we are proud to recognize mentor-mentee
relationships this year.”
The Natixis Family Park will transform
Carter Playground on Columbus Avenue with activities including
inflatables, face painting, and an instrument petting zoo staffed by
Berklee professionals. The park also hosts KidsJam, an interactive
program led by Berklee’s Music Education department, introducing young
children to a variety of musical activities, including singing and sound
exploration, playing rhythm instruments, and creating, listening, and
responding to music.
The outdoor celebration also features a variety of vendor booths offering foods and crafts from all over the world.
Discover
Roxbury’s High Notes of Jazz Roxbury Walk is offering tours throughout
the day for a nominal fee, exploring the area around the Berklee
BeanTown Jazz Festival. The site was once the epicenter of music, food,
and nightlife for Boston’s jazz community during the 1930s through
1950s. Tours will organize from the Discover Roxbury booth at the
festival.
Check beantownjazz.org for updates and a full schedule of events.
NGAM is also the presenting sponsor of the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival®.
About Berklee College of Music
Berklee
College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the
best way to prepare students for careers in music is through the study
and practice of contemporary music. For more than 65 years, the college
has evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music
business, leading the way with the world’s first baccalaureate studies
in jazz, rock, electric guitar, film scoring, songwriting, turntables,
electronic production, and more than a dozen other genres and fields of
study. Berklee serves distance learners worldwide through its
award-winning online extension school, Berklee Online. The college’s
national after-school music program for underserved teens, the Berklee
City Music Network, is in 30 cities and counting. A new campus in Spain,
Berklee in Valencia, began hosting the college’s first graduate
programs in the fall of 2012. With a diverse and talented student body
representing more than 80 countries, and alumni and faculty that have
collectively won more than 270 Grammys and Latin Grammys, Berklee is the
world’s premier learning lab for the music of today – and tomorrow.