Griggs among 29 nationwide to receive Jazz Journalists Association recognition

NORTHAMPTON—Northampton Jazz Festival Board President Ruth Griggs has been named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association in its 25th annual recognition of “activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz” across the United States.

Griggs has led the Northampton Jazz Festival since 2017, when she reformed the festival board, reinstated its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and planned the first festival since 2015, which took place in 2018 at various venues throughout downtown Northampton. 

The Jazz Journalists Association, convened in 1987, is a nonprofit organization with 250 international members that provides creative and educational resources to individuals that forward the great American art form known as jazz. The association offers events, podcasts, webinars, promotional and educational resources, and master classes to musicians, promoters, educators, broadcasters, journalists, photographers and writers in the genre of jazz. 

Since 2001, the Jazz Journalists Association has identified and hailed individuals from local jazz communities across America who go beyond their basic responsibilities to sustain and expand on musical activities. The association believes Jazz Heroes are essential to the health of the overall jazz ecosystem and supports local efforts to celebrate them. The 2025 Jazz Heroes campaign is concurrent with the 30th Annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards for jazz musicians. 

Griggs, of Northampton, was also named a Difference Maker by BusinessWest in 2022 for her decades-long career as a marketing strategist and her leadership of the Northampton Jazz Festival, which has become a respected organization, attracting thousands to downtown Northampton each September.

A virtual gala celebrating the 29 Jazz Heroes of 2025 will be held on April 17, and an in-person presentation of Griggs’ Jazz Hero certificate will be held locally at a later date.

Past association award winners in the greater Connecticut River Valley region include Tom Reney, host of NEPM’s Jazz a la Mode, who received the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Career Excellence in Broadcasting in 2019, and Eugene Uman and Elsa Borrero, director and co-director of the Vermont Jazz Center, named Jazz Heroes in 2024. More about this year’s Jazz Heroes can be found at: news.jazzjournalists.org/29-jazz-heroes-across-north-america/

Said Griggs, “I am honored and humbled to stand alongside this impressive group of national Jazz Heroes—many of whom are my own heroes for all they do ‘to preserve and perpetuate this great American art form,’ to quote Max Roach.”

The Northampton Jazz Festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in 2011 and is funded by local businesses, organizations, foundations and individuals which makes it possible to provide free live music to the general public. The Festival is September 26 and 27, with several other jazz events planned in May, June and September. For more information about the Northampton Jazz Festival, visit northamptonjazzfest.org or email info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Talented individuals bring experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, community organizing and music

NORTHAMPTON—The Northampton Jazz Festival has welcomed two new board members who bring broad skills and deep experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, community organizing and music from world cultures.

“I am thrilled to add these two dynamic and energetic individuals to the Northampton Jazz Festival Board of Directors. In a very short time, they have both contributed much to the organization,” said Ruth Griggs, president of the board.

The new members are Ricard Torres-Mateluna, who joined last month, and Jillian Duclos, who came on the board in September 2023. “Their ideas are fresh, realistic and are helping us expand the depth and scope of our offerings this September, like adding children’s programming, more jazz events in September and bringing musicians of world cultures to the stage,” said Griggs.

Duclos, a resident of Easthampton, is a mom first and community builder at heart. After earning a bachelor’s degree in politics at Mount Holyoke College as a Francis Perkins Scholar, class of 2017, she became a grass-roots organizer, a driver of work-force development and then a business owner. Now, as executive director of the Downtown Northampton Association, she facilitates collaboration with city leaders, downtown organizations and community members to drive economic development for downtown Northampton and to provide a much-needed safety net to local and small businesses who anchor the community. On the Northampton Jazz Festival board, Duclos looks forward to using her experience to explore the best ways all can work together to make Northampton thrive.

Torres-Mateluna, of Belchertown, is a communicator and brand and marketing strategist who thinks with a global perspective and seeks solutions at the local level. Over his more than 20 years in the field, he has successfully worked toward uplifting educational entities and nonprofit organizations, having worked in advertising agencies and startups—large and small, at home and abroad—run by people from all backgrounds.

Torres-Mateluna’s current role is vice president of marketing and communications for the Springfield- based human services agency Viability, Inc. He has been a jazz lover since childhood and is also a member of the editorial board and U.S. correspondent for Papeles de Jazz Magazine in his native Chile. He holds a double bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from the Universidad ARCIS, Chile, and a master’s degree in literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a first-generation college student and immigrant, he understands intimately the challenges “first” groups face and uses that empathy and perspective to create solutions that effectively incorporate everyone. “The only way a brand, a campaign or a strategy can be successful is by truly connecting with people,” he stated.

The Northampton Jazz Festival, founded in 2011, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The 2024 festival will stage seven or eight live jazz concerts on Friday, Sept. 27, and offer 10 or 11 performances on Saturday, Sept. 28 throughout downtown Northampton. Other events include Jazz Film Night at Northampton Center for the Arts on June 20, Jazzy Arts Night Out on Sept.13, and an outdoor lawn concert at the Forbes Library in early September. More information can be found at northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Event kicks off with Jazz Strut Sept. 30, and free performances are scheduled throughout downtown Northampton

NORTHAMPTON—The Northampton Jazz Festival will kick off at Pulaski Park on Friday, Sept. 30 with a Jazz Strut throughout downtown Northampton, and free performances will continue downtown Saturday, Oct. 1.

The headliner for this year’s event is The Ron Carter Quartet, performing at The Academy of Music on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.  

Ruth Griggs, president of the festival’s board of directors, said the festival is thrilled to bring legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter to the festival. “Ron Carter is one of the most respected jazz masters of all time. He is not only one of the most original and influential bassists in jazz, but he is also the most prolific, appearing on over 2,200 records in his 60-year career, and he holds a Guinness World Record to prove it!”

The Friday, Sept. 30, Jazz Strut will run from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m., starting at Pulaski Park with two high school music ensembles: the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Jazz Combo led by Frank Newton, followed by the ever-popular SciTech Band from the Springfield High School of Science and Technology. Local and regional jazz and Latin ensembles will then perform for two hours at each of the following venues: Joe La Creta Trio at Northampton Brewery at 6 p.m.; Julian Gerstin Trio Mambo at The Dirty Truth at 6:30 p.m.; Avery Joi Quartet at Spoleto at 7 p.m.; Libro Azul at Progression Brewing Company at 7:30 p.m.; Cory Hutchins Tap Percussionist Quartet at The Deck at 8 p.m.; Zack Bartolomei Quartet at Wurst Haus at 8:30 p.m. 

The full lineup of festival performances on Oct. 1 is as follows: The Ron Carter Quartet with Renee Rosnes on piano, Jimmy Greene on saxophone, and Payton Crossley on drums, the only ticketed event, will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Music; tickets are $30 to $50 (all fees included) available at AoMTheatre.com or at the Academy of Music Box Office Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.; the Expandable Brass Band will march from Pulaski Park around town and back starting at 11:15 a.m.; The Royal Bopsters, a bebop-style vocal quartet with backup trio will sing at noon at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence; a UMass Jazz Ensemble will play in Pulaski Park at 1:30 p.m.; Guitarist Freddie Bryant and his Brazilian Trio will perform at The Parlor Room at 2:30 and again at 4 p.m.; DJ Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera of Hot Club of New York will spin rare 78-rpm records from his collection at 2:30 p.m. in Pulaski Park; vocalist Ashley Pezzotti will sing with her trio at Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence at 3 p.m.; and Eh La Bas, a quintet of rising Canadian-born musicians will perform in Pulaski Park at 5 p.m. 

In March of this year, Griggs was named A Difference Maker by BusinessWest magazine for her efforts in reviving the Northampton Jazz Festival and making it a major event bringing tourism and economic vitality to Northampton.

Now in its 11th year, the festival has seen unprecedented support from corporate sponsors this year, Griggs said. “I think the recognition that came from the Difference Maker award helped people see that a major artistic event such as the Jazz Festival is a legitimate economic driver for the city of Northampton,” she added.

Volunteers are still needed to staff the Friday and Saturday events. To take part, visit northamptonjazzfest.org/volunteer.

For more information visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org or email to info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Event kicks off with Jazz Strut Oct. 1, and performances are scheduled throughout downtown Northampton

NORTHAMPTON—The Northampton Jazz Festival will kick off on Friday, Oct. 1 with a Jazz Strut in downtown Northampton, and free performances are scheduled that first weekend of October in the event’s return after a pandemic-year hiatus.

The headliner for this year’s event is The Art Blakey Centennial Celebration, performing at The Academy of Music on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. 

Ruth Griggs, president of the festival’s board of directors, said this year, the event has a focus on woman-led ensembles and will feature more female musicians than ever before.

“Although we had to cancel the fest in 2020, we worked hard to stay involved with bringing live jazz to the community in a safe way and to support musicians financially,” Griggs added, noting that the festival organization held a half dozen outside concerts last fall and also recorded four local trios and streamed performances over Facebook and YouTube this spring. In partnership with Jim Olsen’s Signature Sounds and Northampton Open Media, it offered a jazz series in April, Jazz Appreciation Month. 

“This fall, all the main Jazz Fest Day musicians who couldn’t play in 2020 are returning,” Griggs said. “This is rare, and we are honored.”

Festival attendees will be required to wear masks, following pandemic protocols as per the city of Northampton; for more information visit northamptonjazzfest.org/health-and-safety-protocols. 

In a collaboration between the Northampton Jazz Festival and the Downtown Northampton Association, patrons sporting a new Jazz Fest tote on Saturday, Jazz Fest Day, will receive a discount at participating downtown merchants; totes will be available for purchase at all festival performance venues on Saturday, Oct. 2.

The October 1 Jazz Strut will run from 5 to 10:30 p.m., starting at Pulaski Park. Local and regional trios and quartets will perform at the following venues: Wursthaus, 6:30 p.m.; The Dirty Truth, 7 p.m.; Spoleto Restaurant, 7:30 p.m.; Progression Brewing Co., 8 p.m.; The Deck Bar & Restaurant, 8:30 p.m. Each band plays for two hours, and the schedule is subject to change without notice.

The full lineup of festival performances on Oct. 2 is as follows: The Art Blakey Centennial Celebration, the only ticketed event, 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Music, $15 to $50 at AoMTheatre.com; The Alex Hamburger Quartet, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts; The ZT Amplifiers Artist Showcase, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts; Sullivan Fortner Solo Piano, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at CLICK Workspace; Lioness, 3 to 5 p.m., First Churches of Northampton; Northampton Expandable Brass Band, 1:30 to 1:55 p.m., marching from Bridge and Market Streets to Pulaski Park; Manduca Sexta, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Pulaski Park; and Cocomama, 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Pulaski Park. 

The festival’s headliner, The Art Blakey Centennial Celebration, is a multi-generational ensemble of musicians led by members of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. The five messengers, and the eras they performed in the group are: Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson (1977-1981), tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce (1980-1982), trumpeter Brian Lynch (1988-1990), trombonist Robin Eubanks (1987-1988) and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet (1989-1990). 

Joining them are pianist Zaccai Curtis and drummer Jerome Gillespie, the latter with the great responsibility—and the unquestionable talent—to “channel” Blakey, according to the ensemble’s bio.

Griggs said the festival has seen unprecedented support from corporate sponsors this year. “Fifty percent of our 2021 corporate sponsors are new, and they are giving at a high level,” she said. “Several longtime sponsors upped their giving. The generosity, support, and enthusiasm from the community has never been stronger and is much appreciated.”

Volunteers are still needed to staff Friday and Saturday events. To take part, visit northamptonjazzfest.org/volunteer.

For more information, visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northamptonjazzfest or email to: info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Organizers are inviting all hired musicians to perform next year

NORTHAMPTON—Due to the current regulations regarding community health and limitations on public gatherings brought on by COVID-19, the Northampton Jazz Festival has made the decision to postpone its 2020 festival scheduled for the first weekend in October. 

The Northampton Jazz Festival is a celebration of jazz music held yearly in downtown Northampton, collaborating with local businesses and performers to provide the community with musical performances. From jazz strolls to intimate venues with Grammy Award winning performers, this weekend has become a staple of the community. 

This year’s lineup was to include musicians who have performed on Broadway, held Billboard Top 100 titles, and been celebrated in DownBeat jazz magazine. Festival leaders intend to secure as many of these musicians for the 2021 season as they can; the event will be held on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, 2021. 

The organization plans to maintain a strong social media presence to connect jazz lovers with live concerts they can safely watch from home. Furthermore, the Board of Directors is working under the guidance of both city and state public health officials to collaborate with local musicians, city partners, and downtown businesses.

Through these means, festival leaders are working on a plan to provide downtown Northampton with quality jazz performances in a safe way. As Massachusetts transitions through its four-phase reopening, more details will be confirmed. While the festival cannot continue as intended this year, organizers hope to bring a celebration of jazz music to the community in a different and safe form.

President Ruth Griggs who has been leading the festival for three years said, “We are truly saddened by the reality that this coronavirus has forced on us, but our most important goal is to provide a pleasurable, meaningful, and safe experience for our jazz fans, jazz musicians, and to our community partners. Unfortunately, we recognize that we just won’t be able to achieve that in this pandemic environment.”

For more information, visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northamptonjazzfest or on Instagram at @northamptonjazzfest or email to: info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Event to feature 16 performances, including headliner, the Kurt Elling Quintet

NORTHAMPTON—The 2019 Northampton Jazz Festival will bring 16 performances of live jazz ensembles to more than a dozen venues throughout downtown Northampton on Friday, Oct. 4 through Sunday, Oct. 6, including the renowned Kurt Elling Quintet.

Since its beginnings in 2011, the goal of Northampton Jazz Festival organizers has been to expand the exposure of people of all generations, ethnicities, and orientations to live jazz while also attracting new visitors to Northampton, benefiting both the city’s economy and culture.

“Residents, downtown merchants, city legislators, and visitors have expressed a desire to bring live music to downtown Northampton,” said Ruth Griggs, president of the Northampton Jazz Festival. “The festival offers a positive, upbeat, family-friendly, and accessible opportunity for the general public to experience the joy of live music performed by everyone from Grammy Award winners like Kurt Elling to local jazz musicians and dynamic rising stars.” 

This year’s festival will begin with the Friday Jazz Strut, when guests can stroll to and from eight different breweries, cafes, and bars in downtown Northampton, where live jazz musicians will be performing between 5 and 11 p.m. There will be no cover charge for any of the Friday shows, which will be offered at Pulaski Park, Iconica Social Club, Haymarket Café, Northampton Brewery, Platform Sports Bar, Progression Brewery, and McLadden’s. 

Saturday, the primary day of festivities, includes free performances at Northampton Center for the Arts, CLICK Workspace, the Unitarian Society of Northampton, The Parlor Room, and Pulaski Park between noon and 6:30 p.m. Musicians include the Native Soul Quartet, solo pianist Emmet Cohen, rising bass player Endea Owens and the Cookout, the Jack Wilkins Trio with Mike Clark and Essiet Essiet, and Ed Fast & Conga Bop.

The afternoon of performances builds up to the main stage act, the Kurt Elling Quintet, at the Academy of Music, 274 Main St., at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $27.50 to $47.50, and can be purchased at aomtheatre.com.

The quintet’s lead, Grammy winner Kurt Elling, is a master jazz vocalist who performs timeless standards as well as enthralling originals. 

The three days of events culminate with the Sunday Jazz Brunch at The Delaney House, 3 Country Club Road in Holyoke, starting at 11 a.m. Proceeds from the brunch, which features the Atla and Matt DeChamplain Quintet from noon to 2 p.m., will benefit the Davis Financial Group Jazz Artists in the Schools Program, which exposes Northampton’s JFK Middle School jazz student musicians to the mentorship of professional jazz artists.

While the goal of promoting jazz music while attracting visitors to Northampton has been steadfast since the festival’s beginnings, a lot has changed since it was first founded in 2011 by John Michaels, Jeff Siegel, Jesse Adams, William Collins, and Rick Gifford. The original model, between 2011 and 2015, was to stage the festival behind Thornes Marketplace in a parking lot using a built stage, a beer garden, and food trucks and vendors. Two other indoor locations hosted student musicians and more performers set up on the courthouse lawn.

After a hiatus, the Northampton Jazz Festival was revived by new organizers in 2018, but with a new style, with performances hosted by community venues across the city.

“We collaborate with the Downtown Northampton Association, and involve merchants, venue owners and managers, and city officials in our planning,” Griggs explained. “In doing so, the festival has become a community effort that benefits all involved, including the city’s merchants, who saw an uptick in business last year.”

The 2018 festival was a hit, attracting more than 2,000 people from across Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Connecticut to see shows by local, regional, and internationally recognized musicians while also enjoying the shops, galleries, and restaurants of Northampton.

“Our goal is not only to expand the love of live jazz music to people of all ages and backgrounds, but also to bring tourists and business to the city through a unique event that only Northampton, with its highly walkable, accessible streets and welcoming merchants, could hold,” Griggs said. “With the 2018 opening of MGM Springfield, we are determined to produce unique, cultural, and highly accessible events for thousands to enjoy, keeping Northampton a popular destination.”

Lead sponsors and grantors include: The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, The Beveridge Family Foundation, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Business West, Peoples Bank, The Davis Financial Group, WEIB FM Radio, New England Public Radio, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center.

For more information about the Northampton Jazz Festival, visit northamptonjazzfest.org.

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$6,000 in donations will support workshops with professional jazz musicians

NORTHAMPTON—One of the first students Paul Kinsman got to work with when he landed a student teaching position at Northampton High School was Elliot Ross. “He was a soft-spoken, kind young man who was looking to play bass guitar,” Kinsman remembered. “As a person, Elliot was funny, intelligent and had a huge soul. As a musician, he was a big collaborator. He had a large community of musicians with whom he was friends and with whom he made music.”

When Ross died on Nov. 2 last year, at the age of 21, his parents, Hank and Paula Ross, asked that donations be made to the Jazz in the Schools Program, which had been launched at John F. Kennedy Middle School in the fall of 2018 by organizers of the Northampton Jazz Festival; the goal was to expose student musicians to the mentorship of professional jazz artists. That program still exists and is called the Davis Financial Group Jazz in the Schools Program in honor of its donor.

Nearly 60 individual donations have been received in Elliot Ross’ memory, totaling just under $6,000, and those gifts will support making music available to more students, but this time at Northampton High School. This second program has been named the Elliot Ross Jazz in the Schools Program, and it will continue to expand students’ exposure to jazz at the high school level, along with the high school’s newly formed jazz band and jazz vocal band, led by Kinsman, Northampton High School’s new director of instrumental music.

“Bringing my love of music to Northampton High School has been a dream of mine, and the Jazz in the Schools program is going to be instrumental in doing that,” Kinsman said. “It’s bittersweet being able to do so with the help of family and friends of a student who passed away and an arresting reminder of how deeply we are connected through what we love.”

“We are profoundly touched by the outpouring of support that the Ross’ family and friends have provided to the Jazz in the Schools Program in Elliot’s memory,” Northampton Jazz Festival President Ruth Griggs said. “The $6,000 raised to date will support this second Jazz in the Schools Program for at least two years, with workshops with professional jazz artists occurring three times a year.”

This year’s workshops start on March 4, when vocalist Samirah Evans—billed as a “soulful” performer with New Orleans roots—and trumpeter Don Anderson, along with the Green Street Trio will be working with the high school jazz band. The students will incorporate their learning into a New Orleans jazz-themed performance during an all-school assembly at the high school on March 5 at 12:30 p.m., accompanied by the Green Street Trio. Both Evans and Anderson will then perform at Northampton’s City Sports Grille on March 5 at 7 p.m. as part of the weekly Northampton Jazz Workshop, and students will be invited to join the jazz jam in the latter part of the evening.

The Davis Financial Group Jazz in the Schools Program will continue at the JFK Middle School as a collaboration between Northampton Jazz Festival Producer Paul Arslanian and JFK Middle School Band Director Claire-anne Williams. Two programs are already scheduled for the spring semester at JFK Middle School. Workshops will be led by saxophonist and educator Don Braden on Feb. 11 and 12, and by tenor saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman on May 20 and 21. Both musicians will be accompanied by the Green Street Trio.

The Davis Financial Group Jazz in the Schools Program—the original program—took shape last August, when Northampton Jazz Festival organizers teamed up with Northampton public schools to bring professional musicians to the middle school to work with students in the seventh and eighth grade jazz bands, thanks to initial donations by the Davis Financial Group of Hadley. Gary Smulyan, the most acclaimed jazz baritone saxophone player in the world for 12 years, kicked off the program with an Oct. 29 workshop, shortly after the conclusion of the 2018 Northampton Jazz Festival.

Prior to the fall of 2018, students who studied jazz with Williams at JFK Middle School were unable to continue their studies at the high school level within the Northampton school system. That all changed when Northampton High School launched its jazz band and jazz vocal program with the start of the school year.

“Now, with Paul Kinsman leading the jazz band at the high school, students can continue the jazz education they started in middle school,” Griggs said. “It opens up a new realm of possibility for aspiring jazz musicians. Having the Elliot Ross Jazz in the Schools Program to enrich and expand their exposure to live jazz performance is a tremendous bonus for the high school students.”

“I hope the Elliot Ross Jazz in the Schools Program will be a longstanding program at Northampton High School,” Kinsman said. “By carrying Elliot’s name forward, we’re nodding to the fact that this style of music could be somebody’s entrance into a life-long love of music.”

As a freshman in 2012, Ross was a student in Jazz Workshop, a class Kinsman was student teaching where students would study the genre, build their repertoire and perform songs. Even after Ross graduated, Ross and Kinsman stayed in touch, reuniting in 2015 in Vietnam—where Kinsman was teaching and Ross was traveling—to talk about Ross’ musical dreams.

“Elliot’s first love was jazz, but that branched off to include other styles like funk and rock,” Kinsman remembered. “Everyone loves music, but not everyone finds their love of music through band or chorus. Elliot found that love by playing jazz with his bass, which is why carrying on his name through the Jazz in the Schools Program is so important. It means making music as inclusive as possible.”

Donations for the Elliot Ross Jazz in the Schools Program at Northampton High School and the Davis Financial Group Jazz in the Schools Program at JFK Middle School are welcome, and can be made to: Northampton Jazz Festival, P.O. Box 631, Northampton, MA 01061. Please indicate the specific program you wish the funds to go to in the memo line of your check.

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Events scheduled throughout downtown Northampton

NORTHAMPTON—After a three-year hiatus, a revival of the Northampton Jazz Festival will kick off on Friday, Oct. 19, with events scheduled through Oct. 21 throughout downtown Northampton.

The headliner for this year’s event is 14-time Grammy Award winning Latin Jazz Master Paquito D’Rivera and his quintet; they will perform Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Music.

“This is a rare appearance for Paquito in this area, and it is not to be missed,” said Ruth Griggs, president of the eight-member board that formed to breathe new life into the mostly free popular jazz event.

The Northampton Jazz Festival was founded in 2011 by a group of community leaders who wished to stage an event that brought out the community as the former “Taste of Northampton” once did in the early 2000s.

Griggs said, “We are thrilled to be able to carry forward our great American music tradition of live jazz right in downtown Northampton. In 2018, we will honor this mission in new and meaningful ways. We are renewing the fest with a rich line-up of jazz artists from across the globe and around the region.”

The 2018 Northampton Jazz Festival will begin Friday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. with a Jazz Strut in which bars, cafes, restaurants and Pulaski Park will play host to small jazz ensembles—resident artists from the Valley—all evening long. Jazz Strut venues include Sam’s Pizzeria and Cafe, Haymarket Cafe, ConVino Wine Bar, Northampton Brewery, Platform Sports Bar, and Hugo’s. Musicians play for two hours at each location with a staggered start time each half hour, so patrons can enjoy many different bands and establishments all evening long.

Saturday’s music line up starts at 11 a.m. at CLICK Workspace with Miro Sprague on piano playing with vocalist Dominique Eade of Berklee School of Music. The music continues through 7 p.m. at Thornes Marketplace, The Parlor Room, The Unitarian Society and Pulaski Park. Marching bands Expandable Brass Band and Prone to Mischief will lead parades of visitors from one performance location to another.

Sunday, a Jazz Brunch at The Hotel Northampton will be held as a fundraiser for the Davis Financial Group Jazz in the Public Schools Program. Performing will be the Green Street Trio with Steve Davis on trombone and Linda Ransom on vocals, plus a student jazz ensemble from JFK Middle School. Tickets are $40 each and must be purchased in advance online at https://www.northamptonjazzfest.org/jazzbrunch.html.

Find the full festival schedule at www.northamptonjazzfest.org/schedle.html.

The Paquito D’Rivera Academy of Music tickets are $35 premium seating; $25 regular seating; and $10 student seating with ID. Tickets are available at the Academy of Music box office at http://aomtheatre.ticketfly.com/.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Paquito performed at age 10 with the National Theater Orchestra, studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and, at 17, became a featured soloist with the Cuban National Symphony. As a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, he directed that group for two years, while at the same time playing both the clarinet and saxophone with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra.

Paquito’s numerous recordings include more than 30 solo albums. In 1988, he was a founding member of the United Nation Orchestra, a Grammy winning (1991), 15-piece ensemble organized by Dizzy Gillespie to showcase the fusion of Latin and Caribbean influences with jazz.

Felipe Salles, professor of music at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellow, will play with his quartet at the Unitarian Society as will Don Braden, world renowned educator and saxophonist with his “Organix Quartet.”

For the full slate of musicians, visit https://www.northamptonjazzfest.org/musicians-2018-northampton-jazz-festival.html.

Griggs said that the festival board is actively partnering with the Downtown Northampton Association (DNA) directed by Amy Cahillane to help ensure the success of the event.

In addition to Griggs, board members for the Northampton Jazz Festival are: treasurer, Alan Blankenship, of Chicopee; clerk, Kathy Service, of Northampton; and directors, Paul Arslanian, of Northampton; David Picchi, of Holyoke; Carolyn Smith, of Easthampton; and George Kaye, of Hadley.

For more information visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northamptonjazzfest or email to: info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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Saxophonist Gary Smulyan to instruct JFK Middle School jazz bands on Oct. 29 and 30

NORTHAMPTON—Organizers of the 2018 Northampton Jazz Festival are teaming up with Northampton public schools to bring a professional musician to John F. Kennedy Middle School to work with students in the seventh and eighth grade jazz bands.

Gary Smulyan, the most acclaimed jazz baritone saxophone player in the world for 12 years, will kick off the new, ongoing Jazz in the Schools program, which is expected to roll out in multiple sessions each year, beginning this year on Oct. 29. As part of the program, students will receive instruction from Smulyan, and the professional will play alongside the student musicians in a performance.

The new student education program is funded in part by the jazz festival, with help from individual donors. Allen Davis and the Davis Financial Group of Hadley are the first key sponsors of Jazz in the Schools, having made initial gifts. Davis also has pledged additional support for up to five years.

“It was easy to decide to get behind as great a cause as Jazz in the Schools,” said Davis, certified financial planner and founder of the Davis Financial Group. “By pairing professional jazz musicians with young, aspiring players, it gives the students a role model to look up to and learn from. Playing alongside a pro could be just the thing to inspire them with a passion for jazz and fuel their dreams.”

Also supporting the initiative is a fundraiser, The Hotel Northampton Jazz Brunch, which will be held on Oct. 21 at noon in the Grand Ballroom of the hotel. A jazz ensemble from JFK will perform as guests arrive, and jazz musicians Steve Davis, on trombone, and Linda Ransom, on vocals, will perform with the Green Street Trio—with Paul Arslanian, George Kaye and Jon Fisher. Tickets are $40 per guest and are available at northamptonjazzfest.org.

Smulyan’s visit to JFK will come shortly after the conclusion of this year’s Northampton Jazz Festival, which returns Oct. 19 through Oct. 21 after a three-year hiatus. The festival is free—except for two of its events—and is open to the public. It has routinely drawn upwards of 5,000 individuals to see rich line-ups of jazz artists locally and from around the world since its inception in 2011. This year, it will be staged at a variety of indoor venues in downtown Northampton, with acts including the headliner Paquito D’Rivera Quintet, Sheryl Bailey and Don Braden among many others.

The main goal of the Jazz in the Schools program lies in exposing student musicians to the mentorship of jazz artists who are not only masters of their craft and experienced educators, but also inspirational working professionals. The program also aligns well with the Northampton Jazz Festival’s commitment to carrying forward the great American music tradition of live jazz for generations to come.

“Traditionally, this music was learned by listening and interacting with other players; being encouraged by audience reaction, interaction with other musicians on the bandstand, and trial and error,” said Paul Arslanian, producer and creative director of the Northampton Jazz Festival, who is also founder and coordinator of the weekly Northampton Jazz Workshop. “Hopefully this program will encourage that cycle to continue, and nurture a few more young innovators.”

Arslanian worked with Claire-anne Williams, music director at JFK who instructs the seventh and eighth grade jazz bands, to decide on an educational program that would significantly benefit her students.

“The students who participate in my jazz program are highly motivated students who are truly interested in learning,” Williams said. “They’ll be very excited to work with professional jazz musicians who can help them with their improvisational skills and jazz stylistic interpretation.”

Smulyan and Arslanian’s Green Street Trio will work with the seventh and eighth grade ensembles on Monday, Oct. 29, and then perform alongside the same students during a schoolwide assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 30. The students and parents will also be invited to that week’s Northampton Jazz Workshop for a concert with Smulyan and the Green Street Trio.

“What excites me and other jazz musicians is that this program is a vehicle for us to pass on our knowledge, experience and love of the music to another generation,” Arslanian said. “My hope is that a few of the most interested and determined students will go on to pursue careers in music and pass on the history, as well as their own take on the music.”

Jazz has been a popular course of study at JFK Middle School; since the jazz band’s inception 12 years ago, it has grown from a small group of 15 students to two separate bands totaling 50 students. The two bands have performed for parents, at local elementary schools and in the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education Festival, where they received high scores from judges. Most recently, the school’s top group was an opener for the Jamie Kent Band at Northampton’s Academy of Music.

Jazz in the Schools provides a next step in giving JFK Middle School’s students an opportunity to improve their skills while connecting with the larger jazz community.

“The jazz band program has become an integral part of the JFK Middle School’s community and the Northampton community at large, and this collaboration will be a perfect way to move this program into the larger community in yet another direction,” Williams said. “Music is a very natural way to bring people together and enhance the overall community.”

Perhaps even more valuable than the opportunity for the students to improve their jazz skills, Williams and Arslanian agreed, is the opportunity to inspire in them an enduring passion for music.

“Our mission is to show how beautiful and fulfilling this music can be, and at the same time, make it accessible and understandable,” Arslanian said, noting that the students will be welcome additions to future Northampton Jazz Festival line-ups when they’re ready. “It just takes study and practice if you really want to play the music.”

Board members are actively raising funds to support the Northampton Jazz Festival and its programs. To make a donation, buy tickets or for more information, email info@northamptonjazzfest.org or visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org.  

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New board has formed and is planning the 2018 events for downtown Northampton

NORTHAMPTON—After a three-year hiatus for the Northampton Jazz Festival, an active group of area musicians and dedicated community members has revived the popular downtown music event by forming a board of directors to govern it. The festival secured 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in late 2014.

The eight-member board, led by president Ruth Griggs, of Northampton, is currently at work planning the 2018 Northampton Jazz Festival.

“We are thrilled to be able to carry forward our great American music tradition of live jazz right in downtown Northampton. In 2018, we will honor this mission in new and meaningful ways,” Griggs said. “We are renewing the fest with a rich line-up of jazz artists from across the globe and around the region.”

The Northampton Jazz Festival was founded in 2011 by a group that wished to stage an event that brought out the community as the former “Taste of Northampton” once did in the early 2000s.

The Northampton Jazz Festival was produced annually for five years in the Armory Street Parking Lot behind Thornes Marketplace until 2015, when a lack of financial support caused organizers to suspend operations. The festival was free, open to the public and drew upwards of 5,000 individuals from around New England.

Griggs said that the festival board is actively partnering with the Downtown Northampton Association (DNA), directed by Amy Cahillane, to help ensure the success of the event. “Amy’s involvement has been a major inspiration for us to bring live jazz music back to downtown Northampton,” Griggs said.

A collaboration with the Northampton public schools is also underway. “We want to work toward creating a program to bring more live jazz and encourage jazz exposure and musicianship in the Northampton public schools,” Griggs said. “We‘d like to reach more individuals who would like to learn to play a jazz instrument or sing but may not have the awareness or access to do so.”

In addition to Griggs, board members for the Northampton Jazz Festival are: treasurer, Alan Blankenship, of Chicopee; clerk, Jesse Adams, of Florence; and directors, Paul Arslanian, of Northampton; David Picchi, of Holyoke; Carolyn Smith, of Easthampton; George Kaye, of Hadley; and Kathy Service, of Northampton.

Board members are actively raising funds to support the festival at this time. To make a donation email info@northamptonjazzfest.org, and information will be sent to you, or visit northamptonjazzfest.org/support

Paul Arslanian, who had an active role in the previous festival as creative director, said, “The Northampton Jazz Festival is needed to bring back live music to downtown Northampton, which has been in demand by residents and visitors alike. We are consciously staging performances at venues all around the city so people can patronize the restaurants and shops downtown in between shows.”

Arslanian said the festival will provide a meaningful and unique public performance opportunity for young and rising jazz performers in the area as well as bring the general public a positive and family-friendly experience.

This year’s festival will begin Friday, Oct. 19, with the traditional Jazz Strut through downtown, when the city’s restaurants, bars and pubs will host small jazz ensembles—resident artists from the Valley—all evening long.  

Saturday’s music line up will involve some of Northampton’s oldest music venues, such as the Unitarian Society on Main Street.

“We’ll also be staging performances at some of Northampton’s newest venues, such as Click Workspace and the recently renovated Pulaski Park,” Griggs said. “The main stage concert will be held on Saturday night at the Academy of Music Theatre.”

Sunday, a swinging Jazz Brunch at The Hotel Northampton will be held as a fundraiser to advance the jazz musicianship program in the works for Northampton public schools.

For more information visit www.northamptonjazzfest.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northamptonjazzfest or email to: info@northamptonjazzfest.org.

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