Though June is commonly thought of as the jazz festival season in New York, September is making its own case. Celebrating the contributions of women to jazz, Dizzy's Club has a full program of female players, both in the regular and late evening slots. As a precursor to the Jewish holidays, the second edition of the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival (NYJMHF) takes place at venues across the city. Further cementing Brooklyn's jazz reputation, the Williamsburg Jazz Festival (WJF) celebrates its fourth endeavor, now in an expanded format, partially in conjunction with yet one more fest: The Festival of New Trumpet (FONT), curated in part by Dave Douglas, who (not so coincidentally) is our Artist Feature this month. And in a festival-like celebration, the city is agog with tributes and parties in honor of what would have been John Coltrane's 80th birthday. Just one more reason to go out and support the varied activities at clubs around town. They may not be at a festival this month but John Scofield (On The Cover) and Sonny Fortune (Interview) have played their fair share. Be your own sponsor and go see them live this month. That goes double for legendary drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt (Encore), happily back playing regularly after a long layoff. And as always we focus on threads of the New York city jazz tapestry that make the city unique. Two such threads are Bowery Poetry Club (Club Profile) which continues happily to converge music and spoken word and 577 Records, one of the many independent labels without which jazz would be even less represented in the stores.
On a final note, September is also time for back to school. Many of you have kids, some of us do and some of you might even be one. Jazz has a long history but cannot survive without a vibrant new generation of listeners. Parents, play some jazz for your kids or take them to see a show. Kids, browse through your parent's record collection (or Ipod playlist?). Jazz may represent only 3% of music sales but we certainly don't want it to decrease further.
We'll be doing our part...
For more information contact All About Jazz.
