This year's highlights includes performances by Arturo O'Farrill, Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers and more
New York City is rightfully known as the jazz capital. From the days of stride piano in the ’20s, and swing bands in the ’30s, to bebop in the ’40s, 52nd St. in the ’50s, free jazz in the ’60s, and loft jazz in the ’70s, the identity of jazz has been closely tied to Manhattan.
However — as quiet as it’s kept — Brooklyn can lay claim to some serious jazz real estate too.
For the past 13 years, a group called the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium (CBJC) has presented a festival in April, the month proclaimed by the Smithsonian Institute as Jazz Appreciation Month since 2002.
In 2000, the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival ran for nine days. Now it’s the whole month.
“We’ve got 40 events, despite the difficult economy,” says Bob Myers, CBJC communications director. “This is because of the organizations that comprise the Consortium, such as community centers, entertainment venues, faith-based institutions, and cultural institutions in Brooklyn that make this festival go.
“There’s no corporate sponsorship; it’s truly a people’s festival. The musicians, the patrons, and the venue operators are the triad that makes this work.”
More than 100 musicians will perform at 35 events in venues from Coney Island to Williamsburg. Close to 4,000 people, mostly Brooklyn residents, but domestic and international tourists also, came last year. This year’s festival, which began Friday, is expected to draw even larger numbers.
The theme: “Jazz: A Music of the Spirit.”
Events planner Bessie Edwards recruited Myers, then owner of the Up Over Jazz Café, into the consortium early on. A few years before the founding of the CBJC in 1999, she and founding member Torrie McCartney got things going.
“What really sparked it for Torrie and me was the idea of multicultural tourism because that was starting to kick off in Brooklyn at that time. People were flooding Manhattan but not coming to Brooklyn. We thought it would be a great way to get people involved in Brooklyn,” Edwards recalls.
New York City is rightfully known as the jazz capital. From the days of stride piano in the ’20s, and swing bands in the ’30s, to bebop in the ’40s, 52nd St. in the ’50s, free jazz in the ’60s, and loft jazz in the ’70s, the identity of jazz has been closely tied to Manhattan.
However — as quiet as it’s kept — Brooklyn can lay claim to some serious jazz real estate too.
For the past 13 years, a group called the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium (CBJC) has presented a festival in April, the month proclaimed by the Smithsonian Institute as Jazz Appreciation Month since 2002.
In 2000, the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival ran for nine days. Now it’s the whole month.
“We’ve got 40 events, despite the difficult economy,” says Bob Myers, CBJC communications director. “This is because of the organizations that comprise the Consortium, such as community centers, entertainment venues, faith-based institutions, and cultural institutions in Brooklyn that make this festival go.
“There’s no corporate sponsorship; it’s truly a people’s festival. The musicians, the patrons, and the venue operators are the triad that makes this work.”
More than 100 musicians will perform at 35 events in venues from Coney Island to Williamsburg. Close to 4,000 people, mostly Brooklyn residents, but domestic and international tourists also, came last year. This year’s festival, which began Friday, is expected to draw even larger numbers.
The theme: “Jazz: A Music of the Spirit.”
Events planner Bessie Edwards recruited Myers, then owner of the Up Over Jazz Café, into the consortium early on. A few years before the founding of the CBJC in 1999, she and founding member Torrie McCartney got things going.
“What really sparked it for Torrie and me was the idea of multicultural tourism because that was starting to kick off in Brooklyn at that time. People were flooding Manhattan but not coming to Brooklyn. We thought it would be a great way to get people involved in Brooklyn,” Edwards recalls.
