Little wonder that in April, ArtsWestchester (formerly the Westchester Arts Council) will honor the organization he founded, Jazz Forum Arts, with its 2009 Arts Award in the arts organization category. The award bears witness to the admiration Mr. Morganelli, 53, enjoys among some of America’s most respected cultural figures.
The multi-instrumentalist and composer David Amram, 78, began working with Mr. Morganelli in the 1970s. “He’s one of the new breed of people today — only he’s been doing it for 30 years — who understand the art of music,” Mr. Amram said. “And not only how to play it but how to present it in a user-friendly, artistic, spiritual and businesslike fashion that creates jazz fans.”
George Wein, who founded the Newport Jazz Festival, worked with Mr. Morganelli on a successor, the JVC Festival New York. “Westchester County is lucky to have him,” Mr. Wein said. “Because of him, there is more jazz in that county than perhaps any equivalent county in America. Most jazz producers are not in it for the money; they’re in it because they love the music, and it’s part of their life. Mark is as good an example of that as anyone I know.”
By the time Mr. Morganelli and his wife, Ellen Prior, moved to Dobbs Ferry in 1991, he was already known as a force to be reckoned with. That reputation was forged early on, when Mr. Morganelli, whose musical ear is matched by a gift for promotion, became a pioneer in the Greenwich Village loft scene.
Two years out of college, in 1979, he had a brainstorm: Allow the public, for a reasonable fee, to gain admission to the workshops, jam sessions, big-band rehearsals and multimedia exhibitions already happening amid the freewheeling atmosphere of his third- floor living space at Cooper Square in the East Village. The first Jazz Forum loft was born.
