Sat 9/11-Sun 9/12
Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland returns for its 42nd year this weekend, at a different time of year, in a different location and with a different look.
It will fill Cleveland Heights’ Cain Park for two days, September 11-12, with ten performers on the Evans Amphitheatre outdoor pavilion stage, student bands on a colonnade stage between main-stage sets, and a “jazz talk tent” located inside the Alma Theatre with jazz historians, broadcasters and musicians discussing a variety of topics. There’ll be food trucks and vendors there as well.
Main-stage music kicks off on Saturday September 11 @ 3:30pm with 23-year-old vocalist Samara Joy featuring guitarist Pasquale Grasso’s Trio, followed by jazz/funk/Latin sax player Lakecia Benjamin and Pursuance, the piano-based Christian Sands Trio and A Moment in Cleveland, featuring some of the area’s master jazz players including trumpeter/band leader Dominick Farinacci, sax player Ernie Krivda, percussionist Jamey Haddad, pianists Jackie Warren. Lafayette Carthon and Joe Hunter, and many more whose names are well known in the area jazz community. Saturday concludes with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, hitting the stage at 9:15, whose high-energy salsa should leave audience members sated.
Sunday September 12 will open at 2pm with multi-genre composer/trumpeter Marquis Hill, followed by Canadian trumper/vocalist/composer Bria Skonberg and young pianist/ composer Emmet Cohen with his trio. Jazz vocalist Catherine Russell, who has toured and performed with artists such as David Bowie, Paul Simon and Wynton Marsalis, has moved into the 8pm headliner slot since the international ensemble Banda Magda led by Grek-born singer Magda Giannikou cancelled due to pandemic travel restrictions. The Harp vs. Harp duo of Colombian harp player Edmar Castaneda and Swiss harmonica player Grégoire Maret, both based in New York, will take Russell’s 6:30pm slot.
Despite the pandemic setbacks, this year’s JazzFest is especially exciting due to the wide diversity of its performers, with nearly half the acts fronted by women, ages ranging from young performers just starting out to storied veterans, and performers with backgrounds from around the world.
Day passes range from $35-$100. Go here for more information.