By CAROLYN BROWN
Staff Writer
The Northampton Jazz Festival will return on Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, for live jazz at a variety of downtown Northampton venues.
This year’s Northampton Jazz Festival headliner will be New York Voices, at the Academy of Music on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. After nearly 40 years together, the group is embarking on their farewell tour, “The Grand Finale.” / CONTRIBUTED
This year’s headliner will be New York Voices, a vocal jazz quartet that began as an ensemble at Ithaca College, at the Academy of Music on Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. After nearly 40 years together, the group is embarking on their farewell tour, “The Grand Finale,” which includes their performance in Northampton.
“We hope [audiences] like the energy of the music, the heart behind the music, the musicality behind the music, and the fun of it,” said New York Voices musical director Darmon Meader in an interview with Jazz Fest board member Ricard Torres-Mateluna. “People who really like harmony singing can get really excited about groups like ours, whereas jazz audiences sometimes aren’t really thinking that way, but we hopefully are bringing as many jazz elements to the experience [as possible], as well as the experience of a four-part harmony.”
Ruth Griggs, president of the Northampton Jazz Festival, said a vocal group was a good fit for the Pioneer Valley because the area itself already hosts a number of vocal groups in its communities and colleges.
Beyond that, the members of New York Voices “just bebop their fannies off,” she said. “They really sing hard, this quartet.”
Programming as part of Friday’s Jazz Strut, during which artists perform at breweries, bars, and restaurants, includes sets by the Amherst Jazz Orchestra, Bruce Kelley Trio, Jimmy Gavagan Trio, Stephen Page Trio, Beau Sasser Trio, Ethel Lee Trio, Scott Sasnecki & Stephen King Porter, and The Valley Moonstompers Society, plus a jam session led by Jahian Cooper-Monize with Miki Yamanaka.
“The Northampton Jazz Festival is unique in that it’s intimate,” Griggs said. “We have venues that hold 75 people – you can’t be that much more up close and personal with a jazz musician than being in a venue that holds 75 people. You see the musicians walking around; they don’t hide behind the stage.”
The programming for Saturday, Jazz Fest Day, includes an interactive workshop for kids at 33 Hawley at 11 a.m.; Miki Yamanaka at Click Workspace at 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.; the Expandable Brass Band, marching from 33 Hawley to Pulaski Park at 12 p.m.; Stacy Dillard Trio at the Parlor Room at 12 p.m. and 1:20 p.m.; Karyn Allison Quartet at the Unitarian Society at 1 p.m.; Mike LeDonne’s Groover Trio with Dave Stryker and Joe Farnsworth at Iron Horse at 2 p.m.; the UMass Vocal Jazz Ensemble & Friends at Pulaski Park at 2:30 p.m.; Tone Forest at Edwards Church at 3:30 p.m.; Zaccai Curtis at the Unitarian Society at 4 p.m.; and Ed Fast & Congabop at Pulaski Park at 5:15 p.m.
“The thing that I’m so excited about is, I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, ‘This is such a great lineup this year. I’m so excited about who’s coming to Northampton this year,’” Griggs said.
Griggs said this is also the first year that the Jazz Fest has had an artist – namely, Zaccai Curtis – perform the same year that they won a Grammy Award. Curtis took home “Best Latin Jazz Album” in February for his album “Cubop Lives!”
Zaccai Curtis (center) is the first artist to perform at the Jazz Fest the same year as winning a Grammy Award. Curtis took home “Best Latin Jazz Album” in February for his album “Cubop Lives!” / CONTRIBUTED
“That is amazing, to have a current Grammy Award winner,” she said. “That’s just not something that our wonderful little festival can often do.”
Pianist Miki Yamanaka last performed at the Jazz Fest in 2022, accompanying vocalist Ashley Pezzotti. This will be her first time playing a solo set at the festival – two, in fact. Yamanaka said she considers audience members part of her show because she never takes them for granted and added that she’s “super excited” to return this year: “Come have fun with me!”
Jack Frisch, host of the Valley Free Radio program “The Downbeat,” will also be doing a live broadcast of his show at Pulaski Park from 12:45 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He appreciates that the festival allows him to introduce people to jazz: during his broadcast, he tells listeners and festival-goers about the musicians playing at the festival and where to find them, and he plays their music, too.
“The Northampton Jazz Fest has a great way of presenting a wide range of jazz, from the upcoming players to some of the well-established, well-known, world-renowned players, and that’s what I like about it,” he said. “There’s something there for everybody.”
Pianist Miki Yamanaka last performed at the Jazz Fest in 2022, accompanying vocalist Ashley Pezzotti. This will be her first time playing a solo set at the festival – two, in fact. Yamanaka said she considers audience members part of her show because she never takes them for granted and added that she’s “super excited” to return this year: “Come have fun with me!” / PHOTO BY MARTINA DASILVA
Bob Fazzi, a longtime Jazz Fest volunteer, said he appreciates being part of an event that brings people to Northampton and benefits businesses downtown.
“It’s really important for the community,” Fazzi said. “I see the Jazz Fest as being a wonderful resource for the community as a whole because they involve everybody in this, and they do it with such grace, and they really go out of their way to make it something special. Northampton really gains because of all these jazz musicians and all these jazz fans who come here to celebrate and enjoy the jazz.”
Admission to the Jazz Fest is free and open to the public, but tickets to the New York Voices performance are $35 to $60 (or $20 for students), not including fees, via aomtheatre.com or at the Academy of Music box office. Registration for the educational workshop (called “Ask Me About Jazz!”) is required. For more information about the Northampton Jazz Fest, including a full schedule, performer bios, and information about volunteering, visit northamptonjazzfest.org.
Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.
